Aiming.

Dear fellow language-learners. 

As you may have noticed, this month is all about habits and promises and resolutions and whatnot. Let's make a short summary of how to say these things in the languages spoken at the Playground.

• English: Habit. Goal/aim. Motivation. Success. Failure. 
• Finnish: Tapa. Päämäärä. Motivaatio. Onnistuminen. Epäonnistuminen. 
• Swedish: Vana. Mål. Motivation. Framgång. Misslyckande. 
• Spanish: Costumbre. Meta. Motivación. Éxito. Fracaso. 
• Polish: Obyczaj. Cel. Motywacja. Sukces. Porażka.
• Russian: привычка. цель. мотивация. успех. неуспех.
• Slovak: Zvyk. Cieľ. Motivácia. Úspech. Zlyhanie. 
• Hungarian: Szokás. Cél. Motiváció. Siker. Kudarc. 

Jak nie kochać jesieni... [PL: How can one not love autumn]

Autumn is a time of meditation, a time of letting go. It's a time of endings but also beginnings. It's a time for reflection, a time for silence. I found the below poem almost by accident, it is beautiful and I felt like sharing. As always, the translation is mine.

Jak nie kochać jesieni... 

Jak nie kochać jesieni, jej babiego lata,
Liści niesionych wiatrem, w rytm deszczu tańczących.
Ptaków, co przed podróżą na drzewach usiadły,
Czekając na swych braci, za morze lecących.¨

Jak nie kochać jesieni, jej barw purpurowych,
Szarych, żółtych, czerwonych, srebrnych, szczerozłotych.
Gdy białą mgłą otuli zachodzący księżyc,
Kojąc w twym słabym sercu, codzienne zgryzoty.

Jak nie kochać jesieni, smutnej, zatroskanej,
Pełnej tęsknoty za tym, co już nie powróci.
Chryzantemy pobieli, dla tych, których nie ma.
Szronem łąki maluje, ukoi, zasmuci.

Jak nie kochać jesieni, siostry listopada,
Tego, co królowanie blaskiem świec rozpocznie.
I w swoim majestacie uczy nas pokory.
Bez słowa na cmentarze wzywa nas corocznie.

Tadeusz Wywrocki

English: How can one not love autumn...

How can one not love autumn, its Indian summer.

The leaves carried by the wind, to the rhythm of dancing rain.

The birds, sitting on trees before their journey.

Waiting for their brothers, flying overseas.

How can one not love autumn, its colours purple.

Grey, yellow, red, silver, pure gold.

When the white mist wraps itself around the setting moon.

Soothing the daily griefs in your fragile heart.

How can one not love autumn, so sad, so anxious,

so filled with longing for that which will not return.

The Chrysanthemums glitter for those, who no longer are.

The frost paints the meadows, soothing, upsetting.

How can one not love autumn, the sister of November.

The one that begins the reign of candles.

And in its majesty teaches us humility.

Without a word it calls us to the cemeteries every year. 

Gdańsk & Sopot, we wrześniu 2014 r.

Oh, hello darlings. 

The weekend was so perfect - we went to Poland! Flying to northern Poland from Sweden is easy. fast and cheap. We were also lucky to have the perfect host, a woman who entertained us with stories from her trips all around the world. The weather was great, so we could walk between two of the three Trójmiasto cities - Gdańsk and Sopot. We actually spent less than 24 hours in Poland, but had the opportunity to enjoy the history of Gdańsk and the holiday buzz in Sopot.

We only walked and ate, so it's difficult to say much about the cultural offerings or life as such. I would definitely like to visit the Trójmiasto-area again for more exploring!

24 godziny w Polsce

Ostatnio miałam mały projekt – ulepszyć mój polski. Dla mnie, język polski to jest coś wspaniałego. Tutaj, w Sztokholmie, często słyszę jak ludzie mówią po polsku. A ja wtedy zawsze myślę, że ja też chcę.

W piątek kupiliśmy sobie bilety do Polski. Za kilka tygodni będziemy w Polsce. Jeden dzień, 24 godziny będziemy w Polsce. Ja tylko jeden raz byłam w Gdansku. A teraz nie mogę się doczekać!

So excited about our trip to Gdansk in September!

Po polsku

Letni Dzień

To już jest koniec lata.

Ja tutaj słyszę muzykę, nic nie robię.

Za chwilę zacznie padać deszcz,

świat jest cichy.

