Material is from LingQ, a language learning platform.
Key 🔑
Number: PlurPtan
Gender: MascFemNeut
Case:
Nominative (Mianownik)
Accusative (Biernik)
Instrumental (Narzędnik)
Genitive (Dopełniacz)
Locative (Miejscownik)
Dative (Celownik)
Vocative (Wołacz)
Animacy: InanNhumHum
Hover your cursor over any word to see more morphological information, including what is the dictionary (lemmatized) form of the word and what part of speech it is in the context.
My name is Jan Oko and I come from Poland. I was born in Katowice. I'm 35 years old. I studied theology and am currently studying English at university. I really like foreign languages and I want to help you learn Polish.
I am a teacher - I teach English, Polish and German. I'm also learning a lot myself. I am currently learning Spanish, Russian and Uzbek. I also like ancient languages like Latin and Greek. I would like to speak Latin fluently someday. Yes! To speak, not only to read and understand, but to talk like a true Roman. I am also interested in history and mythologies.
Most of the time I work or learn languages. I'm not very sociable and I don't go to discos or clubs. I prefer to meet friends at home or in the pub. We talk and often play board games. My favorite is Zombicide. I like reading books. My favorite author is Marta Kisiel, whom I will definitely tell you about someday.
I have a dog whose name is Blogger. He likes to have fun and is very friendly. It is not a purebred dog, but an ordinary mutt. When he was little, he didn't have a home, so I took him in with me.
In the future, I want to travel more around the world. I've never been outside Europe before. I would love to see Egypt and the pyramids. Or go to Uzbekistan and visit Tashkent and Samarkand. Another dream of mine is to discover the history of the world's languages. I would like to know what our distant ancestors said. I definitely wish I had more time. The day is definitely too short!
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com (link can be found in the episode description). The website has the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to practice some grammar. I would like to invite you to the next episode of the podcast for Polish learners "Polish with John".
Welcome to the podcast for Polish learners "Polish with John". My name is Jan and today I will tell you a little about the Solar System and at the same time we will practice grading adjectives. Listen to the text and then visit my blog, where you will find some exercises. The link to the blog is provided in the episode description.
The solar system consists of the Sun and eight planets. Mercury is closest to the Sun. Venus, Earth and Mars continue to orbit. Behind Mars is the asteroid belt, and then further and further away are the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and, furthest from the Sun, Neptune. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called gas giants. Pluto is not a planet and is further away than Neptune.
The smallest planet in the solar system is Mercury and the largest is Jupiter. Three planets are smaller than Earth - Mercury, Venus and Mars, and four gas giants are larger. Pluto is even smaller than Mercury.
The Moon revolves around the Earth. The moon is closer to Earth than to the planet. Mercury and Venus do not have moons. Other planets have more moons than Earth. Mars has two moons, Jupiter has 79, Saturn 62, Uranus 27, and Neptune 14. Pluto also has five moons. Jupiter has the most moons, Mercury and Venus the fewest. Jupiter's largest moon is Ganymede. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is smaller than Ganymede. Earth's moon is smaller than Ganymede and Titan, but larger than many other moons in the solar system. The smallest is S/2009 S1, which orbits Saturn.
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com (link can be found in the episode description). There is a complete recording of the entire episode and additional exercises. I would like to invite you to the next episode of the podcast for Polish learners "Polish with John".
Hi! Welcome to the third podcast "Polish with John". This is a program for people learning Polish. Today I will tell you what kind of apartment I would like to have. We will practice words related to housing and the verb 'I would like'. You will find additional exercises on the blog. The link is in the episode description. Here we go!
I would like to have a big apartment or a big house. I have a lot of books, but I don't have much space. I currently live in a large apartment, but I only rent one room. Four people live here with me - my roommates. Everyone has their own room. We also have a kitchen and two bathrooms. This is not my apartment. I just rent a room, which means I pay every month and I can live here. In my room there are nine bookshelves, a desk, a bed and a wardrobe. I also have a sofa and an armchair. I have a computer on my desk. There are actually three rooms in my room - a bedroom, a guest room and an office, i.e. a work room.
I would like to have my own house or apartment. Big! I would like to have one room for books - my library. No… I would like to have two rooms for books. I would like to have lots of bookshelves and a very large old desk. In addition, there is a bedroom and a large bed, a guest room, a kitchen and a bathroom. I would like to have a large table in the living room. I like playing board games, so a large table is a good idea. A shower is enough for me in the bathroom, I don't need a bathtub. I would also like to have a garden. Actually, my dog would like to have a garden. He really likes running and playing outside.
I think that other people I live with would also like to have their own apartments or houses. Unfortunately, we don't have any money at the moment, so we would only like to live somewhere else, but for now we live where we live.
Aty?Jakichciałbyśmiećdom?Gdziechciałbyśmieszkać?
And you? What kind of house would you like to have? Where would you like to live?
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com (link can be found in the episode description). There is a recording of the entire episode and additional exercises. I invite you next Monday to the next episode of the podcast for Polish learners "Polish with John".
Hi! Welcome to the fourth podcast for Polish learners, “Polish with John”. I want to tell you today what a typical day looks like for me. This way we will remember the present tense and some useful verbs. To work!
I usually get up in the morning, at seven or eight. Sometimes I have to get up earlier, but I really don't like it. First I go for a walk with my dog. Then I take a shower and eat breakfast. And of course coffee! I wouldn't be able to wake up without her.
I usually have lessons before noon. Sometimes I learn a language, and usually I teach others. Between lessons, I check my homework and prepare for the next classes.
I eat dinner around three o'clock, and after dinner I have some free time. I go out, shopping or reading and relaxing. Of course, I'm also going for a walk with my dog again! If I have more time, we go for a long walk. I throw him a stick and... sometimes he brings it, sometimes he doesn't. I try to find at least some time to learn a language.
In the afternoon I continue to work and teach. I also have to prepare everything for the next day, so sometimes I work long hours, also in the evening. Sometimes I have time and watch a series or read a book. Sometimes I'm so tired that I go to sleep quickly. Of course, I don't forget about my dog. If I have time, I go for a longer walk with him to the park. While walking, I often listen to audiobooks.
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com (link can be found in the episode description). There is a recording of the entire episode and additional exercises. I invite you next Monday to the next episode of the podcast for Polish learners "Polish with John".
Hi! Welcome to the fifth “Polish with John” podcast. My name is Jan Oko and today I will tell you a little about the Polish school. It is the beginning of September, the month when children in Poland start school. What is school like in Poland? I invite you to listen to this episode of "Polish with John".
School starts on September 1st. The youngest to go to school are seven years old. This can be very stressful and many children are upset. I remember my first day at school. First there was Holy Mass in the church, and then a celebration at school. We met our teacher - a very nice Mrs. Beata. In the following days and months we learned to write and read. The first book I read was "The Children of Bullerbyn".
Children in Poland first go to primary school. It lasts eight years. I also went to such a school. Then, students attend secondary school for three, four or five years. For some time, there was a junior high school in Poland, a school between primary and secondary school. It was a bad idea and fortunately such a school no longer exists.
There are several types of secondary schools. The shortest is vocational school. It lasts three years and teaches a specific profession. Students who graduate from this school do not take the Matura exam, i.e. the school leaving exam. Secondary school lasts four years and technical secondary school lasts five years. After high school and technical school, you can take the Matura exam and go to university.
I went to high school. It was a very good school and I learned a lot there. I had wonderful teachers. I passed my high school final exams and went to college. I had very good grades at school, although they were not always fives and sixes.
What are fives and sixes? These are the highest grades a student can get at school. The worst grade is a "F" to which students say "fuck". Then there are two, three, four, five and six. If a student gets a F, he or she may not move to the next grade, which means he or she will have to study in the same grade again. However, I hope that there will be very few such students this year!
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com (link can be found in the episode description) or the podcast website polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to practice some grammar. I invite you to watch the next episode of "Polish with John" next Monday.
Hi! Welcome to the sixth “Polish with John” podcast. My name is Jan Oko and today I will tell you about Jan Oko. This is not an episode about me, but about my great-grandfather's cousin, who had the same name as me. This is a slightly more difficult podcast than usual. However, I hope it is very interesting.
In my family, I am not the only one whose name is Jan Oko. My great-grandfather, i.e. my grandfather's father, was also named Jan Oko and his cousin too!
Jan Oko was born in a town called Zameczek. He studied in Lviv and there he also studied classical philology, i.e. Latin and Greek. He was also a middle school teacher in Stryj, and then a teacher and principal in Lviv. Additionally, he also studied Polish philology.
In 1920, he became a professor at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. He worked there until the beginning of World War II. He was a very good teacher and lecturer. He was very demanding. Many famous Polish professors were students of Jan Oko. He wrote many scholarly books on ancient Rome and ancient Roman literature.
He was particularly interested in the Polish poet Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, who wrote in Latin. Jan Oko wrote several books and articles about this poet. He also liked the ancient poets Virgil and Horace.
During the war, he was able to work at the university for some time, but he also taught illegally. So that the Germans don't know that the Poles are studying. After the war, he worked at the university in Łódź, because Vilnius and Lviv were taken from Poland. He died in 1946.
He knew many foreign languages. Of course he studied Latin and could speak Latin! He also knew Greek and French. For me, Jan Oko is an example of hard work and a very great interest in the language. Maybe that's why I really like learning foreign languages and am interested in Latin?
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to practice some grammar. I invite you to watch the next episode of "Polish with John" next week.
Hi! Welcome to the new podcast “Polish with John”. My name is Jan Oko and I help you learn Polish. Autumn is coming. This is the time when it is easier to catch a cold or the flu. So I will tell you what to do when you are sick.
The most common fall and winter diseases are colds and flu. When someone has a cold, they have a runny nose and a cough. He frequently blows his nose and coughs. A person with a cold usually also has a sore throat. If someone has the flu, they don't always have a runny nose. Flu symptoms, or how to tell if someone has the flu, include headache and fever. A fever is a high body temperature that is higher than normal.
It is very important to cure the disease. We work a lot and often don't want to stay in bed. However, this is the best medicine. For a cold, it is best to make yourself some hot tea with honey or raspberry juice, and then get into bed and warm up.
Similarly, when we have the flu. You have to lie in bed and drink hot tea. Hot chicken broth also helps. Moms also always say that you should eat garlic and onion. Doctors say not to take antibiotics unnecessarily - it's better to rest and truly heal. The flu can weaken us for longer than a cold.
If the disease does not end, you need to see a doctor. The doctor will tell you what to do and what medications you need to take. He will write us a prescription, i.e. a document thanks to which we will be able to buy all the necessary medicines at the pharmacy.
When the colder days come, remember to dress warmly. Not too warm, but you can't go out lightly when it's cold and windy. A hat and scarf will also come in handy in winter.
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to practice some grammar. I invite you to watch the next episode of "Polish with John" soon. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. There are many interesting galleries in Poland. In many of them you can see paintings and other works of art. There are also galleries where you go shopping, i.e. shopping malls. Today I will tell you about them.
There used to be very few large stores. Then the number of them began to increase and they were getting bigger. Currently, the largest shopping center in Poland is called "Manufaktura" and is located in Łódź. It has 110 thousand square meters. That's 16 football fields. There are even several shopping malls in every major city in Poland.
What can you buy in a shopping mall? Almost everything. There is usually a supermarket where you can buy very different things at low prices. There are also clothing, electronics and even pet stores. You can drink coffee or eat lunch there, because there are cafes and restaurants in such centers. There is often a cinema and even a gym and a post office. Such a small city within a city. In Katowice, there is even a small theater in the gallery.
Many people like to shop in malls because all the stores are in one place. It's very convenient. However, not always fast. People often spend a lot of time choosing a new TV or trying on clothes. Shopping is not always easy. Many stores invite you and encourage you with promotions. You have to be careful because it's easy to spend a lot of money!
Galleries are expensive. If someone wants to shop cheaply, they should go elsewhere. There are many other shops with good clothes and other things in different places in the city. If it's a nice sunny day, it's better to spend time in the park than shopping.
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar. I invite you to watch the next episode of "Polish with John" soon. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Today we will look at everything you can do in your free time. This will help us repeat some important verbs.
I really like reading books and learning foreign languages. I know, this may seem strange. I am a teacher and I teach foreign languages to my students, and in my free time I study myself. However, I like it very much and learning is a pleasure! Sometimes I sing, but only when no one can hear me!
A lot of people watch TV. In my opinion this is not a good hobby. TV programs are usually not interesting. Only sometimes there is a good movie. It's better to watch movies on Netflix. There are no ads and you can watch whatever you want, whenever you want.
Sport is also a popular way of spending free time. You can ride a bike or play football. Sports are sometimes expensive - skiing is one such activity. However, anyone can run. I used to run often. Now I'm too lazy. And you? Do you like to run? Maybe you play tennis?
There are people who spend their free time in very original ways. I know people who are interested in genealogy, i.e. the history of their family. It's a very interesting job and you can learn a lot. My other friends play board games. I play with them often too. We have a nice time together. We often play games that require a lot of thinking. I also know a person who is interested in calligraphy, which is very beautiful writing. This person writes beautifully, I would also like to write so beautifully.
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar. I invite you to watch the next episode of "Polish with John" soon. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Today I would like to talk to you about how to study to learn. By the way, I will use verbs in different aspects - perfective and imperfective.
How do these aspects differ? One – perfective, emphasizes that we have already finished something or will finish it. We are interested in the end of the activity, the effect. We use the imperfective when something is repeated and has not ended yet. For example, one can study a lot (imperfective aspect) but not learn it (perfective aspect). Another example - "I read a book yesterday" means that I didn't finish it, and "I read a book yesterday" means that I finished reading it.
When we learn, it is very important to us. After all, we want to learn, i.e. know, and not just learn. That's why it's worth dividing your learning into small pieces and planning it (i.e. making a plan and having it, not just planning and planning endlessly). Then, when we take the next step (accomplished aspect), we will know that we have learned something. Otherwise, we will do things (imperfective aspect), but there will be no result.
When we learn, it is also important to repeat what we have learned. Otherwise we will forget and have to learn again. When learning a language, it is worth revising every day, even a short one. Before every English test at school, I repeated the words and thanks to that I remembered them.
When studying, turn off everything that will distract you. Put aside your phone or computer (or at least turn off Facebook). Concentrate on what you have to do. Divide the time into short stages, e.g. 10-15 minutes. After each one, you can take a short break and then continue learning. It's important to stay focused while learning, because if you're constantly doing other things, you won't learn much.
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar. I invite you to watch the next episode of "Polish with John" next Monday. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Today we will go to the train station and maybe take a train trip?
Once upon a time, the band Czerwone Gitary sang: Take any train, don't worry about your luggage, don't worry about the ticket. So it doesn't matter what train it is, where we are going and whether we have luggage. It's important to go on a journey.
However, to travel by train we need a ticket. We can buy it at the train station or online. Unfortunately, as in the song, it is impossible to travel without a ticket, i.e. without a ticket. There is a conductor on every train, a person who checks whether we have a ticket. If we don't have a ticket or we have the wrong ticket, we get a penalty - a fine. We will have to pay much more than the ticket costs.
Tickets are normal and discounted. A normal ticket is just an ordinary ticket. The discounted one is cheaper and can be purchased by pupils and students. However, you need a document - a school or student ID. If we don't have it, we have to buy a regular ticket, otherwise we will get a fine.
If we already have a ticket and want to board the train, we go to the appropriate platform. There we can wait until our train arrives. On the platform, we can check on special boards which train will arrive on this platform.
Unfortunately, trains in Poland are not always punctual. Sometimes they arrive later than they should. Then the train is delayed. Sometimes five, sometimes ten minutes, sometimes over an hour. Fortunately, delays are usually not that long. So it's better to be a little earlier than to miss the train, i.e. arrive after the train has already left.
You can also eat something and drink coffee at the station. In large cities, there are cafes, bookstores and other shops at the stations. Sometimes there is a shopping mall together with the station. So we can go shopping after the trip.
Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar. I invite you to watch the next episode of "Polish with John" soon. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. In my podcasts, I talk about various topics that you may find useful. Today I would like to talk briefly about the Catholic Church in Poland.
The church is a community, a group of people who are Christians. These are people who believe in God. In Poland, many people say they are Catholic. According to statistics, this is almost 90% of Poles. More than half of this number are people who go to church - regularly or occasionally. There are also people who rarely or never go to church, but say they are Catholic.
People go to church mainly for Holy Mass. This is the time when people pray, sing and receive Holy Communion together. People go to mass mainly on Sunday, but some also go to mass on other days of the week. On holidays, such as Christmas, there are a lot of people at mass.
The church is also involved in charitable activities, i.e. helping poor people and those who need help. In total, approximately three million people benefit from this assistance. That's a lot, a lot! These are various actions - e.g. distributing food and clothes, helping the homeless and unemployed, psychological help.
The church is a very important part of Polish culture and history. He often helped Poles in difficult times and was a place where people felt free even during war or communism. That is why it is still important to many people today.
Thank you very much for listening to this podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar.
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. In my podcasts, I talk about various topics that you may find useful. Today I would like to talk briefly about elections and democracy in Poland.
Recently, there were local government elections in Poland. Poles therefore elected people who would be city presidents and councilors. Before the elections, cities are full of posters, and candidates, i.e. people running in the elections, promise everyone that things will get better.
I won't talk about parties, but I will tell you what election day looks like. It is always Sunday to make it easier to vote. On this day, places where you can vote are open from morning to evening. People come there, show their ID cards and get ballots. All candidates are on the cards. To vote, you must make a cross next to our candidate. Then such a card is thrown into the ballot box, i.e. a special container. In the evening, all the cards are counted and the result is usually known the next day. Some are happy, others are sad.
Sometimes a second round of elections is needed. When a president is elected and no candidate receives more than half of the votes, the top two candidates with the most votes go to the second round. People will go to vote again, but now there will only be two people to choose from. This year there was no second round in Katowice because Mr. Marcin Krupa received more than half of the votes. There will be a second round in Bytom. There, Mr. Mariusz Wołosz received the most votes, but it was less than half.
In Poland, there are also parliamentary elections and presidential elections - then we choose the president of the country. The tradition of elections in Poland is very, very old. Over four hundred and fifty years ago, elections for... a king were held in Poland! There were several candidates then, and Henryk Valois was chosen. And local assemblies, i.e. local government elections, were held over six hundred years ago!
Democracy in Poland has a long tradition and today everyone can run and be elected. Some say this is not the case, but they are candidates themselves and no one stops them from criticizing the government. I am very glad that in my country there is freedom of speech and we can freely choose people who will rule in cities and in the state. If democracy was at risk in Poland, these people would not be able to speak negatively about the current government all the time on radio, television and the Internet, and they would not be able to run in the elections. I would like there to be freedom of speech all over the world, just like in Poland.
Thank you very much for listening to this podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar.
The origins of cinema date back to the end of the 19th century. Back then, movies were black and white and without sound. Later, films with sound appeared, and later in color. Today you can watch movies in the Dolby Surround system, i.e. the speakers are in front of and behind the viewer, and the sound surrounds us and we feel as if we were in the middle of the action. 3D movies are becoming more and more popular.
Most cinemas are large facilities with many screens and often several films are shown at the same time. You can just show up and a movie will start soon.
