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. 

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

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!

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.

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!

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)

blizkie ,'the close ones'

This week I have entertained myself with reading reports on poverty in Russia and Bulgaria. The perception of poverty in these country makes an interesting read, but it will not be the main topic of discussion today. Instead, it will be the words близкий – near, close.

This word appeared in the Russian report and there was something similar in the Bulgarian one, so of course I needed to do a little comparison between my main three: Russian, Polish and Slovak to look for similarities.

	Russian	Polish	Slovak
	близкий	blizki	blízky

 

While we are at it. Say hello to my new friend - привет моему новому другу:

Russian	Polish	Slovak
сова	sowa	sova

The Play Goes On–And The Summer That Was

The summer is slowly moving to an end, leaving memories that will be looked back at with fondness. It was a summer with very little internet and a lot of travelling: Budapest, Eger, Slovenia, Italy, Austria. It was a summer with visits and a lot of laughter.

Piran, Slovenia. Photo taken by Jesper.

The Autumn ahead is arriving with a plentitude of promises – promises of hard work (last year of uni is about to start), fun travels (Krakow is waiting in two weeks), and hopefully some bouts of creativity. The one thing I have been missing this summer is the writing, reading and pondering on the world…

Going West.

…again. But only for the day. But this is the second Sunday in a row that I’m going to Austria.

Other places on the list to visit this spring.

• Belgrade: on the train from Budapest to Bratislava, we realised that the train was actually coming from Belgrade and after that we’ve had an inexplicable urge to head down south.
• Prague: it’s the new year’s resolution to go to Prague in January 2013. And those have to be kept, right?
• Cracow: also a must place to see. One of the cities in Poland that I haven’t been to yet.
• Valencia: a friend of mine and I were talking about what to do for Easter and this is our master plan. Palm trees, sunshine, friendly people and errr… fit eye candy is nothing we won’t say no to  

Now I need to run to the super market (fingers crossed it’s open) before running to the train station (fingers crossed they sell tickets).

Have a nice week, everyone!

“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

Thanks For The Reminder.

 

Sometimes almost unnoticeable things and undistinguishable details remind us of what really matters.

First things first.

Idź własną drogą
Bo w tym cały sens istnienia
Żeby umieć żyć
Bez znieczulenia
Bez niepotrzebnych niespełnienia
Myśli złych

 

Those words are from a song. A song almost like any other. But this one is in Polish. Listening to it reminded me of how much I love Slavic languages and how much I enjoy learning them.

General confusion. New place. New job. Long days. Crazy hormones. Starting everything anew. Deadline after deadline. Crappy time management skills. The constant feeling of being an alien when the only form of communication with the locals is in a language foreign to all. That’s pretty much what my life looks like at the moment.

So that song also reminded about the things I really enjoy doing. And why I’m doing them. We can’t always avoid doing things we dislike, but it would be stupid to do more of them than necessary, right?

The conclusion? Well. It’d be about time to start learning time management, because the things I do are the things I like doing and they are the activities I need in order to be happy. And there is even more I’d like to do

One thing I really want to do is learn Slovak. There are three reasons. Yes, it’s easier to live in a country if you can communicate with people. And the second reason? Well, Slovak is a beautiful language. Difficult? Too early to tell, but it shouldn’t be difficult.* Thirdly, well. It’d be nice to be able to follow local politics etc. What way better to do it than in Slovak? We can unofficially call this “Project: Za tri mesiace budem hovoriť po slovensky.”

 

*Random side note: I find spoken Slovak easier to understand than spoken Czech, but written Czech is a lot easier than written Slovak.

The Most Entertaining Thing A Language Learner Could Possibly Think Of: Irregular Verbs

Yay, such fun.

I was recommended a good website for learning Slovak (in Finnish), so I have spent a couple of hours investigating the grammar and making observations. Making observations is easy because comparison as a method really seems to work (for the time being). I decided to start with verbs because they are essential for understanding a language and expressing oneself.