A myślę, jak piękny jest ten język.

Jak piękny jest ten świat.

Mowię, że ten jest tylko letnim projektem.

Mowię, że tylko chcę go ulepszyć.

Wydaje mi się, że to nie prawda.

Jesteś wyjątkowy, jesteś tajemnicą.

Mowiąc prawdę, nie potrzebuję ciebie,

ale bez ciebie nie mogę żyć.

Ja chcę cię znać, jak znam mój własny.  

Chciałbym opisać [PL: I would like to describe]

Yet again it is time for a translated poem. This poem - Chciałbym opisać - was written by the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert. In case you are interested to read more Polish poetry, you may find it here http://poema.pl/publikacja/2715-chcialbym-opisac

The translation is mine. 

******************************************************

Chciałbym opisać najprostsze wzruszenie
radość lub smutek
ale nie tak jak robią to inni
sięgając po promienie deszczu albo słońca 

chciałbym opisać światło
które we mnie się rodzi
ale wiem że nie jest ono podobne
do żadnej gwiazdy
bo jest nie tak jasne
nie tak czyste
i niepewne

chciałbym opisać męstwo
nie ciągnąc za sobą zakurzonego lwa
a także niepokój 
nie potrząsając szklanką pełną wody

inaczej mówiąc
oddam wszystkie przenośnie
za jeden wyraz
wyłuskany z piersi jak żebro
za jedno słowo
które mieści się
w granicach mojej skóry
ale nie jest to widać możliwe

i aby powiedzieć - kocham
biegam jak szalony
zrywając naręcza ptaków
i tkliwość moja
która nie jest przecież w wody
prosi wodę o twarz

i gniew różny od ognia
pożycza od niego
wielomównego języka

tak się miesza
tak się miesza
we mnie
to co siwi panowie
podzielili raz na zawsze
i powiedzieli
to jest podmiot
a to przedmiot

zasypiamy
z jedną ręką pod głową
a z drugą w kopcu planet

a stopy opuszczają nas
i smakują ziemię
małymi korzonkami
które rano
odrywamy boleśnie

Zbigniew Herbert

*************************************************

I would like to describe the simplest emotion
happiness or sadness
but not the way others do it
reaching for the rays of rains or sunshine

I would like to describe the light
that grows within me
but I know that it is not similar
to any star
because it is not so bright
not so clean
not so pure
and uncertain

I would like to describe the bravery
not dragging behind me the dusty lion
nor anxiety
not shaking the glass filled with water

in other words
I will give up all metaphors
for one sentence
taken from the breast like a rib
for one word
which fits 
within the limits of my skin
but which cannot be seen

and to say – I love
I run like crazy
breaking the flock of birds
and my tenderness
not yet being in the water
asks for water on her face

and the anger different from fire
borrows from it
the verbose language

so it is mixed
so it is mixed
within me
that what grey gentlemen
divided once and for all
and said 
that is an entity
and that an object

we fall asleep
with one hand under our head
and the other in a pile of planets

and our feet leave us
and they have a taste of earth
with small roots
which we painfully tear up
when the morning comes

czy świat umrze trochę [PL: if the world dies a little]

czy świat umrze trochę
kiedy ja umrę

patrzę patrzę
ubrany w lisi kołnierz
idzie świat

nigdy nie myślałam
że jestem włosem w jego futrze

zawsze byłam tu
on - tam


a jednak
miło jest pomyśleć
że świat umrze trochę
kiedy ja umrę

Halina Poświatowska

****

If the world dies a little
when I die

I look, I look
dressed in a fox collar
the world goes on

I never thought 
that I am a hair in its fur

I have always been here
It - there

Yet
it is nice to think 
that the world dies a little
when I die 

*************

Om världen dör lite
när jag dör

Jag tittar, jag titar
klädd i en rävkrage
går världen

Jag tänkte aldrig
att jag är ett av håren i dess päls

Jag har alltid varit här
Den - där

Ändå
är det trevligt att tänka
att världen dör lite
när jag dör

** Translations to English and Swedish, my own*** 

świat jest pusty [PL: the world is empty]

świat jest pusty
odkąd poszedłeś
nie można żyć bez materii uśmiechu
świat umarł
na pożar lamp
blady księżyc
ponad twoimi ustami
dogorywa
świat jest zły
odkąd poszedłeś
szczerzy zęby
i futro wilcze napina
to co było ciepłem zwiniętym w kłębek
nie jest
świat - kosmicznie zgubiony w sobie
z zimna drży