Of course, we usually don't go to the cinema to see a movie, but to see one that we might like. That's why we check the repertoire in advance, i.e. what films are shown on a given day and at what times. If a movie is popular, it is shown several times a day. If not, sometimes only once.
Tickets are not cheap. We will pay about PLN 25 for one film. That's why many people prefer to stay at home and watch a movie online. However, in my opinion, watching films is better in the cinema and you feel more emotions. Usually, advertisements and previews of other movies are shown before the movie. That's why many people come late to the cinema so as not to watch commercials, but only the movie.
There are also arthouse cinemas in Poland. These are small cinemas where tickets are usually cheaper. There are other films in the repertoire, slightly less popular, but often more interesting and, as they say, more ambitious, i.e. with more interesting and deeper content.
Foreign films can be seen in two versions - dubbed or with subtitles. Dubbed films are those in which you can't hear the original actors, but Polish ones. Everything said by the characters on the screen is in Polish. The version with subtitles is when we hear everything in the original version, and the translation can be read at the bottom of the screen. I definitely prefer the second option. With exceptions, I never like dubbing. The exceptions include "Shrek", the Polish version of which is very funny.
Foreign films are mainly popular in Poland. There are also many Polish films in cinemas. Which are better? It's a matter of taste, although I personally like Polish comedies, and the rest of the films are not the best in my opinion. Maybe one day better films will be made in Poland. I hope.
Thank you very much for listening to this podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar.
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Today I will tell you about Polish Independence Day.
We celebrate Independence Day in Poland on November eleventh. On this day, in the year one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, after one hundred and twenty-three years of partition, Poland regained independence. Previously, Polish lands were occupied by Russia, Germany (then called Prussia) and Austria. The most difficult situation was in Russia and Prussia, because Poles were disliked the most there. That's why the end of this time is so important in our history. We regained our home, our country, Poland.
The first years of freedom were very difficult. We had to fight for Polish land because there were no defined borders. Poles from various places wanted to be in Poland, which is why they fought for it, among others, in Silesia and Greater Poland. Communist Russia was a very big threat. In nineteen nineteen, the Red Army, as the Russian army was called, attacked Poland. The young state had to defend itself. Fortunately, it worked - that's why we have another holiday on August 15, the anniversary of the Miracle on the Vistula, the Battle of Warsaw when we defeated Russia. If Russia won, it would attack Germany and other countries, forcing them to adopt communism.
It was a difficult time for Poland. The new state was built almost from scratch, because Polish lands had been divided for over a hundred years. They were very different from each other and were administered differently. However, the whole society worked hard. Culture and economy developed rapidly.
Freedom in Poland was not long in coming. In nineteen thirty-nine, Germany and Russia attacked Poland and destroyed our country. After World War II, Poland was ruled by communists and had to obey orders from Moscow. The holiday of November 11 was banned. The communists did not want to hear about a free Poland, they preferred a country that was subordinated to the Soviet Union. The situation began to change in the 1980s, but it was only from 1989 that people could really celebrate.
November 11 is a very important day and every year many people discuss and wonder what freedom is and how to use it well. It is also an opportunity to celebrate and hundreds of thousands of people take part in marches and other events on this day.
Personally, I am very happy that I live in a free country and that I can speak Polish. During the partitions it was not that easy. It was not allowed to speak the native language in schools. Under communism, however, it was not allowed to oppose the communist system. Today, fortunately, Poland is free, not socialist or communist.
Thank you very much for listening to this podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar.
A series is a series of films that share the same characters, nature or theme. You could say that the series is a film in episodes. Some have only a few episodes, others have a lot. One of the longest is certainly The Bold and the Beautiful, a series with almost eight thousand episodes! This is an American production. The longest Polish series is Klan, which has over three thousand three hundred episodes! Someone who creates these series must have a lot of imagination.
One of the older ones is Civil War. The series was created in 1965-1966. It's a funny story about the problems of Polish teenagers at that time. What was going on there! Even though it's a black and white film and older than me, I had a lot of fun watching the adventures of Paweł and Anula. Irena Kwiatkowska played in the series and was Paweł's mother. She was a great actress and very fun to watch.
Another very good series from the old days is Czterdziestolatka. The main character is engineer Stefan Karwowski, the titular forty-year-old. The action is set in the 1970s, i.e. during the times of the Polish People's Republic. The series is funny and at the same time shows the problems of middle age (i.e. when you are over forty). I'm already thirty-five and I admit that I'm a little afraid of what it will be like.
Now let's go back to the 1990s. In 1998, the production of the Miodowe Lata series began. This is also a comedy. This time about two neighbors and friends - driver Karol Krawczyk and Tadeusz Norek, an employee of the municipal sewage system. Each of them has a wonderful and very sensible wife. Without them, our heroes would have a hard time. They constantly have different ideas on how to become rich and that's why they have a lot of problems. Honey Years is not just a series. The series was recorded in a theater, so it is also a theater performance. There were spectators there watching everything live.
I have to tell you about another comedy series that I really liked. It's about the Ranch. This time we are in the countryside, visited by Lucy, an American who inherited a beautiful manor house in Wilkowyje. This is one of the most popular Polish series, very interesting and humorously touching on current social issues. The film Ranczo Wilkowyje was also based on the series.
In every series, the cast is important, i.e. actors who play different roles. I have already mentioned Irena Kwiatkowska. I would also like to mention Cezary Żak's very good acting in the series. He played Karol Krawczyk in Miodowe Laty and twins - Piotr and Paweł Kozioł in Rancz. There were also many other very good actors in the series and I hope to tell you more about them someday.
Fragments and sometimes entire episodes of these series can be found on YouTube. Ranczo is on the VOD platform of Polish television. So I encourage you to find and watch at least a few episodes. This is a very good way to learn Polish.
Thank you very much for listening to this podcast. I hope you liked it. If you want to learn more about the words that appeared in this episode, as usual, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. There you will find the entire transcript of the episode and additional exercises to consolidate some grammar.
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Each country has its tallest, longest and so on. What is the best thing in Poland?
Let's start with geography. The highest mountain in Poland is Rysy. The height of Rysy is 2,499 meters above sea level. However, it is not the most difficult mountain to climb. The most difficult thing is to climb Orla Perć. The longest river is the Vistula. It is 1,047 kilometers long. The largest lake is Śniardwy, which has an area of 113.4 kilometers. The deepest one is about 110 meters deep. Its name is Hańcza.
If we look at cities, the largest is Warsaw, with over one million seven hundred thousand inhabitants. The Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis, which is not actually a city, has a special statute. If it were, it would be the largest city in Poland. Nearly two million three hundred thousand people live in the Metropolis.
The largest village in Poland is Zawoja, which has an area of approximately 100 square kilometers. It is also the longest village, 25 kilometers long. The most populous village is Kozy, with 12.5 thousand inhabitants. Interestingly, the smallest city in Poland has 906 inhabitants.
Now a bit of history. The oldest city in Poland is probably Kalisz, which was already written about by Ptolemy, a geographer from ancient Greece. However, it is difficult to confirm whether he really wrote about the city where Kalisz is today. That is why it is often said that the oldest city in Poland was founded in 1211, and it is Złotoryja. Speaking of history, I must tell you about certain doors. The oldest door in the country is over 800 years old and is located in Gniezno. Polish trees are also old, and the oldest is the Henrykowski Yew, which is almost 1,300 years old!
Kraków is unique in this respect. This city has the largest medieval square in Europe. The Krakow Market Square has existed since 1257. Krakow is also home to the oldest church in Poland, the oldest Polish university, a hotel and the oldest shopping center. A real city of records.
Other interesting places include the longest fountain in Europe, which is in Łódź. It is 300 meters long. The narrowest house in the world is in Warsaw. It is only 152 centimeters wide. There is also one unique street. It starts at an altitude of 830 m above sea level and ends at the meteorological observatory on Mount Śnieżka in Karpacz at an altitude of 1,602 m above sea level. It is the highest street in the country.
Some say that Polish is the most difficult language in the world. It's hard to say if this is true. It's definitely not the easiest one. Many words are very difficult to pronounce, for example Szczebrzeszyn, bile or happiness. Even more difficult are tongue twisters, such as "King Charles bought Queen Caroline coral-colored beads." Even more difficult is Jan Brzechwa's poem, which begins as follows: In Szczebrzeszyn, a beetle sounds in the reed / And Szczebrzeszyn is famous for it.
Poland has many of its best, much more than I could tell you today. We also have something that no one else in the world has. There is a saying: "Polish girls have the most vitamins." This means they are the most beautiful in the world. There is something about it. Many people learn Polish because they met a girl from Poland!
Thank you very much for listening to this episode. I hope you liked it. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com, where you will find the recording of the entire episode, additional exercises and many other interesting materials. If you like what I do, please support me on Patreon! The link is in the description. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Every morning, coffee puts me on my feet, and on cold days there is nothing like tea with honey. These two extremely popular drinks are with us every day.
Many people cannot imagine a day without a cup of one of these hot drinks. The English traditionally drink a cup of tea at five in the afternoon. In Japan, there is a whole ritual of brewing, i.e. preparing and drinking tea. In Russia, a special device is used called a samovar. It helps boil water and brew tea. Tibet has yet different traditions, and China has yet another.
When it comes to coffee, the most important thing for Italians is espresso, but cappuchino also comes from this country. There are many types of tea and coffee. There are black, green, red and other teas. You can drink them with milk, sugar or lemon. Coffee is also drunk with milk, then we call it white coffee. If we do not add milk to coffee, it is black coffee. Coffee can also be instant, loose or from an espresso machine. You could say that human imagination is constantly creating new types of these drinks.
The oldest café in Europe that I found out about was founded in Belgrade in 1522! In Poland, the first one was in Warsaw, opened in 1724. Interestingly, the first café in Austria was founded by a Pole, Jerzy Kulczycki. He was also the first to add milk to coffee, because the inhabitants of Vienna did not like black coffee.
Specialists in coffee brewing appeared in the courts, also in Poland. People responsible for making coffee were called coffee makers. Adam Mickiewicz wrote about them in "Pan Tadeusz". Although this is not an easy text, please listen:
“There is no coffee like this in Poland in any country: In Poland, in a decent house, according to ancient custom, there is a separate woman to make coffee, her name is the coffee maker; "she brings from the city or takes the best quality grains from the countryside and knows secret ways of cooking the drink, which has the blackness of coal, the transparency of amber, the smell of moka and the thickness of a honey liquid."
Both drinks are beneficial to your health as long as you consume them in moderation. There is a Polish saying "too much of anything is unhealthy". However, a few cups is nothing bad.
The benefits of drinking tea include easier weight loss. Tea also helps fight stress and delays aging. It protects the liver and reduces the risk of cancer. The list of benefits of tea is very, very long and one could talk about them endlessly.
Coffee prevents diabetes and reduces the risk of cancer and other diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It also helps fight depression. And of course it gives you energy!
In both cases, do not overdo it. If someone drinks more than five cups of coffee a day, it is too much. However, one, two or three cups can help the most.
Thank you very much for listening to this episode. I hope you liked it. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com, where you will find the recording of the entire episode, additional exercises and many other interesting materials. If you like what I do, please support me on Patreon! The link is in the description. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Most people in Poland live in cities. However, there is something magical in the countryside that makes many people enjoy spending time in the countryside.
The village is peaceful, the village is cheerful! Which voice can praise your praise? Who can enjoy your holidays and benefits? Can you mention all of them at once?
This is an old text that says that the countryside is a peaceful and cheerful place. The poet says that it is impossible to easily describe how beautiful the village is. So what's so good about the countryside?
First of all, fresh air. The countryside is cleaner and healthier than in the city. The air is less polluted there. This is very important and people who live in the city like to spend time in cleaner places. Today, ecology and contact with nature are important to us. Every day we can be closer to nature in the countryside.
Another reason is healthy food, especially fruits and vegetables. They are bred there in a traditional, ecological way. If someone is on holiday in the countryside, they can often pick fruit directly from a tree or bush. You can buy vegetables, eggs and milk directly from the farmer. All without preservatives, without unhealthy chemicals added to the food we buy in stores.
Living in the countryside is also cheaper than in the city. If someone only spends their holidays there, they can not only relax, but also save a lot. You can also buy a house there cheaper than in the city. Those who live in the countryside also meet new people and new customs. Many traditions are still alive there and you can get to know the folk culture of your country better.
When we are among fields and forests, time passes slower. You can calm down and forget about stress. Nature is all around us, so you can observe how animals live, and you can see the stars better at night. I really like looking at the sky and I am interested in astronomy. I would see a lot more outside the city!
Do I like the countryside? Very! I often went on agricultural holidays with my parents. This is a holiday in the countryside. Farmers rent rooms or a separate house for people who want to spend a quiet holiday. They serve homemade food and allow those interested to learn more about rural customs. For me, it was a time when I could visit interesting places and read a lot of books. I liked long walks among the fields with my dog. Now I don't go to the countryside so often. I have less time and more work. However, in the future I could live in the countryside. It would be nice to have a nice house in a beautiful area. I would read books and my dog would run around the garden.
Of course, everyday life in the countryside is not easy if someone is a farmer. It's hard and difficult work. That's why life in the countryside looks nice and easy if someone only spends their holidays there or lives there, but works in the city or via the Internet. There are also matters that can only be dealt with in the city. So you often need a car. Still, if there was such an opportunity, I would gladly live in the countryside and create new podcasts there! However, I would not become a farmer because I do not know how to cultivate the field.
Thank you very much for listening to this episode. I hope you liked it. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com, where you will find the recording of the entire episode, additional exercises and many other interesting materials. If you like what I do, please support me on Patreon! The link is in the description. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. The days are getting shorter now, it's getting colder. It means winter is coming. It's already snowing in Poland, so it's time for a podcast about winter!
Winter is one of the four seasons. The others are spring, summer and autumn. Winter is the time when snow falls and temperatures are below zero. What we most often associate with this period is snow and frost, but also sledding, holidays, skiing or building a snowman. So what does winter look like in Poland?
Officially, according to the calendar, winter begins on December twenty-first. The first snow usually appears earlier - sometimes even in November. This snow is different. Sometimes it rains lightly, other times it rains heavily. The prettiest one is fresh, when there are no traces of shoes or cars. Beautiful views are created in villages and suburbs. Unfortunately, snow on the streets and in city centers quickly turns gray and dirty.
The temperature in winter varies, but it is never warm. Sometimes it is positive, i.e. above zero, and then the snow melts, i.e. turns into water. Then, when the temperature drops, the water freezes, i.e. turns into ice. You have to be very careful because you can slip! In winter it can even be minus twenty degrees, and the record is less than minus forty! So it is sometimes very hot in summer and cold in winter. It is very important to dress warmly and not catch a cold.
When we dress warmly, we put on a sweater, a jacket, a scarf around our neck, a hat on our head and gloves on our hands. Some people dress like onions to keep it even warmer. They put on a T-shirt, a sweatshirt, a sweater, a fleece and a jacket. They are wearing several layers of clothes. They have layers – just like an onion.
If we are warmly dressed, we can go for a walk. When there is a lot of snow, children make snowballs and throw them. This is a snowball fight. I really liked it when I was a child. I also built a snowman, like other children. You had to make a big snow globe, then another one, a smaller one, then another one, and then put them on top of each other. Make hands out of sticks and eyes and a nose out of pebbles. In the movies, the snowman's nose is usually made of carrot, but I've never seen one like that. As a child, I also really liked sledding. It was a lot of fun!
Many people practice winter sports. They go skiing or snowboarding. These sports are a bit risky because you can break a leg or an arm, but they are still very popular. People go to the mountains to have fun in the snow. Another winter sport is ice skating. These are special shoes with special steel parts attached to them, thanks to which you can skate and slide on ice. Ice rinks are often organized in cities, where everyone can have fun and skate.
When we come back home after all the winter fun, there is nothing like hot tea. Plain or fruity, often with honey added. You have to warm up, after all. We often eat something sweet. If you want to go crazy, go crazy!
Thank you very much for listening to this episode. I hope you liked it. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com, where you will find the recording of the entire episode, additional exercises and many other interesting materials. If you like what I do, please support me on Patreon! The link is in the description. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. This episode is published on a special day of the year - Christmas Eve!
Christmas Eve is the day before Christmas. It's December 24th. Then in Poland, Christmas celebrations begin in the evening. Before noon, many people are still working. Others prepare a special dinner called the Christmas Eve supper. There are a lot of traditions associated with it. Many families sit down to the Christmas Eve table after the first star appears in the evening sky. According to tradition, there should be 12 dishes on the table, because there were so many apostles. However, before we start eating, we share the wafer. This is such a special piece of bread. Then we also wish each other well. Sharing the wafer is a symbol - it shows that we want to share with our loved ones what is important in life - bread. And bread is a symbol of everything we have. We simply show that we want what is best for our relatives and friends.
On Christmas Eve, we try to meet primarily with family. However, in Poland there is always one free seat at the table. It is for someone who may be lonely or even without a home. This evening we are ready to invite home anyone who knocks on our door. I really like this custom. It shows traditional Polish hospitality.
During supper, according to some traditions, you are not allowed to get up from the table. Everyone must be seated at all times. Perhaps this shows that the family should be together at this time and not deal with preparing food and other less important things.
Carols, or Christmas songs, are very important. Many families sing them together after dinner. Polish Christmas carols are beautiful, and my favorite is God is Born. You can find this and many other Polish Christmas carols on YouTube, Spotify and many other places on the Internet, so I highly recommend it. It is also available made by Accantus studio artists on Wikipedia. Let's listen. “God is born, power trembles, * The Lord of heaven is laid bare, * The fire solidifies, the light darkens, * (All). It has infinite limits: * Despised, glorified; * A mortal king over the ages, * And the word became flesh, * And dwelt among us.”
Of course, gifts under the tree are obligatory. It is on Christmas Eve in Poland that presents are placed under the Christmas tree. They are given by an Angel, Baby Jesus, Baby Jesus or a Star. Santa Claus hands out gifts earlier, on December 6, but not on Christmas Eve. This is the tradition, although today it changes a bit. In my house, however, it was the Child who always brought gifts. Of course, children enjoy gifts the most! Sometimes presents lie under the tree all day long, but they should not be opened too early.
Christmas is a Christian holiday, so many families go to church at night. There, at midnight, there is a special mass called midnight mass. People, like shepherds, want to welcome Jesus into the world. It's a very special and beautiful time.
Then there are two days of Christmas. This time is spent with family and friends. People don't go to work to celebrate and be together. I really like Polish traditions because they show what is most important during these holidays. It's not about gifts or food. The most important thing is something else. In my opinion, everyone, including people who are not believers, can see something like this during this holiday. Because it's time to be good. Reconcile if we have quarreled with someone. Try to change your life. For the New Year, we make resolutions to lose weight or learn a new language. At Christmas, our resolution can be to be better people for others. I think this is very important. There is a lot of hatred and strife in the world today. This needs to change, and this is only possible if we start with ourselves.
Thank you very much for listening to this episode and I wish you all the best for Christmas. Let this be a special time for you - a time of love and goodness. I am a believer, so I wish you God's blessing. May the One whose birth we are celebrating always help you become better in life. Of course, next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Happy Christmas!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Today is the last day of 2018. This is the time when we take stock of the past, but also look to the future. What will happen in the near future? What will happen in a year, two or more?