Hands up anyone who hates irregular verbs!! (and why oh why do they always have to be the most common ones? )

Here we’ve got three irregular verbs in the present tense. Again in table-form

English	Slovak	Polish	Russian
To be	byt’	być	быть
	som	jestem	N/A
	si	jesteś	N/A
	je	jest	N/A
	sme	jesteśmy	N/A
	ste	jesteście	N/A
	sú	są	N/A

 

English	Slovak	Polish	Russian
To eat	jest’	jeść	есть
	jem	jem	ем
	ješ	jesz	ешь
	je	je	ест
	jeme	jemy	едим
	jete	jecie	едите
	jedia	jedzą	едят

 

English	Slovak	Polish	Russian
To know	vedieť	wiedzieć	знать
	viem	wiem	знаю
	vieš	wiesz	знаешь
	vie	wie	знает
	vieme	wiemy	знаем
	viete	wiecie	знаете
	vedia	wiedzą	знают

 

Also attempted some verb conjugation. All in all, there seems to be a pattern, especially when comparing Slovak to the Polish language.

Slovak 101

OK. Now that I’ve survived the first week at work, it’s about time to start deciding what to do about the Slovak language. I’m still undecided whether I want to learn it on my own or study it at some school (basically my company pays for some language classes) – having a teacher would undeniably bring some coherence, logic and discipline into the language learning process. What makes me doubt is the fact that I could also keep studying Hungarian (or some other language), which I might be more passionate about.


(Getting up at 6-freaking-am is definitely not my cup of tea)

So, speaking of Slovak, here are some opinions on the language this far (from a completely non-scientific point of view).

The combinations of consonants are quite… well, unpronounceable Learning the alphabet could be a step in the right direction!! Anyway, as mentioned before, Slovak is not that different from other Slavic languages, so knowing them helps a lot. I’ve made a little table below in which I compare some very common phrases in Slovak, Polish and Russian. 

English	Slovak	Polish	Russian
Hi!	Ahoj	Cześć	Привет!
Good morning!	Dobré ráno!	Dobre rano	доброе утро!
Good day!	Dobrý deň!	Dzień dobry	добрый день
Good evening!	Dobrý večer!	Dobry wieczór	добрый вечер
How are you?	Ako sa máš?	Jak się masz?	Как поживаешь?
Thank you	Ďakujem	Dziękuję	спасибо
Good night	Dobrú noc!	Dobranoc	спокойной ночи
Good bye	Do videnia!	Do widzenia!	до свидания
I have to go	Musím ísť	Muszę iść	Я должен/должна идти
Nice to meet you	Teší ma!	Miło mi	очень приятно
I like you	Mám ťa rád	Lubię cię	Я люблю тебя
I’m kidding	Ja žartujem	Żartuję	Я шучу
No problem!	Nie je problém	Nie ma problemu	нет проблем
I don’t understand	Nerozumiem tomu!	Nie rozumiem	Не понимаю
I don’t know	Ja neviem!	Nie wiem	Я не знаю
What is this?	čo je to?	Co to jest?	Что это?
I’m lost	Som sa stratil/a	Zgubilem/zgubilam sie	Я заблудился/Я заблудилась
Do you like it?	Páči sa ti to?	Podoba ci się?	Тебе нравится (это)?

Slow Motion

I wanted to write about slow motion, what it feels like to live in slow motion, but at the end it was too difficult to know what to say on the topic – except that there is no time for slow motion right now. Note to self, time to start getting things done now. Instead, three things have been occupying my mind and time lately.

1. The Reason To Get Rid Of Stuff

Who on earth needs that much clothes? And mind you, that’s after I got rid of one third of the things in my wardrobe. Half of this is going to be thrown/given away (I think I’ll keep the laptop, though. For some odd reason it ends up in all my photos). There’s no place for sentimentality now (= that typical thought that “maybe one day…” or “but, it is so pretty…”).

2. The Reason There Is No Need For Any Boyfriends To Keep Me Warm At Night

Somehow I had completely missed the first book in the Harry Hole-series (it seems it was published after the following parts, in English at least) – I believe it’s called The Bat in English. Anyway, while reading this , there was no time for anything or anyone else, that’s what a good book should be like.

3. The Reason To Love Polish

Dżem is a Polish band and listening to their music always brings back a lot of crazy memories. And don’t you agree that Polish is a very beautiful language?

EU Vocab

I was looking for a couple of concepts on the EU website when I bumped into their multilingual thesaurus. The best thing is that one can choose one or several languages and download the entire list. I’m so excited that I have a list consisting of 6800 (yes!!) terms in 7 different languages that I can study at night before going to sleep. Unfortunately Russian wasn’t among the available languages. The list is available in all EU-languages + Croatian and Serbian.

The thesaurus can be found here.