Halina Poświatowska

************

the world is empty

since you left

one cannot live without the matter of smile

the world died

onto the blazing lamps

under your mouth

the pale moon 

is dying

the world is evil

since you left

it is grinning baring its teeth

and the wolf skin tightens

what was rolled up in a ball of warmth 

is not

the world - cosmically lost in itself

trembling from the cold

***************

världen är tom

efter det att du försvann

man kan inte leva utan leendets materia

världen dog

på lampornas brand

under din mun

är den bleka månen

döende

världen är ond

efter det att du försvann 

den blottar sina tänder i skratt

och vargpälsen stramas åt

det som rullades ihop i en boll av värme

är inte

världen - är kosmiskt vilsen i sig själv

darrande av kyla 

**** Translations to English and Swedish are mine****

bądź przy mnie blisko [PL: be close to me]

bądź przy mnie blisko
bo tylko wtedy
nie jest mi zimno
chłód wieje z przestrzeni
kiedy myślę
jaka ona duża
i jaka ja

to mi trzeba
twoich dwóch ramion zamkniętych
dwóch promieni wszechświata

Halina Poświatowska
*********************************

be close to me 
because only then
I will not feel cold
the cold blows from space
when I think
how great it is
and what I am like
I need them
your two closed arms 
two rays of universe

***********************************

var nära mig
för endast då
har jag inte kallt
kylan blåser in från luften
när jag tänker på
hur stor den är
och hur jag är
jag behöver detta
dina två stänga armar
två av universums strålar


* translations to English and Swedish - my own

Hello Polish [Language Challenge]

Long time no see. But my language studies have continued and next time it is time to begin with Polish [an evaluation of my progress in Slovak will come later next week].

I did learn from past mistakes and decided to take a small test of Polish, in order to have some idea of where the journey would begin. As a reference point, I decided to use the Polish proficiency test at www.transparent.com at http://www.transparent.com/learn-polish/proficiency-test.html

So, no perfection but the score is OK.

I believe that I need to work on:

• Some grammar 
• ...but mostly vocabulary. 

Vocabulary is the key for communication! As with Slovak, focus will be placed on creating text and translation. Here the advantage is that my Polish is a lot better than my Slovak so I will be able to create more freely!

Mango & Peach Smoothie

This mango & peach smoothie is refreshing and the lovely color is energizing. [Oh. Let's learn languages the smoothie-way..] The following ingredients are needed for 2-3 servings:
1 mango
1 apricot
Some orange juice
Skimmed milk.

Just throw everything in a mixer and enjoy.

Prísady: mango, broskyňa, pomarančový džús a mlieko bez tuku

Składniki: mango, brzoskwinia, sok pomarańczowy i mleko beztłuszczowe.

Ингредиенты: манго, персик, апельсиновый сок и обезжиренное молоко

The Multiple Language Experiment - Summer 2014

A while back I wrote about picking up some of my old languages.  I have given this some thought and have decided to do a little language project as I finally have the time to do so. I spend a total of 80 minutes on a train each working day, so why not spend the time efficiently.

3 languages. 5 days a week. 5 weeks for each language. 15 weeks.

The languages are Slovak, Polish and Russian. And this is how I'm going to do it:

• Day 1: Read from a book or other text
• Day 2: Read an article on current affairs
• Day 3: Translate the article into English
• Day 4: Translate a poem into English
• Day 5: Write a short story

I will be starting with Slovak because it is the weakest of the three languages. The goal is to be able to produce something in the language, a written text.  We will see how it goes.

frustrácie

Empty screen. Google won’t find what I want. Words in Slovak, words in Polish fly by. My own words are numb. The sun is shining outside, the craving for coffee is growing larger.

Hello from Sweden. 

Dnes. Je sobota.

Today I have spent the afternoon reading constitutions. It is actually rather fascinating. I finally decided on a topic for my thesis (Law and Society in Post-Communist Central Eastern Europe: Poland, Slovakia and Russia) so now I’m conducting surveys and reading legal acts and constitutions and what not. In case you live in one of the countries in question and would like to respond to the survey, please let me know (susankaaa at yahoo dot co uk) and I’ll send you the link.