What will the future hold? When I was a kid, 2019 was science fiction to me. Time passed and science fiction became the present. Now we also look into the coming years and ask ourselves: what will it be like? Will it get better or worse?
As every year, we will buy more online. Perhaps there will be fewer and fewer regular stores. Will the overall economy grow? This is not known. In the United States, probably yes, but in the European Union it is not so certain. Will we be richer? Hard to say. If taxes go up, we probably won't.
In politics, there will almost certainly be Brexit, i.e. Great Britain will leave the European Union. But what else? The European Union is going through difficult times. There is more and more terrorism and people are more and more dissatisfied. Will there be big changes in policy? Unfortunately, I don't know.
When it comes to series and films, fans of The Witcher will certainly be happy, because next year there will be a series based on Andrzej Sapkowski's books. I wonder if it will be successful. New Star Wars is also scheduled to be released.
What else will the new year bring? Maybe we can take better care of the planet? People are increasingly trying to live ecologically. Next year or in two or three years we will produce less plastic and protect nature more. I would like there to be more trees and green areas so that we could breathe.
Everyone hopes that we will cure all diseases. Currently, many diseases are incurable, meaning we have no cure for them. In a few or several dozen years, medicine will already know the cures for such diseases. People will live longer and have more strength and energy.
We will also fly more into space. In about twenty years, a manned mission will fly to Mars. It will be a great event, just like the discovery of America or the flight to the Moon. I wonder when we will fly further, to other planets or to other stars? Maybe in a hundred or two hundred years? There are already ideas to send probes to the nearest stars, but when will this become a reality? Will it be in a year or in ten years? We don't know that because there are no specific plans yet.
The future will definitely be a surprise. Twenty years ago, no one would have predicted Facebook or smartphones. Similarly, future inventions will also be a surprise for us. It is very difficult to predict the future, even the near future. Science fiction authors have often described our times. According to their forecasts, people are already flying regularly to the Moon and other planets. But that didn't happen, so we may have to wait a little longer for many of the new discoveries. Others, however, will arrive earlier and will surprise us.
The future is bright for fortune tellers and clairvoyants. They see in the stars and glass balls what will happen in the coming year. However, such predictions are of little value because they are not based on facts. The statements of these people can be interpreted in many ways, and often they are simply very general. The future is in our hands. Often it is our choices and actions that have the greatest impact on what will happen in our lives.
What are my plans for 2019? I want to learn foreign languages regularly. I want to continue creating podcasts and other materials for learning Polish. I would also like to do things to learn other languages - English and German. Maybe I'll do a podcast about languages in English if I have time. It will definitely be easier for me to find it if I know that you like my materials. That's why I invite you to my blog, on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Write to me and I will try to answer. What would you like to find on my blog or hear in my podcasts?
Thank you very much for listening to this episode and I wish you all the best in the New Year. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Each of us shops. Some every day, others less often. Today we will talk about this very topic.
I have already told you about shopping malls, i.e. large centers with many shops. There are not only art galleries in Poland, but also shopping malls. Who invented it? I don't know. I don't really like it, but there's nothing I can do. We can shop in shopping malls, but also in other stores - small, local or large supermarkets. There are also discount stores where prices are usually low.
I don't like shopping. I was very close to the store for a very long time. All you had to do was go down the stairs, leave the tenement house and right next to the door there was a door to the store. Unfortunately, this store is no longer there and I have to go shopping elsewhere. This store had everything you need for everyday food. Very good fruit and vegetables, cheese and meats, cookies and sweets. You could buy frozen dumplings, noodles and even pizza. I most often bought food there for breakfast and lunch. You could buy very good bread in this store.
The bread there wasn't the cheapest, but it wasn't the most expensive either. A large loaf cost four zlotys and forty groszy. You can buy bread cheaper in supermarkets, e.g. Biedronka or Lidl, but I don't like it that much. It's similar with fruit. Maybe the ones from discount stores are nicer, but less tasty. They also usually contain more chemicals.
“Chemicals” here means everything that is unnatural, e.g. preservatives or insect repellents. If something has a lot of chemicals, it is not organic. Food in discount stores and supermarkets is often cheaper, but it contains a lot of chemicals.
Small stores are usually grocery stores, i.e. places where you can buy food. Other shops include, for example, flower shops where we buy flowers. You can buy shoes in shoe stores. There are also clothing stores, i.e. clothes. Clothes can also be purchased in markets and supermarkets. I don't like these purchases the most. I don't like trying on clothes because they often don't have my size. I'm tall and it's hard for me to find my size. The legs are too short or the pants are too narrow. Sweaters too tight. Everything is too small for me. Besides, I prefer to spend my money on other things.
My favorite stores are bookstores and antique shops. You can buy new books in bookstores and used books in antique shops. When I find an interesting book, it makes me very happy. I really like reading and learning, so books are my friends. Good reading, i.e. reading a book, is my way of spending my free time. Some are very rare and difficult to obtain. These are real gems, white ravens. Such books are the decoration of every library.
Sometimes I also go to electronics stores to look at new electronic equipment, such as computers and phones. However, I usually buy electronics online. Nowadays, such purchases are becoming more and more popular. Online prices are lower and the selection is wider. The most popular place for shopping is Allegro. You can find almost everything there - new and used, and you can compare prices from different sellers. Buyers, i.e. customers, can leave an opinion or rating for sellers. This way, others know whether the seller is trustworthy.
That's all about shopping, at least for now. Thank you very much for listening to this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I am also asking for support through Patreon so that I can continue to create Polish learning materials for you. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Everyone must or had to go to school. Only those who want to continue learning go to university. They study at a college or university.
Each of us went to school when we were children. In Poland, children go to primary school at the age of seven. Then they go to high school and then they can go to college if they want. It is a different learning experience than at school, more difficult and requiring a lot of time and work. You can study different things at different types of universities, i.e. universities.
The most famous type is university. These are the main universities where you can study almost anything. As the name suggests, they are very universal. There are different departments in universities. These are parts of the university that deal with one field of science. So there are philological faculties where you study languages, biology, chemistry, mathematics, history, social sciences and so on.
Another type of higher education institution is a polytechnic. It is similar to a university, but it specializes and deals primarily with technical sciences. Here you can study, for example, electronics or computer science. There are also medical schools, agricultural schools and many others. They used to be called academies, and now they are also universities, even though only selected fields of science are taught there.
Anyone who passes the high school leaving exam can study in Poland. The Matura exam is an exam at the end of high school and without it you cannot go to university. And then three or five or more years of learning.
The first degree you can pursue in college is a bachelor's degree. You have to study for three years and at the end write a thesis or pass an exam. Then there's a master's degree. It's another two years and another, longer job. A bachelor's thesis is about fifty pages, and a master's thesis is one hundred. If someone wants to go further, they can pursue a PhD. However, it is not about a doctor - a doctor, someone who works in a hospital. Doctor is also an academic title. Subsequent titles include habilitated doctor and then professor.
Professors, doctors and sometimes also masters lecturers at universities. Students go to classes, i.e. lessons, but at the university. Classes may be lectures, when students listen to what the lecturer or teacher says. These may be exercises that are more similar to lessons because students actively work on them.
The library is a very important place. Students are not always willing to go there, but it is a very important place. You can find specialized books there. In scientific work, it is very important to know what other scientists have already done. In the library you can also read professional magazines and scientific periodicals. A periodical is also a magazine, but often instead of a scientific journal it is called a scientific periodical.
I graduated from college and I liked it so much that now I'm finishing another one. Because you can follow several directions in life, i.e. have scientific titles in various fields. My dream is to be able to continue learning - I am passionate about languages and I would like to study linguistics. Time will tell whether this dream will come true. However, if I don't succeed at university, I have a lot of books myself and I will read them. As the saying goes, "a person learns throughout his life." In fact, there is no end to learning and it is worth constantly developing and expanding your knowledge.
I hope you managed. This was a more difficult section, but sometimes it's worth challenging yourself. Thank you very much. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I am also asking for support through Patreon so that I can continue to create Polish learning materials for you. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Today we will move to the world of film. However, I will not talk about types of films, but about how films are made. Why? Because I recently starred in a movie! If you want to know what role I played, you'll have to wait a while.
It all started a few days ago. My friend wrote to me on Facebook: Hello, Janek! How's life? I have some business for you, we are looking for someone to take part in a few film shots this Saturday at 7 p.m. Would you be interested in something like this?
Of course I said yes! At 7 p.m. I was at the agreed place. We met to shoot a movie. To make a film is to make a film. The film is shot on a film set. A film set is a place where a movie is shot. The following people work on the film set.
The most important thing is the director. He is the one who tells everyone what to do. He is the boss and manages the work on the film set. There is also a camera operator. This is the person who records what is happening. The next person is a lighting specialist, i.e. someone who is responsible for the light. It is very important that everything is clearly visible in the film. To make sure you can hear it well, we also have a sound engineer. In addition, there is a set designer on the film set who makes sure everything is set up correctly, as well as many other people.
Of course, actors also work on film sets. From the most important, i.e. those in the foreground, to the less important ones who usually say nothing. These are extras, i.e. those who do not play important roles. Although without them the film set would be empty. If in a movie we watch the action take place on a bus, most of the passengers are extras.
Now it's time to reveal the secret. In the film I took part in, I was... an extra! I did have a speaking role though! Two words, but something! Who knows, maybe I'll have a fantastic career in film? For sure, if this video is available on YouTube, I will share it with you.
Making a movie is not as easy as it seems. The film I'm taking part in will be about 10 minutes long and its production took all night. You often have to repeat yourself and go to different places. It's very interesting because you have to learn to show different emotions.
I'm finishing this episode. I wanted to tell you what it's like to shoot a film. Unfortunately, I think I caught a bit of a cold and should rest. Maybe next time I'll be able to prepare a longer episode for you.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I am also asking for support through Patreon so that I can continue to create Polish learning materials for you. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. This time, instead of a regular podcast, I wanted to offer you a story.
Who buys an apartment without seeing it first? I. I do not know why. It was a moment of stupidity. Now I'm standing in front of the door and I don't want to open it. What if it is very old? Maybe it's neglected and I'll have to renovate it? I've been standing there for twenty minutes and nothing. I hesitated for a moment.
Before me was a very strange room. The walls were gray and dirty. On the opposite side was a large red couch. Not red! It looked like she was covered in blood. Really! She used to be white, but now almost everything was covered in blood! There was a table in front of her. It was small and brown. There was a skull on the table. I didn't know if it was human or animal. Terrible. There was a painting hanging above the sofa. It was an image of a skeleton dancing with human figures. Something like a medieval danse macabre. I didn't want to go in, but something pushed me inside. The door slammed loudly. There was a bathroom on the left and a wardrobe on the right. Everything was dirty, as if it had not been used for many years.
– Now that I'm inside, I'll check out the whole apartment. - I thought. Such places filled me with fear, but also with curiosity. I didn't know how it would end for me, but I had to, I just had to watch everything.
To the right of the first room was the kitchen. The kitchen had everything you would normally find in a kitchen. A table, four chairs, an oven, a refrigerator and so on. The furniture wasn't old, but covered with cobwebs and dust. Everything looked like something out of a horror movie. The fridge was empty. Inside there was only an envelope. Blue, with coffee stains.
Next to the kitchen there were two rooms - a bedroom and a study. There was a bed in the bedroom. What a bed it was! Very large with a dark red canopy. There were two bedside tables on the sides of the bed. The surprise for me was the fact that there was also a TV. It was covered in dust like the other furniture in the apartment.
There was also a second bedroom in the apartment. Smaller than the first one. There was a bed, a desk and a wardrobe. The bed was not as big as in the first bedroom. Single, modern, brown. Also the desk and wardrobe were modern. But why raspberry? They looked like IKEA furniture. They were dirty. There was a small mirror on the desk. It was broken, as if someone had punched it. There was a poster from a zombie movie hanging on the wall.
– Sorry to disturb you. Are you already in the apartment? Because the previous owner called me and said that he forgot to take his things out of the apartment. He wants to come today to pick up the furniture and everything he left there. There was an escape room there before, he said you might get scared if you saw it...
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I am also asking for support through Patreon so that I can continue to create Polish learning materials for you. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. He who gives and takes away… uses the accusative case! the verbs to give and receive are connected with the accusative case (accusative in English). Today I will try to help you with this case. We will use it with different verbs.
Let's start with the verb "to have". If we have something, we have the accusative case. What can you have? You can go crazy! To be crazy means to be very interested in something, to like something very much. When I was a child, this was a very popular song. The accusative case is used several times in the chorus. Let's listen:
Każdymajakiegośbzika, każdyjakieśhobbyma,
Everyone has some crazy, everyone has a hobby,
ajawdomumamchomika, kota, rybkiorazpsa.
and at home I have a hamster, a cat, a fish and a dog.
Każdymajakiegośbzika, każdyjakieśhobbyma,
Everyone has some crazy, everyone has a hobby,
ajawdomumamchomika, kota, rybkiorazpsa.
and at home I have a hamster, a cat, a fish and a dog.
I also have a dog at home. His name is Blogger. He has toys - balls and a rubber bone. I also have a hobby. I'm crazy about languages. Naturally, I have a lot of books and a computer. I also have furniture: a bed, a table, a wardrobe, a sofa and so on. Many people have a car. If someone has a job, he also has money. Attention! In Polish, if I have something, I use the accusative case. Unfortunately, if I don't have something, I use another case - the genitive case. For example, she has a car and he doesn't have a car. I have a book, you don't have a book. So you have to be careful.
Of course it's nice to have money, a car and so on. However, the most important thing is to have family and friends. And also find (also with the accusative case) the love of your life, preferably one with pretty eyes! And if someone has nice eyes, who will they give them to?
Let's go back to the accusative case. When else do we use it? When we like something. If we have a friend, we like him or her. You can also like books, languages, money, people. I like books, so I have a lot of books. I like languages, so I have books for learning foreign languages. And since we like the accusative, we also love the accusative. So we love our husband, wife and children. You can love your boyfriend or girlfriend. In Polish, to love is a strong word and we don't use it as often as, for example, in English, where it often means to like very much. You can say that you love foreign languages, but more often we will say that we like them very much.
Now that we have things and like them, let's move on to the next topic. Accusative is also food and drink. So we eat breakfast, for example. And for breakfast we eat bread or rolls, cheese and cold meats. We can also eat scrambled eggs or cornflakes for breakfast. You can also drink coffee or tea. Some people drink juice or mineral water. In the afternoon we eat lunch, and for dinner we eat potatoes, meat and salad. In the evening we eat dinner.
Do you know any other verbs that take the accusative case? These include: knowing, getting to know, meeting, seeing, remembering. For example, in a short story like this. I know an actor very well. I saw him on TV once. Then I met him (the actor) at the theater. He was in drag, but I recognized him! I saw him in the store later. I wonder if he recognized me? Did he remember me from the theater? I remembered him very well!
I almost forgot! We also give the accusative case. So we give gifts on holidays or birthdays. You can give someone a book or a mug as a gift. Many people like to read books, so you can give them a book. If someone likes movies or watching movies, you can give them a movie on DVD. If we meet someone special, we can give that person a unique gift. If we give something as a gift, it would be rude to receive it later. You can pick up various things - a letter or a parcel at the post office. Negative connections can also take someone's life, i.e. kill them. If we tell a story (also with the accusative case), if we tell a crime story, it is there that the murderer takes someone's life and kills someone. Then the detective investigates the case and finds... who? murderer.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I am also asking for support through Patreon so that I can continue to create Polish learning materials for you. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Valentine's Day is coming soon. Maybe they already are or were? It depends when you listen to this episode. Anyway, today I wanted to talk to you about feelings. Specifically about love and friendship.
Valentine's Day is not a traditional Polish holiday and many people do not like it. I don't celebrate this holiday either, but we can still talk about our feelings on this occasion. Of course I have to start with love. This is probably the strongest feeling. As soon as you fall in love, the world spins around you and the sky becomes serene. Just like in the song...
It was a fragment of a song titled Everything Tells Me That Someone Loved Me by Skaldowie. As the lyrics say, true love is for better and for worse. The point is that you love not only when everything is going well in life, but if you really love, you also love when times are more difficult, when not everything is as we would like it to be.
Where does it come from that sometimes strong, brave and seemingly independent men lose their heads for beautiful women? All because they have a secret weapon...
Wyjesteściemocni, silni– mysłabapłeć,
You are strong, strong - we are the weaker sex,
Leczmymamycoścowyściebychcielimieć,
But we have something that you would like to have,
Cojestwartawaszasiła– waszapięśćitwardadłoń,
What is your strength worth - your fist and your firm hand,
Mykobiety– choćsłabiutkie, mamynawasjednąbroń:
We women, although weak, have one weapon against you:
However, let's leave love and go further on our map of feelings. Another important feeling is friendship. However, finding a friend is not easy. We don't really have many friends. Most of the people we know are our friends. You have few friends - one, two, maybe three. These are people who know a lot about us and about whom we know a lot. People we will always come to the aid of and they will always help us if we need it. A friend is someone very close to you.
There is a saying that friends are found in poverty. Because a true friend will not leave us, even if we are not happy in life. This is how Adam Mickiewicz, the great Polish poet, described it. The poem is not simple, but listen. To make it easier for you to understand, I will say that the word 'kum' means friend. We don't say it like that anymore, but it used to be used often.
Niemaszterazprawdziwejprzyjaźninaświecie;
You have no real friendship in the world now;
OstatniznamjejprzykładwOszmiańskimpowiecie.
The last example I know of was in Ashmyany district.
TamżyłMieszek, kumLeszka, ikumMieszkaLeszek,
There lived Mieszko, my friend Leszek, and my friend Mieszko Leszek,
Ztych, coto: gdziety, tamja,– comoje, totwoje.
Of those who: where you are, there I am, - what's mine is yours.
Mówionoonich, żegdyznaleźliorzeszek,
It was said about them that when they found a peanut,
Ziarnkodzielilinadwoje;
They divided the grain into two;
Słowem, tacyprzyjaciele,
In a word, such friends
Jakichiwtenczasliczononiewiele.
There were very few of them at that time.
Rzekłbyś; dwójduchwjednymciele.
You would say; two spirit in one body.
Otejswojejprzyjaźnirazwcieniudąbrowy
About your friendship once in the shade of an oak tree
Kiedygadali, łączącswojeczułemowy
As they chatted, combining their tender speeches
Dokukańzozulikrakańgawronich,
To the croaks of the zouls and the croaks of the rooks,
Alićryknęłoraptemcośkołonich.
Alić, something suddenly roared near them.
Leszeknadąb; nużpopniuskakaćjakdzięciołek.
Leszek on the oak; now jump on the trunk like a woodpecker.
Mieszektejsztukinieumie,
Mieszko doesn't know this art,
Tylkowyciągazdołuręce:“ Kumie!”
He just holds out his hands: "Kumie!"
Kumjużwylazłnawierzchołek.
Kum has already climbed to the top.
LedwieMieszkowibyłczaszmrużyćoczy,
Mieszko barely had time to close his eyes,
Zbladnąć, paśćnatwarz: ajużniedźwiedźkroczy.
Turn pale, fall on your face: and the bear is already walking.
