A, B, C. Easy as 1, 2, 3. Simple as do, re, me…<\/p>\n
Well, maybe not as simple as do re mi. The Polish language is a beautiful language, but it is a very difficult one to learn and, ultimately, understand. Though I was born of two Polish native-speakers, with Polish as my first language, I can honestly say I have struggled to learn some of the intricacies of the language over the years. But, at the same time, it’s what truly makes the Polish so unique and a real pleasure to know.<\/p>\n
So on with it. I covered the letters and their pronunciation last blog. In that post, I also referred to a group of letter combinations that represent a single sound. These are called digraphs, or dwuznaki<\/strong>. The fun part of these dwuznaki<\/strong> is that they usually make a sound that completely differs from the sound of the individual letters that form that digraph.<\/p>\n In Polish, there are seven digraphs. Here they are listed with their pronunciation.<\/p>\n ch<\/strong> sounds like h as in h<\/span>appy For the d\u017c <\/strong>pronunciation, the word adjective is the closest English word I could find that most closely replicated the Polish sound.<\/p>\n So, what is interesting about these digraphs is that there are some exceptions. For example, the rz<\/strong> combo makes the zh sound like in treasure MOST of the time. However, there are some instances where the r and z letters are pronounced individually and not like a digraph. The sound that they make then is like in the word Tarzan.<\/p>\n Some of these digraphs have other digraphs that mimic their sound. For example, the si<\/strong> combination in Polish makes There is one last item I would like to cover. I was sure I would have gotten a question regarding it, but I did not. Maybe readers are not interested. Or maybe you’re afraid to ask. Either way, I am going to put my two cents in on the topic anyway, mostly because I remember asking the question. In the Polish alphabet, there are three letters missing that an English-speaker would easily catch. The letters Q (ku<\/strong>), V (fau<\/strong>) and X (iks<\/strong>) do not exist in the Polish alphabet. However, the Polish language has adopted a lot of marketing words that do contain these letters.\u00a0 In Polish pronunciation, there really is no need for them. Typically, these marketing words are adopted and given a Polish twist. In Polish, the sound for the letter Q is replaced with K<\/strong> or KW<\/strong> (ex. kwiz<\/strong>), V is replaced with W<\/strong> (ex. wino<\/strong>) and the letter X is replaced with KS<\/strong> (ex. ekstra<\/strong>).<\/p>\n For example, let’s take the word extra. In English, it means additional. In Polish, it’s a slang term that means exceptional. My cousins, if they like one of the photos I post, will comment, “Ekstra<\/strong>“! Essentially, they take the common foreign word and spell it as it would be pronounced in Polish. Very smart – very Polish \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n So that’s my spin on digraphs. I hope it has been helpful. And to go back to a comment I made back on one of my earlier posts, I am going to close with some Disco Polo<\/strong>. I like to think of these guys as the Polish equivalent of the Backstreet Boys. They are zesp\u00f3\u0142 “Bojs” or “Boys”, and this song is “Ekstra<\/strong>“! Plus, this video is just hilarious. So practice your digraphs, then close the door, pull the curtains shut and dance around the pok\u00f3j<\/strong> to this song blasted LOUD!<\/p>\n
\ncz<\/strong> sounds like ch as in ch<\/span>at
\ndz<\/strong> sounds like dz in Dads<\/span>
\nd\u017a<\/strong> sounds like j in jeans
\nd\u017c<\/strong> sounds like dzh in adj<\/span>ective
\nrz<\/strong> sounds like zh in treas<\/span>ure
\nsz<\/strong> sounds like sh in sh<\/span>ape<\/p>\nthe same sound as<\/del> a similar sound to the sz<\/strong> digraph, and can be confused with the Polish letter \u015b<\/strong>. Also, the d\u017a<\/strong> digraph sound, which sounds like j in jeans, can be copied with the trigraph dzi<\/strong> in Polish; the one that is used all depends on the context of the word. Which begs the question, how do you know which one to use? Like a good episode of LOST<\/em>, I think I will leave this question hanging for another episode… one that focuses on spelling.<\/p>\n