Apart from that we (the boyfriend) have been packing and tonight we are having a farewell party. So sad.

Wishing you all a cheerful Saturday!

Places: Warsaw

Our trip to Warsaw was mind-blowing. That is the first word that comes to my mind. It was not my first trip to the Polish capital, but it certainly was the hardest one for my feet. We walked, walked and walked. Without using the map, we saw the sights and enjoyed the Polish hospitality. I was in heaven. Poland has changed a lot since I lived there, and I believe that Warsaw must have developed even faster. The whole city was like a construction site. We met an old friend of mine and ate a lot of pierogi. The ones with cabbage and mushrooms are my favourites. During this trip I finally understood the width and the depth of the ordeal that Poland as a country has gone through. It is an impressive country in many ways.

Warszawa.

It’s time for yet another trip. Warszawa, nadchodzimy. Back on Friday, see you then.

jar sa blíži [the spring is approaching]

The Slovak word for spring, jar, is quite interesting as it reminds of few other Slavic languages. In Polish spring is wiosna, in Russian and in Ukrainian it is весна. In the Balkans the word for spring are quite similar: in Bulgaria one speaks of пролет, in Serbia it is пролеће and in Croatia – proljeće. The only version being close to the Slovak version is – not so surprisingly - the Czech jaro.
My point? There is none – except that it is a lot of fun comparing languages.

One thing I’m often thinking about is the mutual understanding between languages and where to draw the line. Say, I am fluent in Swedish – does that mean that I’m capable to function in Norwegian? My initial reaction is no! Even though I might understand some of the things the other person is saying - I might be able to read a book even – the risk of being misunderstood or to misunderstand is too great! It is very often, however, that I find myself alone with this view. In general I think that the limits of languages knowledge are too fluffy. It is often the case that a long list of languages on the CV looks great, the higher the level the better. Insight into one’s own skills is often forgotten. Countless are the times people have claimed to be fluent in English – until they had to write a piece in advanced English or talk to someone from Ireland. Fluency – to me – means that one is able to communicate fluently no matter the context.

What I’m trying to say here is that one’s language skills are often judged based on what a subjectively written piece of paper says. Sometimes there are such things as language testing, but if these tests are not carried out by professionals, then what kind of a result do you expect?
And then there are those who have worked hard to acquire a foreign language and speak it like a native. That should be the goal and you who have done it, you are a great inspiration!

(this post was supposed to be about the wonders of wearing a leather jacket after a long winter, but oh well – I got a bit carried away)

Polish vs. Slovak: what’s the difference?

 

How does one compare two language in a truly objective fashion? This is an interesting question, especially in cases where two languages are related and sometimes claimed to be mutually intelligible. The main reasons I‘m spending a fine Saturday morning for this type of philosophizing are a) I have a personal interest for these two languages; b) I personally find it annoying when people claim to know a language when they can guess what it means (such a noble reason to write this post!), and c) it is fascinating to see how languages are interrelated and where their actual connections lie. 

The problem may be approached in several ways. I have made a small table comparing Polish and Slovak, but, as it turns out, it does not say much, it does not show the differences.

Language	Polish	Slovak
Native Speakers	40 million	5 million
Language subgroup	West Slavic	West Slavic
Number of letters and sounds in alphabet*	47	46
Numbers of cases	7	7
Difficulty rating**	Category II	Category II

 

As mentioned above, this table does not say much more than that there are a lot more Poles than Slovaks on this planet (or, more correctly, the table shows that there are more Polish native speakers). Let’s compare the same text in the two languages instead:

UN Declaration of Human Rights in Polish

Artykuł 1

Wszyscy ludzie rodzą się wolni i równi pod względem swej godności i swych praw. Są oni obdarzeni rozumem i sumieniem i powinni postępować wobec innych w duchu braterstwa.

Artykuł 2

Każdy człowiek posiada wszystkie prawa i wolności zawarte w niniejszej Deklaracji bez względu na jakiekolwiek różnice rasy, koloru, płci, języka, wyznania, poglądów politycznych i innych, narodowości, pochodzenia społecznego, majątku, urodzenia lub jakiegokolwiek innego stanu.
Nie wolno ponadto czynić żadnej różnicy w zależności od sytuacji politycznej, prawnej lub międzynarodowej kraju lub obszaru, do którego dana osoba przynależy, bez względu na to, czy dany kraj lub obszar jest niepodległy, czy też podlega systemowi powiernictwa, nie rządzi się samodzielnie lub jest w jakikolwiek sposób ograniczony w swej niepodległości.