Trafianaciało, maca: jaktrupleży;
It hits the body, touches it: as the corpse lies;
Wącha: aztegozapachu,
He smells: and from this smell,
Którymógłbyćskutkiemstrachu,
Which could be the result of fear,
Wnosi, żetonieboszczykiżejużnieświeży.
He concludes that he is dead and that he is no longer fresh.
Więcmruknąwszyzewzgardąodwracasięwknieje,
So, muttering with contempt, he turns into the forest,
BoniedźwiedźLitwinmiąsnieświeżychnieje.
Because the Lithuanian bear does not eat stale meat.
Only Mieszko came back to life... "It was difficult with you! – He calls kum, – lucky Mieszko, he didn't scratch you! But why was he panting over you for so long?
Of course, there are many other feelings than just love and friendship. The positive ones are joy, happiness, gratitude, delight or excitement. There are also negative ones, such as hatred, sadness, regret or fear. I hope that there will only be positive things in your life!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I am also asking for support through Patreon so that I can continue to create Polish learning materials for you. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. We talk about a different topic every week. Today I would like to talk about computer games.
Computer games are a type of entertainment. They used to say video games, but I don't think anyone says that anymore. Interestingly, we generally talk about "computer games", even if we mean console games. Today, computer games are very popular and many people play on a computer or console. This wasn't the case before. Computers were expensive, games were difficult to buy.
I remember the times when games could still be lost or copied. Back then they could be bought very cheaply in computer stores. Of course, there was no Internet back then, so you read magazines about computer games to know what was interesting, what game might be interesting. My computer was an Amiga 600. I didn't have a real monitor, so I had a TV connected to the computer. Black and white TV! But I still had a great time. Even earlier, we had another computer at home - ZX Spectrum Plus. It was my dad's computer, but sometimes I could play on it. Those games were very, very simple, but how interesting, how addictive! People sat in front of the screen for hours and played, played and played.
Then in Poland it was forbidden to sell copied games. From then on they were illegal. You had to buy the originals or look for pirated, i.e. illegal, copies. The games were very expensive, so pirated versions were very popular. I remember my first original game. It was called Theme Hospital and it involved building a hospital. You had to earn money, treat patients and respond to various accidents.
This game really fascinated me. It was addictive, which means I liked it very much and I spent a lot of time playing it. We can be absorbed not only by a game, but also by a series or a book. Other games that fascinated me at that time included Sim City 2000 and UFO: Enemy Unknown. In the first one, a city was being built, in the second one, the Earth had to be defended against an alien invasion.
Over time, the games got better and better, and I had better and better equipment, i.e. a computer, and I could play these newer games. However, the old ones were often more interesting. Because although they didn't have great graphics and amazing special effects, they told a more interesting story.
I really like strategy and economic games. I have already mentioned Theme Hospital and Sim City 2000. Other titles of this type that I spent a lot of time on include Civilization and, most recently, Cities Skylines. There are several videos of me playing the latter game on my YouTube channel. They may not be of particularly good quality, but you can listen to more colloquial Polish.
Some people say that games have a bad effect on players, that they are too addictive and addictive. I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. Of course, they can be addictive, like many other things. However, they can also have a positive effect. They develop thinking and teach how to find solutions to various problems. I learned a lot of English by playing computer games. That's why I don't think they're bad. What is your opinion?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I am also asking for support through Patreon so that I can continue to create Polish learning materials for you. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. We talk about a different topic every week. Some time ago we practiced the accusative case, so it's time for another important case - the instrumental case.
As you know, in many languages that use cases, the basic verb, "to be", is combined with the nominative case, the most basic case. However, the Polish language is different and not only the nominative case is needed from the very beginning. When someone says, "I am a teacher," he or she is using an instrumental case. So you can be a teacher, a student, a doctor, an actor. Or a teacher, a student, an actress.
When else do we use the instrumental? When we are interested in something. For example, I am interested in foreign languages and their history, as well as books and genealogy. Astronomy used to be on this list too, but my interest in astronomy has waned a bit over time. Think about what you are interested in. Biology, film, literature or maybe mathematics? There are also other words that express the fact that we are interested in something and are also connected with the instrumental. You can say, for example, that someone is fascinated by something - history, physics or books. Still differently; you can say that you are passionate about something. I like foreign languages. Although, in my opinion, this phrase is more often used in negation, i.e. when we say that we don't like something very much, that we don't like something very much. Therefore, in order not to offend someone and not to say directly that you don't like a certain thing, we will say: I don't like this or that. For example, I don't like peppermint candies, mint toothpaste or mint in general.
As the name suggests, a tool is used to refer to a tool that we use to perform an action. For example, we write with a pen or pencil. We drive or drive a car, fly on a plane, sail on a ship or a boat. Sweeten the tea with sugar and mix with a spoon. This tool is extremely useful! We are constantly doing something with it. We lock the door with a key and pay with a credit card and money. We can even create a short story: Mirek decided to go on a journey. He bought tickets online and paid for them with a credit card. He went to the airport and took a plane to the United States. He took a taxi to the hotel, where he paid for the accommodation in cash. When he was in the room he took out a bottle of beer because he was thirsty. He didn't have an opener, so he opened the bottle with a key. Then he sat on the bed and started drawing the view from the window with a pencil. He was already planning his next journey. He will travel through the United States by car. Then he will fly to Japan. He will sail from Japan to Russia by ship and will travel through Russia by train. Once he had everything planned, he went down to the hotel bar and ordered tea. He sweetened it with sugar, although the bartender suggested sweetener, and stirred it with a spoon. He liked sweet tea. He couldn't wait to see what he saw. He was fascinated by new places and people.
We use the instrumental case so much that there are quite a lot of emotions attached to it. However, there is no need to worry about the official. Yes, the verb 'to worry' is connected to an instrumental case. We may worry about the fate of our loved ones, exams or finances. On the other hand, we can enjoy progress in learning or success at work. It's also a toolkit. If someone is passionate about foreign languages, they may enjoy every new word or worry about the lack of time for learning. However, it is important not to stress out about this tool. Yes, worrying, enjoying and stressing are also connected with the primary because they are tools of our emotions.
Sometimes when we drive a car, we can get stressed out by the situation on the road. Parents worry about their children's careers because they take care of them. I only take care of my dog, others take care of their relatives, friends and so on. Sometimes we may feel like they're trying too hard, but that's because they care so much about us. To worry about something, to be stressed about something, is again an imperative. So we have a lot of these words. You can be stressed, worried, worried or happy about the results of such exams.
Much of it? And this is apparently the easiest case in Polish. However, the most important thing is not to worry too much. It is easier to learn Polish if we have a lot of contact with it. That's why I make podcasts for you, so that you have more opportunities to listen to texts in Polish. Read and listen several times, because "practice makes perfect" as the saying goes. If you like them, please visit Patreon, where you can help me create new ones with even symbolic support.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. I've already told you about my relatives once. One of them was Jan Oko, another Franciszek Reichard von Reichardsperg. How do I know so much about them? Because I am interested in my family history, my genealogy.
One of the first lessons in foreign language textbooks is a lesson about family. We learn the names of family members - mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and so on. Usually it's just a few basic words. Others, such as father-in-law, mother-in-law, great-grandfather or great-grandmother, appear later. Hardly anyone learns rarely used words. For example, in Polish the terms stryjek and stryjenka are used less and less often. An uncle is dad's brother and an aunt is dad's sister or uncle's wife. However, we usually say uncle or aunt. Almost no one has heard of words such as pociot, śukr or swierkra, dzierew or dziewierz. These words are no longer used in Polish. Only genealogy enthusiasts have heard of them.
What is genealogy? The simplest way is to describe family history, create a family tree, and discover ancestors. Most often, we only know our parents and grandparents. Few people are lucky enough to know their great-grandfather or great-grandmother. However, if he wants, he can go to the archives or search on the Internet and find information about his ancestors and distant relatives. Am I interested in genealogy? Of course!
It started when I was about ten years old. I remember such a picture. We were visiting grandma. I had large pieces of paper with me and asked my family about their ancestors and relatives. I was drawing a huge family tree. Who was whose brother, sister, father, mother and so on. But it was fun! It was like traveling back in time.
That's how it started. At the beginning, I did it very simply, unprofessionally, amateurishly. Then I started collecting family documents, writing down stories, and collecting photos. Thanks to this, I also met further family members - some with whom I had no contact before. All this was and is very interesting. This hobby made family gatherings very interesting for me.
I remember my grandfather telling us what life was like for people in Siberia during the war. The part of Poland where he lived with his family during World War II was occupied. Occupation is a situation in which one country is attacked and another takes its territory. My family was deported to Siberia by the communists. Unfortunately, the authorities of the Soviet Union, the country that attacked Poland, did not like the Poles. They wanted to destroy our culture. Many people in my family died during this time. However, my grandfather returned to Poland after the war and was able to tell me about those events. He also said that even before the war he was interested in genealogy and had collected documents. Unfortunately, he couldn't take them with him when he was kicked out of the house and no one in his family ever saw them again.
This story of my grandfather is very sad. However, he also told other, more interesting stories. About how his father fell in love with the blacksmith's daughter when he was going to Lviv and stopped for the night. Other family members also told interesting stories. I even have my great-grandmother's diary, very interesting. Now I look at history completely differently. These are not just dates and events from the book. I know my ancestors were everywhere there. Sometimes I know what they did. I know that they fought against Nazi Germany and opposed communism. I'm glad my family chose freedom. Others, like Jan Oko, whom I told you about, were outstanding scientists. He was interested in Latin and antiquity. I'm also interested in Latin! I think I got it from him.
Genealogy is a great hobby and you can learn a lot. Get to know your relatives, meet new people. For me it's a fascinating journey. Are you also interested in genealogy? Do you know the history of your ancestors? If so, great. If not, don't waste your time. Ask and talk and you will learn a lot of interesting things.
Finally, I would like to add that I would love to learn more about my ancestors and the history of my family. I'm drawn to it almost as much as languages.
That's it for today. I'm glad you're with me. This is the thirty-first episode! These podcasts have been in development for over half a year. It's also a piece of history. I hope you like them and they help you learn Polish. When I listen to podcasts, I listen to them several times to remember everything better. As they say: “practice makes perfect”. If you like them, please visit Patreon, where you can help me create new ones with even symbolic support.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Since the last podcast was about genealogy, we will continue to talk about family. After all, genealogy is learning about family history, and all stories are best learned first-hand - during family meetings.
In Poland, unless we live particularly far away, we often visit our family, especially our parents. Sunday dinners are a tradition because they taste best at mom's. Our mothers will always take care of us and the dinner will be delicious. In Silesia, and perhaps in other parts of Poland, Sunday dinner starts early, at twelve or three o'clock. The dishes include broth, followed by roulade, dumplings and red cabbage. If you haven't eaten it, you must try it, because it is delicious! In other regions of Poland, different dishes are served on the table.
However, it is not the food that is most important, but the meeting. More people often come to such a dinner. I really like it when I can meet my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. A sister-in-law is a brother's wife, and nephews are a brother's sons. Although sometimes meeting my nephews is more exhausting than going to the gym, because they are still small children and have a lot of energy. So we play with blocks, cars, fly into space and visit distant countries. Their imagination knows no limits and I love it. Even though I'm tired after such games, I'm always happy to spend time with my nephews.
We also meet with our family on holidays - especially Christmas and Easter. Then there are more people, which means we will meet in a larger group. It's more festive and solemn.
We don't always feel like having such meetings, but over time we remember them very fondly. I remember that I didn't always feel like going to visit my great-grandmother, and now I regret it very much. Sometimes family gatherings are difficult because we disagree with someone or don't like someone. However, after some time we usually find that family is family, it is the most important thing in our lives. In Poland, for many people, family is still the most important thing, these are the people for whom we can do everything.
I really like this attachment to family. I know myself that even if we don't get along for a while, maybe we argue with each other, then it goes away. Just as the air is fresher after a storm, family relationships are anew. We are happy to meet again, talk to each other and share our experiences. Because although we have a proverb that the best photos are taken with family, we can still repeat the song from Kabaret Starskich Panów.
Rodzina, rodzina, rodzina, achrodzina.
Family, family, family, oh family.
Rodzinaniecieszy, niecieszy, gdyjest,
The family is not happy, it is not happy when it is
Leczkiedyjejnima
But when she's not there
Samotnyśjakpies.
You're as lonely as a dog.
Miałwillęzogródkiem
He had a villa with a garden
Miałgaraż, iauto,
He had a garage and a car,
Żekażdy, conieMiał,
That everyone who didn't have
Zarazbymiećchciałto.
He would like to have this soon.
telefonzplastyku, adapter, ifrak…
plastic phone, adapter, and tailcoat...
Więcczego, achczego, achczegomubrak?
So what, oh what, oh what is he missing?
Rodziny, rodziny, rodziny, achrodziny.
Families, families, families, oh families.
Rodzinaniecieszy, niecieszy, gdyjest,
The family is not happy, it is not happy when it is
I hope you won't be lonely like dogs! I hope and wish you to be happy with your families. And if you have lost contact with each other and maybe you don't meet each other very often, call your relatives and ask what's going on with them. Who knows, maybe they will be happy?
That's it for today. I'm glad you're with me. I hope you like my podcasts and they help you learn Polish. Recently, I started publishing a course for beginners on my website. The first lessons will be very simple for you, but the next ones may be useful as a repetition? As they say: “practice makes perfect”. If you like what I do, please visit Patreon, where you can help me create more Polish learning materials by at least symbolic support.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Hi! Welcome to another podcast "Polish with John". My name is Jan Oko and I want to help you learn Polish. Do you know who was the first on the moon? Neil Armstrong? Of course not! A Pole had already been there. Let me tell you this story.
So there was Twardowski, a good nobleman. He wanted to be wise and live long. Or not die at all. So what did he do? Something you shouldn't do. He read in an old book how to make a pact with the devil. So he called the devil and made a deal with him. Such an agreement with the devil is a pact. Twardowski signed it with his own blood. Our nobleman could demand whatever he wanted from him in exchange for his soul sold to the devil. And he was not to give up his soul until he appeared in Rome.
So Twardowski began to take advantage of the contract and accumulate wealth. The nobleman had various wishes, and Satan had to fulfill all of them to the letter. He even managed to find a beautiful woman and, with the Devil's help, take her as his wife. She had a worm in the bottle and promised to marry only the person who guessed what it was. She said
And Twardowski guessed that it was a bee. But the cunning nobleman was then disguised as a poor man. Then, when his wife was selling pots in Krakow, he, as a rich man, came to the market and ordered his servants to break the pots. He wasn't a very good husband. Although other legends say that she was not a good wife.
This is how our nobleman lived and was doing well, and he was not going to Rome. So the devil used a trick. He pretended to be a courtier of a rich man and asked Twardowski to go to the rich man and cure him of his illness. Twardowski agreed, and the agreed meeting place was to be an inn in a nearby village.
However, Twardowski did not know that this inn was called "Rzym". The devil used this trick and wanted to kidnap him from the inn to his kingdom. However, when they flew over the mountain peaks, Twardowski began to sing a pious song, and the devil could not stand it. And so Twardowski hovered above the Earth and lived on the Moon.
At least that's what legends and legends say. You should ask those who were on the Moon, maybe they met Twardowski there? If we don't want legends, unfortunately no Pole has flown to the Moon. Only Mirosław Hermaszewski was in space in 1978. And a few Polish artificial satellites. But who knows? Maybe one day the Polish lunar base will be named after Mr. Twardowski?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
They are with us everywhere. We don't leave them even for a moment. Our phones. Or rather, smartphones, because that's what we call them in English today.
An ordinary telephone, which I remember from my childhood, was in the kitchen of my parents' house. You could dial the number and talk to whoever you were calling. First, you had to introduce yourself and say who you wanted to talk to. Today we call directly the person we want to talk to and are surprised if someone else answers the phone. It used to be normal. We were picked up by parents, children, husband, wife, and sometimes even visiting family. If someone used the phone for too long, they were exposed to a large bill. That's why parents kept a close watch on their children so that, as they say, they don't "stay on the phone too long."
Our times are a completely different story. Everyone has a smartphone, unlimited calls and text messages, as well as plenty of mobile Internet. You can talk, text with friends, browse the Internet as much as you want, and the bill will be the same as always. There was a time when you had to rely on the Internet because either the package ran out too quickly or you had to pay a lot extra for the excess data transfer. Today it's different. For PLN 25 you can have, in addition to infinite talk time and an infinite number of text messages, at least 15 GB for using the global network.
There's a lot of it all, so is it also that good? Smartphones certainly make life easier. However, they have their drawbacks. One of them is that they are addictive. Probably more than cigarettes.
You can often see a group of friends sitting on their phones instead of talking to each other. They check Facebook, Instagram and other social networking sites. They often cannot put their cell phone down for more than a few minutes. They constantly need to be up to date. This is not a made-up phenomenon, it is a fact and scientists have called this disease phonoholism. This affects everyone, both children and adults. I often find myself having to check what's going on, see if I've received any emails, and so on. Where does this come from?
Apparently the source of such behavior is, among other things, the fear of loneliness. It is increasingly difficult for us to talk "in real life", so we escape into virtual reality. There we feel at the center of events, we feel accepted. Relationships maintained online are simpler and safer than real ones. Because on the Internet it's easier to block someone who we don't like or who we don't like.
Can this be changed? We won't change the whole world, but it's worth trying. Delete unnecessary applications so that they do not tempt you. Sometimes leave the house for a walk without your phone. Log out of the internet and log in to life. Difficult? Definitely. Is it worth it? Of course. Because what is more difficult is often much better for us.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
One of the problems in Polish is the question of when we speak with someone on "you" and when on "Mr., Mrs." The simple answer is… Well, there is no such answer. Some people switch to you faster, others prefer to call themselves Mr. or Ms. The older generation does not adopt it as quickly as the younger generation.
Can you point out any rules? Yes, there are some general rules. If we don't know someone, we will rather use the form mr, pani. In the store, at the office, at work and so on. However, the situation is slightly different in places such as a bar, pub or disco. Then we usually immediately address others as you.
However, these rules are not absolute and simple, even for Poles. When I go to a store, no matter how young the person working in the store is, I don't talk to them. However, there are those for whom it is enough that they have been to this store a few times and no longer use the phrase Mr. or Mrs. Also today, corporations often adopt a more relaxed style and address others by name (i.e. you).
One very general tip is extremely helpful. If it's not someone we know very well, a friend or family, address yourself as Mr. or Mrs. However, whatever form we use, the intonation or the way we say what we want to say is also important.
This applies in particular to foreigners who are learning Polish. No one will be offended by choosing an incorrect form if they hear a foreign accent. Being polite is not only a grammatical form, but also a smile and the mentioned intonation. I'll give you an example and I wonder if you can hear the difference. The words are the same, but the first time I will try to be nice, the second time not so much.
As you hear, each of these sentences can be said nicely or not nicely. So, in addition to being polite, it is worth taking into account the intonation and saying hello, the words please, thank you or, if necessary, sorry.
As Poles, we are usually quite direct, at least compared to the British, and that is why the form mr, mrs can be important when we want to get something done. In a way, it guarantees us that we will move in the right register - more formal, and therefore rather more polite. However, as I have already said, a sincere smile and a pleasant tone will mean more to Polish learners than correct grammar. For us, the very fact that someone wants to learn Polish is a reason to be happy. And if we correct a mistake, it's only because we want to help everyone who learns our language.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
There was no podcast a week ago. I am very sorry for this. I simply ran out of time. I have a lot of different responsibilities, and the day is short, so I don't want it to be longer. We have twenty-four hours at our disposal and not a minute more. Each of us must organize our time well so as not to waste it on unnecessary things.
I try to be well organized. I use a calendar where I write down all my lessons and other meetings. In the morning, I more or less plan my day - when I will have time for dinner and when I will have time for a walk with the dog. I try to be organized because I do a lot. I am a teacher, which means I teach. I have a lot of lessons. Besides, I am learning, that is, I am a student. I am learning several foreign languages. I study because I am a student at the university. I am finishing my studies and writing my bachelor's thesis. It is a little easier for me because I have already studied and written a master's thesis in another field. This makes it easier for me to organize the time I have at my disposal.
However, there are many things that steal our time. This is, for example, Facebook, where many people spend too much time, which is then missing for reading books, meetings with family, sports, learning and many other important things. There are many such time thieves, and when we run out of time, we need to get rid of them.
When you are short of time, you need to be better organized. Stop spending time on things that are unimportant or unnecessary. Naturally, we need to have enough time for sleep and rest, because without it it is impossible to work. However, we should not waste it on unnecessary or even harmful matters. When I need to organize my time better, I try not to use Facebook. Apart from that, I use every moment of time to do what I have to do. It's not always easy.
We often have many things to do, many responsibilities. We have to divide our time between work and home, studies and rest, and so on. Then it is worth determining what is important to us and what we need to devote more time to. Some things will have to be postponed and done later. You can try to do some things faster or ask others for help - this way you will save time that you can use for other things.
There are things that take a lot of time. I mentioned my bachelor's thesis. This is writing a long article on some scientific topic. This takes time, because you have to read, think and finally write. That's why I try to find some time every day to do something step by step. I wouldn't find enough time in one day or week to write everything. Such writing can be time-consuming, i.e. taking a lot of time. That's why last week I simply didn't have time for other things, including the podcast.
In the future, when I finish my studies, I will have more time and I want to spend it on podcasts and other materials for learning Polish. And how do you use your time?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I'm coming back! I finished writing my bachelor's thesis, submitted it for review and I can go back to making podcasts. I still have to prepare for the exam, which means a lot of studying, but I will try to record podcasts regularly again. What's up? Have you learned Polish? Maybe there were some difficulties? Ask me on Facebook, the blog and wherever you can. I will try to answer these questions in the next episodes.
I was wondering what to make this episode about. There are many topics, although it is often not easy to describe everything in simple words. My students often have this problem. I want to tell something, but they lack words. What to do then? Today I will tell you a little about what you can do to learn new words.
However, before you learn all the words there are, remember one thing. You don't need to know them! Often, it is enough to describe what we want. Without inventing complicated terms. For example, if we don't know the word "Christmas tree", just say tree with needles.
If you want to learn words, it is worth learning them right away in context. Then we see how they are used and how they are combined with other words. Therefore, in my opinion, it is better to learn words from texts that you read, rather than from a list created by someone. Such a text will immediately show you in what context a particular word is used.
Once you have the text, read it several times. Repeat it for several days. Something you read only once can be easily forgotten. Repetition will help you remember more. I even copy the texts I learn by hand! It really helps me remember everything.
Also listen to the podcasts several times. You can check the new words in the dictionary after the first time and then listen again. You will understand more and more and it will be easier for you to remember new information.
Do not read or listen to texts that are too difficult. If you have too many words at once, your brain will not be able to remember them all. It's better if you understand almost everything, more than eighty percent of the words. Then the new ones will be easier to understand and remember.
I don't like using applications like Duolingo or Anki. I used to use Memrise, but I got bored of it. However, I really like reading texts that I understand. If you like apps, great! And if not, try my way. Even if you like to use the application, try it and see if reading the texts multiple times will help you sometimes.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
When we were children, or maybe some of my listeners are still children, our mothers told us bedtime stories. We lay in bed, and mom or sometimes dad would read us a book or make up stories about traveling to unusual lands. These were fascinating journeys to the land of fantasy... How about going there again? Maybe we could visit again the places where our childhood imagination took us? Or maybe some of us have never stopped going there and every now and then they drop by to visit Hansel and Gretel or another planet where aliens live. When I was a child, there was a song like this in the movie "Mr. Kleks in Space".
Today I want to take you on such an adventure and tell you about this land of a thousand fairy tales and dreams. It is found in our imagination and on the pages of hundreds of books.
Who lives there? I have already mentioned aliens, i.e. those who fly in space saucers, also called UFOs. They are usually green and have antennae instead of ears. However, it is not only in outer space that you can encounter strange creatures. The most famous one is probably the Wawel Dragon. He is very dangerous because he can breathe fire. No knight could defeat him, only the shoemaker Dratewka, whom I may tell you about someday. However, the Wawel Dragon was not always so dangerous. In one of the fairy tales, titled The Adventures of Balthazar the Sponge, our dragon was a good hero who, together with his friends, was to save the scientist Balthazar the Sponge from the Land of Rainforests. There is even a cartoon series for children based on the book, which can be found on YouTube.
The excellent, powerful and playful Wawel Dragon and his friend, the master of the frying pan, Bartłomiej Bartolini of the Zielona Pietruszka coat of arms, invite you to watch strange adventures titled "The Expedition of Professor Gąbka".
If you want to see fairy tales from the old days, I highly recommend this production! However, we do not leave the land of fantasy, but we get to know its inhabitants. Although these are not Polish fairy tales, they were very popular in our country. I mean the Moomins. These beautiful books by Swedish author Tove Jansson have always been a hit. Together with the Moomins, each child experienced various adventures and joys in the Moomin Valley.
Children's imagination is full of fairy tales. This podcast is too short to talk about them all. I haven't mentioned the little match girl, Mr. Kleks, Filemon the cat, the magic pencil, Matołek the Billy Goat and many, many others. Maybe one day I will succeed. In the meantime, I say goodbye to you!
Thank you very much for this episode. Of course, please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Each of us went to school. Some may still be walking. It's already summer holidays in Poland and students are trying not to think about school. I don't know why, but memories of my old teachers came to my mind.
I remember my teachers very well. They were able to teach not only their subjects, but above all, thinking. This does not mean that everyone was lenient to us and that they were not strict. But they were examples. I remember my Polish teacher, my high school Polish teacher. What a person! She infected us with a passion for reading and showed us literature in a completely different way than sometimes associated with school. Books became interesting to us. I remember that she often brought stacks of her books to share with us her favorite passages or to show us how things were written in a given period of history. Moreover, he is a very nice and warm person who gained our trust and I think we had a close bond during that time.
There were also teachers who inspired a bit of fear. My biology teacher could send shivers down my spine. She was demanding and questioned us very often and thoroughly. I remember one time I forgot to do my homework. We were supposed to describe several groups of animals in our notebook, and I completely forgot about it! Unfortunately, it happened to me and I was asked to read the homework. I gathered my strength, strained my mind and began to speak. I said everything, with every detail I remembered from the lesson. To my surprise, I got an A! Fortunately for me, the teacher didn't ask me for my notebook to write down the grade and she didn't find out about the missing assignment. I only admitted my mistake years later, after I had graduated from school.
The history teacher was demanding and thought-provoking. What I remember from the lesson is that we often read and analyzed source texts - chronicles, documents and so on. In this way, she taught us to think, and not just learn subsequent historical events by heart. She showed that history is a fascinating adventure that sometimes resembles the work of a detective who, piece by piece, puts together a picture of what once happened.
Finally, I must mention my first primary school teacher. Mrs. Beata taught me for the first three years, i.e. in the so-called initial teaching. At this time, there is no separate teacher for Polish, mathematics and other subjects. Most lessons are taught by the same person. She taught me always smiling, lovely and as good as any other teacher. We all loved her in class. She was able to teach us and play with us. She was a real champion for us who knows everything about everything. I even remember that she was wearing a pink dress at the beginning of my first school year.
I remember my school days very fondly because I went to a very good school. Of course, I don't have time to tell you about all the people I met there, but I assure you that they were and are wonderful. I wish such a school and such teachers to all students.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
My dog is over five years old. Apparently in "human" years it is already thirty-five! So we are peers. Almost exactly five years ago he showed up at my house. He was a puppy that no one wanted to take care of. I decided to take care of him and that's how he came to me on July 4, 2014.
My dog is a mutt, which means it is not a purebred dog. Purebred dogs are those that belong to one group of dogs, breeds, such as dachshunds, terriers, Great Danes or shepherd dogs. Mutts are non-pedigree dogs. Their parents are also mutts or belong to different breeds. Each mutt looks a little different, purebred dogs are more similar to each other. In my opinion, mutts are very smart. However, all dogs are loved.
What do dogs do? In my opinion, first of all, they sleep. A blogger can sleep a lot. Plus, of course, he likes to have fun. He likes playing with the ball the most. I also go for walks with him. Three times a day. When the weather is nice, I throw him sticks. However, he rarely retrieves, i.e. he does not bring the stick back. He starts biting him more often. I don't know why, but he likes to bite sticks into small pieces. However, the greatest joy on a walk is when you meet a friend. There is a dog in the area, Fado, whom he likes very much, and there is also a dog, Tosia, with whom he often plays. He also likes Dejzi, but she's an old lady, she's probably 12, so she doesn't have as much energy as Bloger.
Dogs are said to be man's best friends. It's true, because they always love and are very faithful. Unfortunately, sometimes people are not as faithful as dogs. I once saw with my own eyes someone throw a dog out of a car and drive away. The dog ran after the car, but had no chance to catch up with it. It was a very sad sight. Sometimes dogs end up in an asylum or animal shelter. There they have a roof over their heads and some care, but these are not good conditions. Fortunately, there are people who adopt such dogs and give them a home. If I had a lot of money, I would buy a house with a large garden and adopt at least a few such dogs. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment for now, so I can't afford more dogs.
Dogs, faithful friends. A house without a dog would be sad. Fortunately, I live with my happy dog who makes me smile a lot. Even if I have to go for a walk with him early in the morning. I am very glad that I decided to adopt him five years ago. I'm recording this podcast and I see him lying on the couch and sleeping. And you? Do you have any four-legged friends at home? What are your dogs names? Are they purebred or mutts? Share in the comments and on the Ioannes Oculus Facebook page.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I go to the city center by tram number 16. I get off at the stop at the Market Square and walk through the city. Do you want to know what I see? Tall buildings, office buildings. There are also lower tenement houses that house shops, cafes and other service points. On the opposite side of the square there is the city hall, a large glass building. There are benches and trees on the Katowice Market Square.
Then I walk down 3 Maja Street. On the right I have the Skarbek department store, and on the left I have the mentioned city hall. Tram tracks run in the middle of the street. A lot of people are walking on the sidewalk. There are shops on both sides, many clothing stores, but also cafes, bookstores and others. There used to be a Bookszpan bookstore here, which I liked very much. She had very nice service and a lot of interesting books. Unfortunately, their business did not work out and now there is another bookstore in the same place, but without these original and interesting books.
Walking like this, I reach the intersection with Stawowa Street. On the left I see Galeria Katowicka, a shopping center, and then the station. This shopping center does not match the old tenement houses that surround it. It looks like a big bum or... well, I don't feel like mentioning what some people think of when they see this building. This is what contemporary architecture is like. But I'm not going that way. I turn right into Stawowa Street.
I also see shops and cafes on this street. However, after a while I am approaching a fair of book sellers, i.e. street book sellers. At these stalls you can find used books, sometimes very rare. Sometimes you can find real gems here. I go further and on the corner there is an Uzbek kebab where you can eat something good. I'm at the intersection with Mickiewicza Street, so I turn right again. There is a great little pizzeria on this street called Czaplomania. This is the best pizza in Katowice. Definitely my favorite. On the other side of the street there is a second-hand bookshop. This is another place I really like.
I walk a little further along Mickiewicza Street and reach the Market Square again. Such a short walk in the city center. What is your city? Try to describe your walk down the street in your city. Maybe you'll have to look up some words in the dictionary and learn something new? You can also try to describe your route to and from work. What do you pass along the way? How would you describe it? By repeating this exercise regularly, you can gradually expand your vocabulary, add words to your list and describe what you see better and better.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
“Stranger Things” is the title of a very popular series. However, he is not known by this title. However, if I say that I'm talking about "Stranger Things", most people will already know what I'm talking about. It is an American series available on Netflix, the third season of which has recently been released, and the fourth season has already been announced.
“Stranger Things” is something of a horror series, because from the abyss, from another world, a force comes to ours, which is certainly not friendly. The plot is set in a quiet and peaceful American town. It all starts with the mysterious disappearance of one of the children, twelve-year-old Will Byers. Of course, his disappearance is not an ordinary kidnapping, but the beginning of many mysterious events that will give viewers goosebumps.
The plot of the series is very interesting, engaging and very imaginative. The music is excellent and the whole thing is really atmospheric. Although the Polish 1980s are completely different from the American ones and we in Poland do not know the atmosphere like in the series first-hand, we can see it all clearly on the screen.
I also really like the acting. I'm always a little afraid of child roles. Children cannot always play well, show emotions and so on. Fortunately, in this case the young actors rose to the challenge and played very well.
People who don't like to be scared should probably not watch this series, because it is simply scary and someone may have nightmares at night. I highly recommend it to others. This is one of those series that many people watch all at once. There was a time, for example in the 1980s, when you had to wait for each episode. There was usually one episode a week. Back then, you had to be in front of the TV and you couldn't postpone watching it until later. If someone had the opportunity, they recorded the series on video. Now, if someone has Netflix, they can watch all episodes of the series one by one. I wonder if someone made a ten-hour-long film, would anyone watch it?
Did you like the series "Stranger Things"? Or maybe you have another favorite series? Let me know in the comments on the blog or wherever you find me on the Internet.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Some time ago, Mr. Nowak lost his job. He was a salesman in a store, but unfortunately he was often late for work and the boss said that this had to change or Mr. Nowak would be fired. Unfortunately, Mr. Nowak continued to be late and was eventually fired.
The day he was released was rainy. The day before, the sun was shining beautifully, but after the boss told Mr. Nowak that he would no longer work in the store, our hero came home all wet.
– What can I do, where can I work? I have worked in a store all my life, but now it can be difficult to find a new job. There are a lot of young people who work, and I am over forty years old.
He did what he decided to do. At the beginning he worked hard because he had to set up the shop and bring goods. He thought he would rest after hiring someone for work.
When he found someone to work with, he was always late and Mr. Nowak had to open the store and get up very early to bring new goods. He had a lot of work during the day, and even in the evenings, because when he closed the store, he had to clean everything.
– This type of work is not an easy job. I thought that if I had a store, I wouldn't have to work much. It turns out that I work more than when I was just an employee in the store, not the owner!
Are you interested in Mr. Nowak's story? I hope at least a little. Now it's time to practice. I'll ask you a few questions. After each one you will have a moment to answer. Then I will tell you what the correct answer is and you will see if your answer is the same or similar to mine. Approx? Now we'll begin.
Those are all the questions. Of course, your answers may be worded slightly differently, maybe you used different words. However, I hope that this exercise will help you in speaking Polish. Let me know on Facebook, on the Ioannes Oculus fan page, if you liked it.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Let's talk about the weather today. But not the usual one. Everyone knows that it is hot in summer and cold in winter. It snows in winter and the sun shines in summer. However, sometimes the weather can surprise and even cause big problems.
In 1978, on December 29, it started snowing. It was raining and raining. The whole next day and he didn't stop. The temperature dropped well below zero. On January 1, 1979, there was so much of it that the whole of Poland was paralyzed. There were no trains or buses running. There were even bigger problems. There were problems with the supply of coal, which was needed to heat apartments. There are places called thermal power plants. Heat is generated there, which is then used to heat, for example, apartments in housing estates. However, at that time, this heat could not be generated without coal. You can imagine how difficult it was for people.
However, it was not the coldest winter in Poland yet. A few years later, at the turn of 1986 and 1987, temperatures dropped in many places below minus 30 degrees. There was a lot of snow then too, but as far as I know, not as much as in 1978 and 1979.
However, this was not a record yet. The coldest time in Poland was in February 1929. Back then, temperatures in many places even reached minus 45 degrees! It was the coldest winter of the 20th century.
When was the warmest? The record hottest days were in the summer of 1921. Then the temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius. Other hot years include 1957 and 1892 with temperatures exceeding 38 degrees. It must have been a very difficult time, and there was no air conditioning back then!
Sometimes the weather behaves strangely. Recently, on July 27, 2019, almost as much rain fell in Katowice in one hour as normally falls in a whole month. In some places, bus stops and cars were underwater. Sometimes, however, the weather is pleasant and mild.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Holidays are a time for traveling. We go on holiday by various means of transport: cars, trains, planes. Some people choose to travel by bike or on foot. The latter is a really big challenge if there is a longer route to cover.
However, you need to prepare before the trip. You should pack into a backpack or suitcase. Some people take only the most necessary things when traveling, others take a lot, "just in case", i.e. if something unexpected were to happen. It is worth purchasing additional insurance before traveling. Then, if something bad happens to us, the insurer will have to help us. Such insurance is usually not expensive and can save us in unforeseen situations. Whenever I go somewhere, I have travel insurance. We even have a saying, "cautious, always safe."
If you are going abroad, you should also check whether you have a valid passport or ID card. You can travel within the Schengen area of the European Union without a passport, all you need is proof. However, whether it is a passport or an ID card, they have an expiration date. One of my friends flew abroad and only then someone noticed that her ID had expired. So, unfortunately, she had to return to the country.
To travel means to move. So you can go to Egypt and lie around a hotel pool for two weeks and then come back home, but is that a real trip? In my opinion, traveling means discovering new places. If I'm on vacation somewhere, I like to visit different interesting places. Sightseeing means seeing and visiting e.g. monuments, museums, cities. Sightseeing has a very broad meaning. Often it's about getting to know a place better, small or large. So we can visit a famous person's house, a museum, a picture gallery, a city or even a country. If we say that we have visited the length and breadth of Poland, it means that we have been to so many places that Poland (or any other country or city) has no secrets for us.
When traveling, we can see and visit monuments. This is another word with a broad meaning. Usually it is something older, historical. It may be a painting, it may be an object from prehistoric times, it may also be a church or an old, historic tenement house on the market square of a city. You can also meet people while traveling. Tourists talk to locals and learn about local culture and customs. This is not an easy task and cannot be done in one day or week.
We may need a guide when traveling. A guide may be a book in which interesting places of a city or country are described, important information is provided, and often also good restaurants or hotels. A guide can also be a person who shows us around a museum or city and tells us about the things we can see there.
There are many other words related to traveling, but time is running out and we have to go home. Some people buy souvenirs to remind them of a nice stay. Others take lots of photos and then look at them from time to time. The most important thing that should remain after a good trip are beautiful memories. They are the best souvenir.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I will tell you a little about my books. If you listen to my podcasts or follow me online, you may know that I love reading and have a lot of books. We call such a private collection of books a library. Exactly the same as an institution where you can borrow books. However, I am one of those people who does not like to borrow books.
My library has about two thousand books. Such a collection can also be called a book collection. So I can say that my book collection numbers about two thousand books. Previously, I thought I had almost three thousand of them, but for you I counted them again and it came to two thousand. Of course, I didn't count every book, but I counted them "by eye", i.e. approximately.