….

 

UN Declaration of Human Rights in Slovak

Článok 1

Všetci ľudia sa rodia slobodní a rovní v dôstojnosti a právach. Sú obdarení rozumom a svedomím a mali by sa k sebe správať v duchu bratstva.

Článok 2

Každý je nositeľom všetkých práv a slobôd, ktoré zakotvuje táto deklarácia, bez ohľadu na odlišnosti akéhokoľvek druhu, ako sú rasa, farba, pohlavie, jazyk, náboženstvo, politické a iné presvedčenie, národný alebo sociálny pôvod, majetok, rodové alebo iné postavenie. Ďalej sa nesmie robiť nijaký rozdiel na základe politického, právneho či medzinárodného postavenia krajiny alebo územia, ku ktorým osoba prináleží, či už ide o krajinu alebo územie nezávislé, poručenské, nesamosprávne alebo podrobené inému obmedzeniu suverenity.

….

 

My interpretation and analysis of these two texts is dependent on my earlier experience in Slavic languages. A person with no experience in any Slavic language might not see what I see. I can see several similarities between the two languages, in terms of both vocabulary and grammar. I must, however, admit that whereas my ability to understand Polish increases my ability to understand Slovak, it does not increase my ability to communicate and express myself in Slovak. It might be easier to get a grasp of Slovak, but I still have to start from zero.  And the differences? The spelling is an obvious difference; other differences worth mentioning are the case endings, verb endings, prepositions etc.

 

* including digraphs and trigraphs

**http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Language_Learning_Difficulty_for_English_Speakers

“You’re Crazy”

…that’s what my friend J told me today when I was getting *slightly* too excited about Czech writers and their ability to write beautifully.

I believe it was said with affection.

So I took it as a compliment.

And in order not to let such a great compliment go to waste, let’s train our language skills.

 

Finnish: olet hullu.

Swedish: du är galen.

Spanish: estás loco/loca.

Slovak: si blázon.

Polish: jesteś szalony/szalona.

Hungarian: te őrült.

Russian: Ты сошел с ума/ Ты сошла с ума

French: tu es fou

Ты и вы, ja i ty, teba a vás

Пустое вы сердечным ты
Она, обмолвясь, заменила,
И все счастливые мечты
В душе влюблённой возбудила. 
Пред ней задумчиво стою,
Свести очей с неё нет силы;
И говорю ей: как вы милы!
И мыслю: как тебя люблю.

- A.S. Pushkin -

Today I had an interesting discussion with a Slovak colleague of mine (who also speaks Swedish really well) about how to address people. 

In Finland and in Sweden, we tend to be very informal. I would never address anyone formally in Finnish or Swedish, unless it were an elderly, grumpy lady. 

In Slovakia – as in most of Europe – people are a lot more formal. No stranger would say “ty” to me (resulting in me feeling like that old grumpy lady). 

This topic led my thoughts to Slovak declension of personal pronouns. I copied the table from Wikipedia (yes, shame on me). 

As you can see (you Slavic speakers), there are similarities with both Russian and Polish. Also note that Slovak, very much like Polish, has a locative case.  

Personal pronouns

Nominative
ja
ty
on, ona, ono
my
vy
oni, ony

Genitive
ma (mňa)
ťa (teba)
ho (jeho, neho,-ňho, -ň), ju, ho (jeho, neho, -ňho, -ň)
nás
vás
ich (nich), ich (ne)

Dative
mne (mi)
tebe (ti)
mu (jemu, nemu,-ňmu), jej (nej), mu (jemu, nemu,-ňmu)
nám
vám
im (nim), im (nim)

Accusative
ma (mňa)
ťa (teba)
ho (jeho, neho, -ňho, -ň, -eň), ju, ho (-ň, -eň)
nás,
vás
ich (nich), ich (ne)

Locative
mne
tebe
ňom, nej, ňom
nás
vás
nich, nich

Instrumental
mnou
tebou
ním, ňou, ním
nami
vami
nimi, nimi

There is also the reflexive pronoun sa, which is declined as follows: N: -, G: seba, D: sebe /si, A: seba/sa, L: sebe, I: sebou

You know where this will be leading us, right? To the exciting world of… tadadda… cases. You have been warned