I have books from various fields on my shelves. Naturally, I have a lot of books about languages, their history, grammar and so on. I have a lot of textbooks and some dictionaries. I rarely use the latter, i.e. dictionaries, because many can be found on the Internet. However, sometimes they come in handy when I'm looking for a specialized term. Unfortunately, I don't have an Uzbek-Polish dictionary, because there is no such thing, no one has published one. I am now learning this language, which is used primarily in Uzbekistan, which is located in central Asia, and I think I will have to write such a dictionary myself.
In addition to language and linguistic books, I also have a lot of titles on historical topics. I am interested in history and history and I like to deepen my knowledge. I especially like antiquity and the Middle Ages and the history of Lviv. I wrote my master's thesis in the history of the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages, about the Merovingian state. I really enjoyed it and would love to find the time to dive a little deeper into that era again.
Mamteżsporoliteratury.Jestwtymzarównoklasyka, jakdziełaAdamaMickiewiczaczyJuliuszaSłowackiego, jakiwspółczesneksiążkifantasynp.MartyKisiel, AnnyKańtochczyMartynyRaduchowskiego.Tużobokleżąteżksiążkiangielskiegopisarza– J. R. R. Tolkiena.Mamichbardzodużoiwróżnychjęzykach.MamteżksiążkioTolkienieiojegoksiążkach.Zajmująoneprawiecałyregał!Kiedyśbardzomocnosięniminteresowałem, aterazinteresujęsiętrochębardziejtym, czymonteżsięinteresował, czylijęzykami.
I also have a lot of literature. It includes both classics, such as works by Adam Mickiewicz or Juliusz Słowacki, as well as contemporary fantasy books, e.g. by Marta Kisiel, Anna Kańtoch or Martyna Raduchowski. Right next to it there are also books by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. I have a lot of them and in different languages. I also have books about Tolkien and his books. They take up almost the entire shelf! I used to be very interested in him, and now I'm a little more interested in what he was also interested in, which was languages.
I have so many of these books, but I can never get enough! Very often I buy new books and I only worry whether I will have enough time to read them all. I also hope that I have magical shelves and that the shelf space will never run out.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
September first is a special day for students because it is usually the first day of school. However, this day was remembered very painfully in world history. This is the day when World War II began. And today I would like to tell you a little about this war, this beginning.
The beginning of the war had its own tragic symbolism. The German warship "Schleswig-Holstein" arrived in Gdańsk on August 25, 1939. It was supposed to be a courtesy visit to commemorate another historic event. The Germans said it was a peace visit. Unfortunately, they lied. A few days later, on September 1 at 4:45 (four forty-five) in the morning, this ship began shelling the Polish military outpost at Westerplatte. Shots from the ship's huge guns started World War II.
On the same day, September 1, Germany attacked Poland in many other places. German troops crossed the state border and destroyed everything they encountered on their way. Hitler wanted it to be a lightning war to quickly remove Poland from the map of Europe. He failed. The fighting in Poland lasted much longer than planned. It was a very difficult time for Poland. Our allies, England and France, declared war on Germany but did nothing. If troops from the west had attacked Germany then, world history could have turned out completely differently.
Unfortunately, no one fought in the West. And then, on September 17, Russian troops moved from the east into Polish lands. The communist state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, attacked Poland. These two countries - Nazi Germany and communist Russia - were united by a pact that divided all of Europe between them. Communism and Nazism are very similar. They hate freedom, they hate others.
World War II was a terrible time for Poland. Then several million Poles died. Professors, intelligent people and everyone who defended themselves against Germany and Russia were deliberately killed. Both of these countries wanted to turn Poland into a land of slaves. That is why labor camps and concentration camps were established in Poland. These were terrible places. I was in the German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau several times. Memories from this place are like memories from hell. Similar camps were created by communist Russia, people were often transported far from their homes to work as slaves in Siberia or the steppes of today's Kazakhstan. There, far in the east, many families left behind their relatives who died in these inhumane conditions.
Then, after the war, Poland joined the communist part of Europe. Although many countries called themselves socialist, socialism and communism are actually the same thing. It's the same as Nazism. These state systems are totalitarian systems where people have no freedom. These are systems that have always wanted a new war. That's why I'm glad that today I live in a free country. Of course, not everything is perfect, but the freedom that democracy and capitalism gives is something wonderful. Although politicians often limit this freedom and you have to fight for it, it is good to live in such a country. You don't have to be afraid that the enemy will lock you up in a concentration camp or that you won't be able to buy anything to eat in the store. May war, Nazism, communism or socialism never return.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I thought we could talk about the Middle Ages this time. This is an era in European history, a very long era that is associated with kings, knights and perhaps Latin. Of course, the Middle Ages are much more and I hope that I will tell you at least briefly about it, and you will learn new words and a little about Polish history and culture.
I will talk about the Polish Middle Ages. Because this era began between the fourth and sixth centuries after Christ, but scholars do not provide the exact date. We know such figures as Charlemagne from this period, but we move to the Vistula River. In what is now Poland, in the tenth century, Prince Mieszko I is baptized. Baptism is one of the sacraments in the church. Mieszko I then solemnly accepted Christianity, i.e. the religion derived from Jesus Christ. Previously, paganism dominated, believing in many gods. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly what this earlier religion looked like.
Mieszko was not a king, but a prince. The prince was less important than the king. Only Mieszko's son, Bolesław the Brave, became king. The crown for the Polish king was sent by the Pope himself. At this point we can ask ourselves how we know such things about such ancient times. To find out what happened so long ago, historians turn to chronicles, among others. Chronicles are books that describe a period of time, usually longer, in sequence, as different things happened. They were written by chroniclers, and the first Polish chronicler was Gaul Anonim. Anonymous because we don't know his name! Some suspected that he came from France and that is why he was nicknamed Gal.
In the Middle Ages, the king passed power to his son. We say that power passed from father to son. Or for sons. Because this was often the case in the Middle Ages, not only in Poland. When the king died, the country was divided among his sons. They often fought with each other afterwards. One of the Polish kings, Bolesław Krzywousty, wanted to end these fighting. He invented the entire system that was to operate after his death. Who was to have what part of the country and who was to be the boss of all the princes. These pieces were called neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the plan failed. The sons of Bolesław Krzywousty fought with each other constantly and this time was called the district division.
For many years, some of the princes tried to unite the country, while others only thought about having as much as possible. Only Władysław the Elbow-high and his son Casimir the Great managed to do this. Casimir was called the Great because he did a lot of good for Poland. There is a saying about him: "He found Poland made of wood and left it made of brick." He built a lot of castles and cities, developed the economy and founded the Krakow Academy, which after his death became the University of Krakow.
After Casimir the Great, Louis the Hungarian became king of Poland, and after him Jadwiga of Anjou became king of Poland. Yes, that's not a mistake! Jadwiga was not a queen, i.e. the king's wife. She was the king, which meant she had the highest power in the state. She was the commander of the Polish troops and it was she who bequeathed her crown jewels to the Krakow Academy. In this way, this wonderful woman caused the Akadamia to become a university that later became famous throughout Europe. Nicolaus Copernicus, a famous Polish astronomer, studied in Krakow, among others.
In 1410, when Władysław Jagiełło was king, a huge battle took place. A very, very large number of knights gathered at Grunwald. They fought on the Polish side or on the side of the German Teutonic Order. The Teutonic Knights, as we call them, wanted to destroy Poland. They failed. It was a long and hard battle and ended with a great victory for the Polish troops.
King Władysław Jagiełło gave birth to a new dynasty, or family of kings. The first were the Piast dynasty, and from Jagiełło the Jagiellon dynasty. During their times, Poland developed, grew in strength and wealth. But that's a story for another time.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Do you like traveling? I like! Unfortunately, I can often travel only by "finger on the map", because traveling requires time and money. But! I traveled a bit, saw a bit and today I will tell you what I think about different countries and languages.
I'll start with England. What I like most about England is the language. I am in love with the English language, with British English. What the English call Received Pronunciation, or RP for short, is for me the most beautiful melody in the world. This pronunciation is used, among others, by British Queen Elizabeth II and many famous figures from the world of politics and culture. An example of someone I really enjoy listening to is Stephen Fry. Apart from the Polish language and pronunciation, I also like the English weather very much. Yes, that's not a mistake! I don't like heat and strong sun, so the cloudy and rainy weather of the British Isles suits me. I must also add that there are very interesting museums in London, including my favorite - the British Museum. It contains exhibits from all over the world related to ancient history. In one place you can visit ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rome, Greece and many others.
Germany lies between Poland and England. The history of Poland and Germany is very difficult and I will not talk about it here. However, I like the German language. Many people find it hard and tuneless. However, I like the sound of it and I like German literature. I think it is a very creative language. I also like German learning. The Germans explored a lot of different places and texts and wrote a lot of good scientific books. They are very organized and everything in these books is described precisely and in order.
To the west of Poland lies Germany and to the east is Ukraine. This is another country with which Poland has had a different history. There are many Polish cities there, such as Lviv, which Stalin took from Poland after the war. I love Lviv, it's my favorite city and I used to go there every year. I'd love to go back there again. Not only to Lviv, but to other cities that have become so important in Polish history - Zhovkva, Drohobych, Kamianets-Podilskyi and many others. I like the Ukrainian language and I studied it a little. I like Ukrainians because they are very warm and open. I just don't understand why so many people speak Russian when their language is so beautiful.
The Russian language is of course very nice too! I have studied some Russian and to my ears it is very melodious and soft. There is something in Russian culture that we call the "Russian soul". There is a lot of melancholy and thoughtfulness in it. This soul can be found in Russian literature, which I like very much. Of course, I will mention here "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov, but also, for example, "Dead Souls" by Gogol or "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatskys.
While wandering around the map, I will briefly mention Sweden. The Swedish language is also melodious and melodious, although in a different way than Russian. And Swedes are often very handsome and tall.
Let's move south to Italy, to Spain. These countries are similar to me in that their inhabitants are extremely open, spontaneous and love to talk. They have beautiful cities that I could visit and visit and visit. The Italians and Spaniards I met are very nice and you can quickly make friends with them.
There are many other countries. There is America, i.e. the United States, where I would like to live someday. For the lesser, it is a country of freedom, a country where there are great opportunities for development, and the Americans I met are very friendly people. There is Moldova, which I have been to twice and I liked it very much. There are many countries I haven't been to but would like to be. There are many wonderful people around the world that I would like to meet. Today I told you about these places and people I already know. Maybe in a year or two I will be able to tell you about my new experiences, new places and meetings.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
As they say, a horse in a row for whoever can tell me what these mimosas are. I mean, now I know because I checked it on Google. It's some exotic flower, but I didn't know for a long time. However, I knew a song by Czesław Niemen, the lyrics of which were a poem by Julian Tuwim.
Autumn, autumn, summer is ending, the days are getting shorter. The leaves turn yellow, brown and the trees appear golden in the sun. That's why the poem says that autumn is golden. Autumn days are still warm at the beginning, the sun often shines and it is a very nice time of year. Maybe that's why we call this time the golden Polish autumn. Because it is colorful and beautiful, although it also brings a bit of melancholy. After all, it announces winter.
Children often collect these colorful leaves in autumn and also collect chestnuts. Some play in the piles of leaves that have already fallen. This is a very good time for a walk in the forest, which is really beautiful. However, it is becoming quieter in the forest, because many birds fly away for the winter to warm countries and come back only in the spring. Other animals, such as bears, are preparing for hibernation and stocking up.
What do I like about autumn? I like walks, I like colors. I also like the fact that the evenings are longer and you feel calmer. In the evenings I like to make myself hot tea with honey and read a book. Because autumn is a special time when you read a lot. It's hard for me to say why, but I usually read more at this time of year. However, I don't hibernate and I have a lot of plans for the fall.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
It's everywhere and it's almost like air. Today we probably can't live without it. The Internet, i.e. a global computer network, is already everywhere. Computers, laptops, phones, watches and even refrigerators are connected to the Internet! It is a modern window to the world. So what do we do on this Internet that we can't live without it?
It turns out almost everything. We chat in chat rooms, exchange photos on Instagram and talk about what we do in posts on Facebook. We write electronic letters to each other, i.e. e-mails. We even film what we do, and then it also ends up on the Internet. It is our big diary in which we describe everything we do, where we are and who we spend time with. Of course, there are people who do not share all this with others online, and sometimes they do not share any posts or photos at all. Sometimes I wonder if we don't post too much online and if we lose our privacy?
But that's not all! We also shop online and use the bank. The so-called online banking allows us not only to make a transfer via the Internet, but also to take out a loan. The worst thing is that it is easy to take out a loan, but then it is difficult to repay it. However, if we need extra money, we can also find a job online. Many people work online, without leaving home. Even more people use the Internet at work - they send, receive and read e-mails, design websites or collect information needed for a project online.
The web is also full of learning materials. You can use a search engine, most often Google, and find everything you need to learn a new language or programming. Someone who needs to learn the ins and outs of building rockets can also google all the information they need. There is everything on the Internet, or so they say.
However, you need to be careful. You can also become a victim of crime on the Internet. That's why we use logins and passwords to ensure that access to our accounts and websites is protected against fraudsters. Passwords are sometimes difficult to remember, but there are appropriate programs that will help us with this. Anyone who wants can find information about them on the Internet!
The Internet has already reached every corner of the Earth, it is everywhere. The world is becoming a global village because today I can easily talk to someone from, for example, America via Skype. Information is sent over the Internet at the speed of light and we can easily find out what is happening in other countries. Even if no one talks or writes about it on TV or in the newspapers.
This is both a good and bad situation. We have wide access to information, which is good. However, we are becoming more and more addicted, and this is no longer such a positive thing. Sometimes I have a problem myself, because instead of using my time well, I waste it browsing Facebook and checking what my friends have posted on their profiles. Recently, politicians have also become even more interested in the Internet and are trying to censor it and limit freedom of expression. This is already happening in China, but recently the European Union has taken the first steps towards censorship by introducing the so-called ACTA2. So we need to be more and more careful and use this global network wisely.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Today I'm publishing the podcast later because I was learning to study over the weekend. More specifically, I did a course on how to teach reading. Along the way, I learned many things that I would like to share with you.
Firstly, reading helps a lot in learning a language. This seems obvious, but we often forget about it. Because you need to read a lot, preferably every day. We are often short of time and spend very little time reading. Still, if we want to really learn a language, reading every day is very important. If not every day, then at least several times a week.
What is very important, however, is what we read. It seems that it's best to read something difficult to learn new words. It turns out not at all! It's best to read what is simple. Of course, you can use short texts to learn words. Then I read them several times over several days. Then I look up the words I don't know. However, to read the real thing for a long time, you should choose simple texts that you can understand without any problems. It's best if we understand more than 08% of the words. And very important! You are not allowed to use a dictionary. Words that we do not understand must be tried to be understood from the context. According to research, reading primarily helps us repeat and consolidate the vocabulary we already know.
The question arises: what to read and where to look for materials? This may actually be a problem. There are many such books, websites and other sources with simple texts for English. However, there are much fewer such materials for many other languages. What do I do in such a situation? I'm looking for old textbooks that can be bought cheaply on the Internet or in an antique shop. Such books often contain a lot of simple texts, so you can read a lot. Some such materials can be found on the Internet. The texts in my Natural Method Polish course are also very simple, and although there is not much of it, it is still something.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Maybe today I should do a podcast about the elections, because yesterday there were parliamentary elections in Poland. However, today I will tell you a little about the Uzbek language that I am learning. Of course, I'm still learning Latin, I haven't forgotten about it. I'm just learning two languages now.
The Uzbek language is primarily spoken in Uzbekistan, where it is the official language. Uzbekistan is a country in Central Asia that was for a long time part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. However, in the early 1990s, independence was achieved. and it is now a sovereign, or independent, state. The capital of the country is Tashkent, a large city with a population of over two million.
PozaUzbekistanemjęzykiemuzbeckimmówisiętakżewAfganistanie, Kazachstanie, Kirgistanie, Rosji, Turmenistanie, anawetwChinach.Oczywiściewtychkrajachjesttojęzykmniejszościobywateli.
Apart from Uzbekistan, the Uzbek language is also spoken in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turmenistan and even in China. Of course, in these countries it is the language of a minority of citizens.
It belongs to the Turkic language family, so Turkish is its cousin. At first it was written in the Arabic alphabet, then in the Latin alphabet, then in the Cyrillic alphabet, and since 1992 in the Latin alphabet again. I'm very happy about it because it's easier to learn. And it is not an easy language to learn because it is very different from Polish or other European languages.
I won't talk much about Uzbek grammar here. Let me just say that it is very, very different from Polish. Although knowing the cases helps a little, there are still a lot of things to learn. Words are placed in a completely different order, tenses are used differently and verbs are conjugated differently. However, all this makes this exotic language interesting.
However, it is not very popular, and therefore there are not many learning materials. I managed to find a few books and I'm slowly learning the language. I also have a good teacher who helps me a lot. I hope that in some time I will be able to read books in Uzbek or understand at least a little bit of videos on YouTube.
I am often asked why I don't learn Turkish, which belongs to the same language family and is easier to find learning materials and is more useful. However, I do not study for a career, but out of curiosity and the desire to learn. Moreover, in Poland, in 2019, according to Wikipedia, there is only one sworn translator of the Uzbek language. So maybe a career with this language is possible?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Museums are different. Many present objects from history that are several dozen, several hundred or even several thousand years old. Others focus on natural history and feature skeletons of long-extinct species such as dinosaurs. There are also regional museums that show the history and culture of a given area. There are also thematic museums, for example the brewing museum, where you can see everything related to beer production, or the bread museum (there is one in Radzionków).
To enter the museum you need to buy a ticket. There are sometimes occasions when you can visit the museum for free, but you need to check with each museum whether such days are offered. However, we usually buy a ticket. Tickets vary. Normal for most of us and reduced if we are entitled to a discount. A cheaper ticket, i.e. with a discount, can be purchased by pupils and students, and often by the elderly. There are also group tickets, if we go to the museum with several people, usually it must be more than ten people.
In museums we can find permanent and temporary exhibitions. Permanent exhibitions are those that we can always see. Temporary exhibitions can be viewed for a short period of time, for example a few months. These are often things borrowed from other museums. Therefore, it is worth taking advantage of such opportunities. Usually, you need to buy a separate ticket for temporary exhibitions.
Objects in museums are called exhibits. They are often placed behind glass, in so-called showcases. The point is to keep them safe. You can often see the words: "Do not touch the exhibits." In museums you are not allowed to touch things that are on display there. Such exhibits are several hundred years old and if everyone touched them, they would quickly be destroyed. Sometimes, however, some objects or their copies or replicas are specially prepared for touching. We can then pick up medieval tools or dress up in clothes from another era.
In museums we can see signs with the inscription "direction of sightseeing". If there are any, they tell us where to go to see everything. You can often buy a museum guide at the ticket office or in a special shop. A guide may be a plan of exhibitions with a short description, a map of a museum, or it may be a larger or smaller book. Sometimes you can visit the museum with a guide, i.e. with a person who shows us what is on display and talks about the exhibits. The same word "guide" has many meanings. It can be a book and it can be a person.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Let me start with who a saint is. A saint or saint is a person who lived close to God during life, was good and deeply religious, and after death entered heaven, paradise. Of course, it is a Christian holiday celebrated in the Catholic Church. It is traditionally associated with the celebration of the next day, i.e. the commemoration of all the deceased. At this time, people in Poland go to cemeteries and to the graves of their loved ones - relatives and friends.
In cemeteries, people pray and light candles, i.e. special candles in colorful lanterns. In the evening, when it gets dark, Polish cemeteries are illuminated with these colorful lights and look beautiful. Graves are also decorated with flowers, which adds charm and makes everything look even nicer.
Sometimes at the grave you can meet a family member, a distant relative whom you haven't seen for years, or maybe even meet for the first time. There is also a tradition in my family that in the afternoon we all meet at the cemetery in Gliwice, at the graves of my grandparents and great-grandparents. There is a service there at three o'clock, i.e. special prayers led by a priest. Then we all go to meet up, eat something and talk. I am very happy that it is a joint family celebration.
For the last few years, the beginning of November in Poland has been warm and sunny. I remember this time very fondly. It also makes me think more about my ancestors, how they lived and what they can teach me. And they were wonderful people! So I set the bar high!
The Polish tradition associated with this holiday is interesting. I don't know if there is something similar in other countries. I like that although it is a time for reflection, it is not a very sad time. We would rather remember our loved ones with a smile and be glad that they are now in a better world.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
First of all, I'm sorry! I didn't get around to doing the podcast last week. Family responsibilities called me. I've had very little time lately and it's hard for me to do everything I want to do. I hope you understand and accept my apology. And now I invite you to Middle-earth, the land invented by Tolkien.
I have been reading Tolkien's books since primary school. The first was "The Lord of the Rings". I really, really liked them (and still do). I used to read "The Lord of the Rings" every year, and it was even my first book in English that I read the whole thing. However, for several years I had no time for Tolkien and slowly, slowly I forgot about the world he described in the books.
On Saturday, however, I had some time and started watching "The Lord of the Rings" on Netflix. Wow! How I missed it! Although in my opinion the book is better than the movie, the movie is also very good. I was so fascinated that I watched all three parts. Anyway, I needed to rest a bit, get away from everyday activities. This movie was perfect for that.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English writer who created an entire world in his books that he called Middle-earth. He described people, elves, dwarves, hobbits and other creatures living in this world. He also created their languages. He did it so well that today there are people who learn these languages and can speak them.
It is worth noting that the Tolkien family did not live "forefathers and great-grandfathers", i.e. from ancient times, in England. It turns out that their roots reach today's northern Poland. My friend Ryszard Derdziński conducts research in this field. His family, however, were not Poles, but Germanized Prussians who once lived in the northern part of our country. However, I may be wrong, so I recommend checking what my friend discovered on this subject. You can easily google his blog.
Interestingly, Tolkien was supposed to learn Polish. Or more precisely, he tried to learn it, but found it difficult to learn. This is what he wrote in one of his letters. However, we don't know anything more, which is a pity! Maybe he finally learned to at least read Polish.
Maybe Middle-earth will draw me in again. Maybe together with Bilbo and Frodo I will go in search of adventures again. They may be dangerous, but they will always be something worth talking about. I think it's worth having books like this that you come back to. You can then forget about everyday problems and live a different life, at least for a moment. Then you can return to your normal everyday life and do what you do with new strength and energy. And of course, never surrender to the bondage of the ring, but choose the good path, even though it is sometimes difficult.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Heritage is a source of many memories. Some are stronger, others we forget over time. There are still some that come back and, at least for some, cease to be memories and become reality again. One of those things is LEGO. Nowadays, probably every child knows these Danish blocks. When I was a child, they were also very popular, although perhaps fewer people played with them.
LEGO was created in Denmark and its history dates back several dozen years. At the beginning, the company created wooden toys for children. Only after some time, blocks appeared and were improved until they finally became the company's only product. They are known for the fact that you can build whatever comes to your mind from them. They are so good that even adults build their own buildings with them.
As a child, building was based on diagrams and instructions that were included with LEGO sets. Of course, I also built my own castles, space bases and other unusual buildings. However, I recently learned that there are many people who not only continue to play with LEGO, but create real works of art from it.
On the Internet you can find thousands of people building various models, buildings and other things from LEGO bricks. However, these are not childish, simple projects, but sometimes complicated and full of details. You can watch them in all their glory on YouTube. These include huge castles with secret rooms, battlefields with entire armies of soldiers, and huge space bases. Star Wars fans build spaceships several meters long from LEGO bricks. You can also find large cities in which many elements are movable.
Now I must admit that I, too, have returned to this fascination. I decided to build something of my own and it turned out that it was not that easy. How to make an interesting element that rotates or a secret door in the wall? Such problems mean that you have to think a lot when building more complicated structures. But it's fun, the pleasure of building is enormous. Finding a solution gives a lot of satisfaction. Maybe in some time I will show off my building. I'll be curious about your opinion.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Last week was Black Friday. The name of this day doesn't sound very optimistic. But it's about big shopping day. There is also Cyber Monday, which follows Black Friday and means big online shopping. Many stores announce the entire Black Week, a black week. This American tradition has been present in Poland for several years. Stores offer selected goods at very low prices. Discounts, reductions, markdowns, sales - these are the keywords for this time.
But is it really worth buying at this time? It turns out that many stores raise prices in advance only to lower them later. It happens that after such a "discount" the promotional price is higher than the old one! Often the price doesn't really change or is only slightly lower. Nevertheless, you can find many products at really low prices and catch many interesting deals.
So how can we avoid going completely crazy and actually spend less on what we need or really want to buy? First of all, you need to be careful and follow prices so as not to fall into the trap of fake discounts. It is worth having a shopping list with prices, and it is also worth checking prices on the Internet. Just go to Ceneo or Allegro and compare how much something costs in different stores. Buying something just because there is a promotion at the supermarket at the moment does not necessarily mean that we will buy something really cheap.
I once heard that shopping is like modern hunting. Instead of wild animals, we hunt for bargains, for valuable products, preferably at a bargain, low price. Then we bring it home like a caveman once did to his cave and enjoy our trophy, reward, prey. That's why we succumb so easily to the manipulation of advertising. Advertising suggests to us that we are about to acquire something special. Meanwhile, it is different, it is a lie, and we allow ourselves to be deceived.
Therefore, it is not worth going into a shopping frenzy and spending all your money just because something seems to be unique for a moment. If we are to "hunt" something, we should do it like professionals, on selected and unique specimens, in order to get something useful or really valuable to us. At least that's my opinion. Although, unfortunately, sometimes I buy too much and I have to learn to make purchases that are really necessary.
How do you shop? Do you go into a shopping frenzy or do you buy sensibly? What do you spend too much money on and when can you refrain? Let us know on Facebook!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
The question in the title of this podcast is: “How to write a good novel?” The question I will ask now is: Is it possible to create a recipe for a good novel? Unfortunately, it probably isn't possible, so why think about it? Isn't the author's talent the secret of success? I don't know the answer, but I just want to talk to you about books again!
First of all, what is a novel? The Polish language dictionary says that a novel is "a long, multi-threaded literary work written in prose." A novel is then a whole book, not a short story. It is not a poem or a poem because it is written in prose. Here it is worth paying attention to the English word novel and the German word Roman, which also mean novel, but are similar to other Polish words and may cause problems. The English word novel is similar to the Polish word novela. A novella is a story, something short, not a long book with many threads. The Polish "novela" is an English short story. Similar words but opposite meanings. However, the German Roman is sometimes associated with romance, which is a literary genre. A romance can be a novel or a movie, but the most important thing is that there is a love story. Poles sometimes see the word Roman in German books and think it is a romance, while Germans may think that a Polish romance is simply a novel.
Now let's move on to what makes a good novel. In my opinion, it must, above all, be interesting. The point is to make you want to read it and not fall asleep after a few pages. Of course, everyone is interested in something different, which is why each novel is written a little differently. In crime stories there must be crime and mystery, a mystery to be solved by a clever detective. In a romance, there must be a touching love story that brings tears to your eyes. In a thriller novel, the most important thing is fast action and a lot of suspense. Fantasy novels often describe unusual, imaginary worlds, and science fiction often describes new technologies. The author of a novel must appeal to the readers' tastes, otherwise no one will want to read his or her books.
When it comes to writing techniques, it is worth avoiding too long descriptions of nature. At least from my school days, when compulsory reading included reading about nature for several pages, such descriptions have terrible associations. They used to be used more often by authors in literature. Today, readers don't like them and prefer more action and dialogue. They want something to happen.
It's good if there is some unknown, a mystery or a problem to solve in the novel. Then the reader is interested and will read with curiosity to find out the solution. Interesting novels are full of twists and turns. The reader thinks he knows everything, knows what will happen next... and then suddenly everything changes. Such surprises keep the book from getting boring.
So how do you write a good novel? I don't know, if someone wants to, let them try. Who knows, maybe you'll manage to write something interesting and engaging? Sometimes I would like to write something like that, but all my ideas still seem not good enough. Maybe I'll come up with something in the future and write a good novel? Who among you has similar dreams? Or maybe one of you has already written something? Share in the comments on Facebook.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
A birthday is the day on which someone came into the world, i.e. was born. A birthday is also the day when we celebrate the birth of someone every year. My birthday is July 24, which means I was born on July 24 and every year I celebrate my birthday on this day. I publish this podcast at the end of December, just before the symbolic date of birth of Jesus Christ, i.e. Christmas. We celebrate Christmas on December 25, or you could also say "Jesus' birthday".
But let's get back to this ordinary birthday. Often, the person celebrating a birthday invites guests. Sometimes he organizes a large party with a lot of guests, a huge cake with candles and many other things to eat and drink. Traditionally, there are as many candles on the cake as the birthday person turns. A birthday boy is a person who has a birthday. Sometimes the party is smaller, more modest, more intimate. There are fewer people and there are not as many things on the table. Sometimes there is just coffee or tea and something sweet. It all depends on how someone likes to celebrate their birthday.
Guests often give gifts to the birthday boy, i.e. the person celebrating his birthday. It is best to pack them nicely and add your wishes on a card. We also make wishes when we give a gift. Gifts can be big or small. The most important thing is that the birthday person likes them.
On your birthday, we usually wish you health, happiness, lots of money and all the best. You can also simply say: "Health, happiness and everything you wish for." We wish you a happy birthday so often. You can also add something from yourself, something that you would especially like to wish this person.
At birthday parties, people often sing "Happy Birthday!" There are several such songs that are similar to each other and usually several of them are sung. Often, after singing, a toast is drunk to the health of the birthday person. Of course, there are more such toasts during the reception.
During a birthday, the most important thing is to show the birthday person how much we like him or her. It's not so important how much money we spend on gifts or how big the party will be. Wishes can be submitted by phone or on Facebook. All this to make our loved ones and friends feel that we are with them on this day.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
The time before Christmas is Advent. For Christians, it is a time of spiritual preparation for this time, a time when special masses, which we call Rorates, are celebrated in churches. Many people go to these masses every day with lanterns. This tradition shows that before Jesus was born, people walked in darkness, and Jesus who is born is the light that comes into the world. This spiritual metaphor is becoming less and less noticeable, because something else begins to dominate in this period.
December is increasingly a time for crazy shopping. People buy gifts, food for the holidays and lots of other things. I often wonder why they need all this! I understand gifts because we want to bring joy to our family and friends. However, when it comes to food, I don't know who and when will be able to eat everything that people buy. In supermarkets, queues form at the checkouts, and every customer has a full basket. As if stores were to be closed for the next two weeks, not two days.
Before the holidays, there is usually a lot of cleaning. We clean everything and everywhere as if the success of the holidays depended on it. People vacuum carpets, dust off wardrobes and shelves, wash floors, and clean windows and doors. Everything must be clean, must shine. This is madness!
Coming back to food. They need not only to be purchased, but also to be prepared. Before Christmas, in many places you can smell the smells of Christmas dishes, which are prepared in advance to make sure everything is ready on time. Cakes, meat, fish and lots of other things. Who will be able to eat it?
Before the holidays it's a crazy time. Sometimes too much. Maybe it's worth slowing down and thinking about what is more important. Buy everything, clean everywhere or meet your family in a good mood and relax? In my opinion, it's the latter, so let's not get too crazy!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Welcome to the New Year! How are you learning Polish? New Year's resolutions made? I hope this will be a good year for you. Today in the podcast I invite you to the world of crime, murders and detectives.
I've been watching a lot of crime series lately. I repeated some well-known ones and found new ones on Netflix. The world of crime captivated me. Criminals, murderers, robbers and mafiosi on the one hand, and policemen, the FBI and private detectives on the other. They are constantly playing among themselves to see who will be better and more effective. The game is difficult and full of puzzles.
Crimes and crimes are different. The law can be broken in many ways. It could be running a red light, or it could be murder. However, authors of film scripts or writers are not interested in common crimes. However, when the gravity of the crime is greater, when we talk about crime, then the interest increases. When finding a criminal, murderer or thief of priceless items exceeds the capabilities of standard police procedures, outstanding units or private detectives may join the investigation. Of course, it all depends on the author of the plot.
Usually there's a dead body at the beginning. Most crime stories start like this. From a murder victim, a corpse, a corpse. A dead body lies somewhere in a pool of blood. Or maybe someone was poisoned? The poison could have been in the meal, or the coffee the victim drank every day for breakfast could have been poisoned. Sometimes the murder was committed more deliberately and finding the murder weapon is not at all easy.
When the police arrive at the crime scene, they secure all traces and evidence. Everything can be a clue to solving the mystery, to finding the answer to the question: who killed him? The place is carefully photographed, fingerprints collected and checked to see if anything has been stolen. But that's not all.
Witnesses still need to be interviewed during the investigation. You need to find people who saw or heard something. We need to interrogate suspects, i.e. people who are potential criminals. Who had an interest in killing? Who had the motive? Or who definitely couldn't have done it, who has an alibi?
However, the most difficult puzzles are not impossible to solve, at least not for the most famous detectives in the world, such as Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. Among other, less known ones, I really like the film's Georg Wilsberg, who is an antiquarian, sells used books, but is also a private detective.
Crime stories are usually great to read and the action is engaging. Unfortunately, they may be full of difficult words such as crime, clues, clues, investigation, interrogations and others, typically related to the world of police work, the world of criminals and everything that may be related to crime. However, it is worth going through this vocabulary, because then you can reach for movies or books. And there are a lot of Polish authors writing crime stories, and they are very interesting. So why not give it a try?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I was born in Katowice and this is my hometown. The name of my cities may be difficult. We usually say: "Warsaw is a beautiful city" or "Kraków is located in Lesser Poland". However, Katowice, like several other cities in Poland, is in the plural, i.e. "Katowice is, is located" and so on. However, I wanted to tell you today not about the grammar of the city's name, but about what is happening in my city, and it is not happening well.
Katowice is a rapidly developing city. New buildings are being built - offices, shops, shopping malls and so on. Unfortunately, no one has a good idea on where to build all this. Developers, i.e. companies that build blocks of flats and desks, want to build everything in the center. However, there is almost no space left in the center. More and more people work in the city, so they have to commute to the city. Public transport (buses, trams, trains) is poorly organized. So a lot of people drive cars, but there is nowhere to park them in the city. A huge problem arises. More and more often you can see cars parked in such a way that they block pedestrian crossings or sidewalks. Drivers also increasingly leave their cars on lawns and other green areas, of which there are fewer and fewer in the city.
Trees, lawns and greenery are unfortunately a secondary issue in Katowice. The city is becoming concrete, and along with some car parks, the trees that grew next to them are disappearing. Where once there was grass or bushes, now cars are parked wildly and there is nowhere else to park them. Trees are being cut down because another office building needs to be built, necessarily in the very center, where there is no space anyway.
Unfortunately, the city authorities do not care about the fate of its residents. It is not important to them whether people will live well in the city, in a clean and healthy environment. It does not matter whether they will have a way to get to work, where to park or whether they will have a good bus or tram connection. More and more often we hear that developers are more important to them than residents. Additionally, people say that the authorities have no idea for the city, no concept of the whole. Anyone who comes and wants to build something can get a permit. Of course, if he has a lot of money.
It's a bit sad and I hope this situation will change someday. Unfortunately, for now there is no alternative in the city, no other people who would have a good idea. So will Katowice become less and less friendly?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
They say that sport is health. They say that it is worth taking care of your physical condition. The proverb says: "A healthy mind resides in a healthy body." And I must admit that I still have a problem with this.
I am overweight, which means I weigh more than I should. I won't say how much because I'm ashamed. Much too much. And at the same time, I don't do anything to change it. I would like to look athletic or at least lose some of the extra weight. I can't convince myself to do it, but I should do it anyway, because it's very unhealthy. On the other hand, it's hard to get motivated. So today I will tell you theoretically what you can do to lose weight. Theoretically, because I know it, but I don't do it, so for me theory does not translate into practice.
First of all, in my opinion, movement is important. You need to move to be healthy. “Move” can mean a lot. This may mean long walks, or it may mean intense gym workouts and an overall very active lifestyle. For now, I have to at least start implementing these walks. My dog will be very happy for longer trips. You can also swim at the pool, exercise at home, run, and play sports. However, you cannot overload yourself, especially if someone, like me, is out of shape. If you overexert yourself, it's easy to get injured and something bad may happen. Of course, this shouldn't be an excuse. In the beginning, just more walks or simple exercises - that should be enough.
It is worth combining more physical activity with a diet. For me it's probably even more difficult. How can I live without all these delicious things! Something good for dinner, a cutlet or pizza, and something delicious for dessert. Unfortunately, I like to eat very much, and this does not help me lose weight and lead a healthy lifestyle. I should at least give up sweets and eat a little less in general. However, it's hard for me to resist, my will is clearly very weak in this regard. As some people say: "I'm on three diets because after one I'm hungry."
Nevertheless, it's time to take care of yourself, because you are getting older and the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle are unpleasant. Diseases and so on. However, I am missing something, some motivation, discipline in this direction. I can apply myself to languages, but not this one. Maybe you have some advice or suggestions? Because I'm a bit helpless. Gym and group sports are out of the question - I feel bad when there are a lot of people around and I'm panting like a locomotive. Something that would take me out for a longer walk. Does anyone of you have an idea? I'm waiting for them in the comments!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
Many of the listeners to this podcast are from Uzbekistan. I got some nice messages from Uzbeks on Instagram. So today I will tell you all a little about this country. You know that I am learning the Uzbek language and some time ago I made a podcast about the Uzbek language. Maybe you will remember him on this occasion. And now let's move to the very center of Asia.
Uzbekistan is a fairly young country located in Central Asia. It was established after the collapse of the USSR, i.e. the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. However, the history of this area goes back far, because Samarkand, the fourth largest city of Uzbekistan, is one of the oldest cities in the world. It has been continuously inhabited since the 6th century BC. (before Christ). The territory of Uzbekistan is a road connecting Asia with Europe, as well as the north with the south. That is why many wars took place here over the centuries, and commanders such as Genghis Khan conquered these lands. This central connection was also beneficial for trade. That's why the Silk Road once ran through Uzbekistan.
What was the Silk Road? It was a trade route connecting China with Europe. Very valuable goods were transported along this route, such as gold, silk and paper. Thanks to this, cities such as Tashkent and Samarkand became very rich and gained great importance.
That's right, Tashkent. I was talking about Samarkand, and not about the capital of Uzbekistan, i.e. Tashkent. It is the largest city in the country and its capital. This is where the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and the parliament are based. It is also an old city, because it was founded before our era. At the beginning it had a different name - Czasz. Since 1930, it has been the capital of Uzbekistan (previously the capital was Samarkand). An interesting fact may be that in 1897 there were approximately 2,200 Poles living in Tashkent (including only 132 women). In the following years, the city's population grew, but there were fewer and fewer Poles there. Currently, over 2,300,000 inhabitants live in Tashkent. There is also a university in the country's capital, which, although young, is one of the oldest in Central Asia. This is the National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirza Ulugh Bego.
Uzbekistan gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union on August 31, 1991. Since then, the country has been developing and modernizing. At the same time, it also cares very much about its history and that is why today we can visit beautifully renovated monuments, such as the Ruchabad mausoleum in Samarkand and numerous mausoleums in Tashkent.
Would I like to visit Uzbekistan someday? Of course! Unfortunately, plane tickets are quite expensive, so I still have to wait and start saving for this purpose. I would love to visit this country. The more I learn about its language, history and culture, the more I become interested in it. I hope that you will be similarly interested in Poland, because our country is also beautiful and has a very interesting history and culture.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Xayr (“Hello” in Uzbek)!
It's only Monday today, but I'm already thinking about the weekend. Why? Because there will be a lot going on. That's why I'll tell you about my plans.
My weekend will start earlier, on Friday morning. I'll have to get up early in the morning because I have a train to Warsaw before eight. A little early for the weekend, but "something for something", as they say. I decided to go crazy and go first class. I bought tickets well in advance, so they were not expensive. On the way, I will definitely want to learn Uzbek, because I will need it on Saturday. However, I will tell you everything in order.
When I arrive in Warsaw, I will have to find a place to store my luggage. I'm sure I'll find something at the station. Then I go to the National Stadium, because there is an exhibition of buildings made of Lego bricks. According to the organizers, you can see over 120 new models and hundreds of other exhibits there. I'm very curious what I'll see there. I hope to find there a source of inspiration for my own buildings.
Then I'll go back to the station, take my luggage and go to the hotel. Why only after the exhibition? Because I can only check in to the hotel after 2 p.m. I will leave my luggage there and go to the Lego Store, where there is a whole wall of blocks and you can buy any bricks you want. I probably won't go crazy, because after all, Lego is not cheap entertainment, but at least it's something for a souvenir.
Wieczoremwracamdohoteluiuczęsię, bowsobotę…
In the evening I go back to the hotel and study, because on Saturday...
I have an appointment at the Uzbek embassy on Saturday morning. Some time ago, at the Uzbek culture day in Dąbrowa Górnicza, I met the ambassador of this country. We talked a little in Uzbek and he invited me to Warsaw. So on Saturday I will speak Uzbek. I feel like I'm about to take a very important exam! I have been learning this language for over two years, although I actually started learning it seriously eight months ago. However, I still consider myself a beginner. It's a difficult language because it's completely different. I wonder if I will be able to understand everything. I hope that we will not have to resort to Polish or English and that we will communicate.
For this visit, I'm going to take some more elegant clothes, so I'll have this luggage with me. I'm going to Warsaw for three days, and I'll probably take a backpack and some suitcase. Who saw taking so many clothes! But I know it will be worth it.
On Saturday evening, I go to a concert of the American band Home Free. I really like their music and when I saw that they would sing in Poland, I decided to buy a ticket. I don't like concerts and crowds, but I think I'll like it this time. You can find them on YouTube.
After such a day I will definitely be very tired, so after the concert I will go back to the hotel and go to sleep. I have a return train on Sunday morning. I have no plans for Sunday afternoon. Maybe I'll rest after the whole weekend!
When we talk about plans in Polish, we can use the future or present tense. You can say: I will go to Warsaw on the weekend or I will go to Warsaw on the weekend. The closer a date is, the more likely we are to use the present tense in simple sentences. In many situations you can use the present tense instead of the future tense. However, when a condition is set, e.g. when I come to Warsaw, we will only use the future tense. When I come to Warsaw it would mean something different than what I want to say. But then I'm going or then I'll go to the National Stadium can be used interchangeably. Although I rather say I'm going in such a situation. Well, enough of this grammar for today.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
As I said last time, on Friday I had to get up early in the morning to catch the train. I had a train at 7:40 (seven forty). At least that's how he was supposed to arrive, but he arrived 10 minutes late. Luckily for me it wasn't a problem at all. I really wanted to sleep on the train. I tried to learn Uzbek, but my eyes closed, at least until I bought myself a coffee. By the way, coffee on the train is very expensive.
In Warsaw, I did not leave my luggage at the station. I took a tram to the National Stadium for the Lego exhibition and left my suitcase in the cloakroom there. The exhibition itself was very interesting and you could see a lot of cool buildings there. For my patrons on Patreon, I recorded a video in which I talk about this exhibition. However, I was at the exhibition itself for a shorter time than I thought, because I left after just an hour.
I returned from the exhibition, but not to the hotel as planned. It was still too early, so I went to a second-hand bookstore that sells used books and used Lego bricks. This is probably the only place where you can get both. It's a pity I didn't think of it myself when I had an antique shop. They call this store "Klocki w Metro". Then I went to the hotel, took a short nap and went, as I planned, to the Lego Store. Unfortunately, this whole wall of blocks wasn't that big. I thought there would be a bigger selection and I was a bit disappointed. This is how my Friday went, which turned out to be Lego day.
On Saturday, I dressed more elegantly and went to the Uzbek embassy. The ambassador welcomed me very nicely. There was tea and dried fruit. We talked a lot about Uzbekistan, its culture and what can be done to let more people hear about this interesting country.
As planned, in the evening I attended a concert of the Home Free band. Before him, Texas musician Cash Campbell performed as a so-called support act. I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I could be there. I even managed to take a photo with the artists!
I returned to the hotel late and was very tired. I went straight to sleep, and the next morning I had to pack up and go home. On Sunday, I visited my parents in the afternoon and that's how my weekend ended. I didn't manage to do the podcast for Monday because I was too tired and I didn't have time on Monday. That's why I'm publishing this podcast with a delay, for which I apologize.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
As we all know, the world is currently struggling with the problem of Coronavirus. Schools and cinemas are being closed all over the world, plane flights are being canceled, and those who can are working from home. During this time, everyone is advised to stay at home and, if possible, not leave. That's why it was worth doing a lot of shopping so that you wouldn't have to go anywhere for two weeks. This is very important because it gives scientists time to find a solution, a cure, a vaccine. But what to do when you can't leave the house? In my opinion, a lot of things.
First of all, you can learn the language. Isn't it a perfect time to read more, repeat words or try to write your own few sentences in the language you are currently learning? This time can be used for additional online lessons or language exchange. Even if we watch TV series (without subtitles!), it should help us a lot.
Since I started with learning, let's continue on this path. You can learn. I often hear that someone would like to learn something new, take a course, etc. However, they don't have time for it every day. This just might be a good opportunity. Two weeks or more of study. You can take an online course or learn something new yourself. Many online courses end with a certificate, which you can then include in your CV or at least boast about it on your LinkedIn profile. A new skill may result in better pay or a better job (or both) in the future. Not everyone likes learning, but it's probably a better way to spend this time than worrying about problems that we have no control over.
Apart from learning, which is the most attractive to me, there are many other possibilities. For people who have families and children, but do not have time every day because they have to work, it can be time spent together. The food is at home, so you don't have to run to the shops. Children don't have to go to school. So you can watch something together, play a board game, spend time together. These don't have to be deep confessions and conversations on difficult topics. Just be together, do something together and maybe get to know each other again. I think we often miss this.
There is one thing that can be done at this time, which sometimes there is no time for, and that is thorough cleaning. Clean the whole house, prepare things that can be thrown away because they are broken and unnecessary. There is even time to rearrange the furniture and arrange the furniture differently in the house. It doesn't have to be a renovation right away, but this way you can freshen up the apartment a bit. For me, this would be the perfect time to organize my book collection. I probably wouldn't get rid of any books, but I would arrange them thematically, put the more frequently used ones on more accessible shelves, and put the ones I look at less often in another place.
There can be many ideas for spending a longer time at home. Some people organize their home genealogical archives, others catch up on reading. Someone else finds time for yet another hobby. They say intelligent people don't get bored. You can do a lot at home and you don't have to get bored or go outside. This isolation may not be easy, but you can make it more enjoyable.
And I am asking you, be careful. Disturbing information is coming from different parts of the world and only peace and common sense can save us. Take care of yourself!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I recently finished watching a series on Netflix called Atypical, in the Polish version Atypowy. In my opinion, it is a very interesting series and worth seeing.
In the following episodes, we see how he copes with school, work and studies. We can also notice what situations become problematic for him, even though to neurotypical people, i.e. those not on the autism spectrum, they seem to be completely ordinary elements of everyday life.
The series is very enjoyable to watch. In my opinion, the main character was brilliantly played and is a very convincing character. So did all his family and friends. Despite touching on difficult topics, it is not a depressing, overly psychological tapeworm, but an entertaining and engaging series. I think it's worth watching because it will help you better understand people who are on the autism spectrum.
What is the autism spectrum? Is it a disease? Or maybe some genetic defect? Absolutely not. The autism spectrum is a certain way of functioning of the nervous system. People on the spectrum are healthy, but they perceive the world differently than others. They can focus strongly on one topic and often have astonishing knowledge in this area. This spectrum includes, among others: people who have Asperger's syndrome. Unfortunately, there are also those for whom autism is associated with certain developmental disorders.
However, many people are able to function in society. However, they do not like changes, they have their own established paths and have problems understanding neurotypical people. They like clear situations, without subtext. They are not good at small talk, but they can talk at length about things that interest them.
It is important to remember that not everyone on the spectrum is identical. No two people are the same with the same symptoms, which is why we talk about a spectrum. Usually, children are diagnosed, but sometimes symptoms appear later and the diagnosis occurs only in adulthood.
There are still many unknowns, we still do not know exactly how the human nervous system functions and how our brain works. It is an amazing machine that can cope with a variety of tasks and new situations. The nervous system of people with Asperger's syndrome can respond to many needs and responses that neurotypical people cannot meet. Of course, it also works the other way round. This shows how mysterious our own body is.
By the way, I am asking you to be understanding towards such people. You can watch the series or read. Maybe someone around you is on the spectrum? It is important to support and understand how such a person thinks and feels. It's not easy, because you have to approach such a person in a completely different way and put aside what seems obvious or pleasant to neurotypical people.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! And next Monday I invite you to another podcast from the "Polish with John" series. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I hope you are healthy. And above all, you have the strength of spirit. The current crisis has made life difficult for everyone, many people cannot work and may have financial problems. Others have a hard time staying at home, they really want to go out, but they can't. The weather outside is getting nicer and warmer, but you have to stay at home. However, I am not able to step into the shoes of others, so I will tell you a little about how I live in times of plague.
I'm not a person who needs to go outside a lot. My house is my castle and, if it weren't for the fact that I have to take my dog for a walk, I might not leave the door at all. I now shop once a week. Previously, I went to the store more often, every day actually.
Of course, I go to the store wearing a face mask. Now you have to wear disposable gloves in the store. This reduces the risk of infecting yourself and others. Of course, I try not to touch anything unnecessarily. When I get home, I wash my hands thoroughly, for at least thirty seconds. Hygiene is very important.
I work normally at home, which means I teach. I have a few lessons less, but I don't feel much of a difference. Of course, I work online and teach online. No students come to me, nor do I go anywhere. This has one downside. I have less motivation to clean.
I'm still learning Uzbek, which takes my time. I also try to read and build something with Lego. These things make me think a little less about what's going on in the world.
I would like to say that I am at peace. Unfortunately, although I try to pretend that everything is fine, I feel a little scared. What will be tommorow? Will my parents and family be healthy, will I be healthy? I have two nephews and I am very worried about them. What will the economic situation be like after the epidemic? Many people will lose their jobs, and governments unfortunately do not make life easier for entrepreneurs. Running a business, i.e. a company, in Poland is not easy. Especially for these tiny, often one-person companies. And now, during and after the pandemic, it will be even more difficult.
Unfortunately, this uncertainty also affects what I do. It's harder for me to concentrate. As you may have noticed, I barely post anything on my fanpage. I don't want to go on Facebook and read more posts about the coronavirus.
On the other hand, I have seen some positive news. Scientists' work is progressing rapidly and we know more and more about this virus. Many countries are working to find a cure and a vaccine. Let's hope this happens as soon as possible. For now, we must stay at home and avoid the risk of infection.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! It's Easter next week and I don't know if I'll be able to make a podcast. If not, we'll definitely hear from you in two weeks. Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
These Easter holidays are strange. Quiet, peaceful, but also without family meetings, without this festive atmosphere. Christmas in quarantine. The whole world has been fighting the coronavirus for weeks and months. The enemy is so dangerous that everyone who can stay at home and does not meet with each other. Despite this, Easter is the most important Christian holiday. More important than Christmas, although it is usually celebrated more modestly. So what is this holiday about?
Easter is a holiday in which we remember the most important event described in the Bible. It is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He, according to the biblical descriptions, was killed by crucifixion and then buried. He died, but he defeated death and gave new life to all people. Thanks to this we can all be saved.
I used a lot of theological and religious language, but it will be useful if you want to learn about Polish culture, literature and history. Since the year nine hundred and sixty-six, since the baptism of Poland, Christianity has been closely connected with our history. The oldest literary texts in Polish are religious texts. All Poles know the very old song Bogurodzica. She's so old that we need a dictionary to understand her words. Our language has changed so much since then. Another, equally old song is the song Christ is Risen, sung at Easter. Its original text from the fourteenth century reads as follows:
See how the language has changed? And this current version still sounds very archaic today. An archaic language is an old language, one that is no longer used.
Easter is a great and important holiday. It shaped and continues to shape Christianity and Polish culture. Every year on these holidays, churches are filled to capacity, people pray, ask God for forgiveness of sins and come to Holy Masses. Meanwhile, this year the churches were empty. People prayed at home, Masses were broadcast on television, and many traditional rituals did not take place. This Easter is strange, so quiet and empty. But maybe it's also a good time to see something more than traditional rituals in the holidays, to see what is most important about them?
There was a lot of vocabulary in this episode, which I will try to explain a bit now. Resurrection is literally a rising from the dead. If someone overcomes death himself, he rises from among those who are dead. Holy Mass is a gathering of Christians in a church who pray together. The priest celebrates Holy Mass and other people participate in it. Sin is everything that offends God, the bad things we do. God forgives sins, that is, he gives them to us. You could say that they no longer exist. Salvation is the opportunity to go to heaven, to paradise. In Christian theology, people cannot go to heaven because of their sins. However, sins and death were defeated by Jesus, the son of God, and thanks to this people can be saved, i.e. go to heaven or paradise after death.
I hope that now it will be easier for you to understand matters related to religious language. It is worth knowing it, because many works of Polish literature use it, sometimes metaphorically, sometimes in other contexts, but it is present and it is worth knowing it to better understand other texts.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Today a few words about Polish literature. Of course, there won't be everything and about everything, because we don't have time for it. I'll just share a few thoughts.
The inspiration for this episode came from an interesting series of discussions of the main Polish books and literary works, which is created on the Sebizm Osiedlowo-Radykalny channel on YouTube. Of course, the language level there may be more difficult than here, but if someone wants to take up such a challenge, I will provide the appropriate link in the description of this episode and on the blog.
Sebizm Osiedlowo-Radykalny on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLprjJAUFjg&list;=PLHyFQ2Ldcwk8ydPMeYAsbv5GCID_PKhRz The canon of Polish literature, i.e. the most important literary works - books, poems and so on, is learned at school. The student is then a dozen or so years old, a teenager, and reads great works by great poets and writers. Everything is so big that the student's head swells and bursts from the excess of this size. It also breaks because these books are often difficult, because you have to know the history, and you also have to learn the language, which is slightly different from today's. However, when, after a few or more years, I reach for the same books again, I look at them completely differently.
A few years ago I read "Zemsta" by Aleksander Fredro. Aleksander Fredro lived in the 19th (nineteenth) century and wrote mainly comedies. Such comedies that make you tear up. They were and are really very funny. Unfortunately, at school, students and teachers take them too seriously, so they do not notice the jokes and what is funny in them. When I read "Revenge" then, I thought I would burst out laughing. This was such a fun book and I only wished I had discovered it sooner.
Now I'm reading "Forefathers' Eve" by Adam Mickiewicz. Unlike "Revenge", this is a serious read, a serious book. Written during the partitions, when Poland did not exist on the map of Europe, and Poles were persecuted, imprisoned and tortured by the partitioners - Russia, Austria and Prussia (i.e. today's Germany). At the same time, we wanted to regain independence. In Polish cities - Warsaw, Krakow, Lviv and Vilnius - people fought against the invaders, mainly in conspiracy and in secret. "Forefathers' Eve" is about exactly that, about the fight, about the desire for freedom, about Poles and Poland.
When I compare "Zemsta" and "Forefathers' Eve", I see why it is so difficult to read them at school. Comedies are taken too seriously, and students are not prepared for serious content. They don't know history very well, they don't understand the language, they don't understand the people who lived then. However, when you start to understand it, the literary feast begins.
While reading "Forefathers' Eve", I am delighted with the language of Adam Mickiewicz. He chooses words beautifully and has a great style. I wish I had skills like him. However, this is a language knowledge level not A, not B, not C1 or C2. It's not even D, but probably Z, the highest level. So is it possible to get there? Is it possible to learn the language so that you can read books by Adam Mickiewicz, Aleksander Fredro or other classic Polish authors?
I think so. However, it is a long road. First, you need to know modern Polish very well. Then the story. It's also probably worth finding out what the book is about first. Then it will be easier for us to understand. Maybe it's worth starting with poetry first. The poems are shorter and can help us learn about the writer's style and language. There are a few that are worth knowing. For example, the Akerman Steppes. If any of you understand this poem right away, without looking in a dictionary, you are better than most of the students at school, and maybe even than your teachers. However, it is a short text, so it is good for training for advanced users. There are a lot of new words there, there will be a lot to learn. And with each such poem you will know more. And then every other work of literature will be much easier for you.
At the end you have to ask yourself if it's worth it. Is it worth studying so much to be able to understand high literature? In my opinion, yes. You can talk about the weather with anyone, but you won't find such beautiful language anywhere else except in literature. Moreover, the content of these works and books is very deep. Important questions are asked there and important topics are discussed. As the English say, it is food for thought. This is the best quality food and I encourage you to eat it!
I've already talked about trees on this podcast, but I don't think I've talked about plants in general yet. And this is a river topic! So we could talk about it and talk about it. Therefore, today I will tell you at least a little about plants and help you learn the vocabulary related to them.
Let's start with the plant parts. At the very bottom, in the ground, the roots are hidden. With these roots, plants draw water and other substances from the ground that they need to live. Above the ground, plants sometimes have a trunk (like trees), sometimes a stem, and sometimes even leaves. The leaves are usually green, except in autumn, when they turn yellow, red or brown. Plants breathe through their leaves and take in carbon dioxide, CO2, which they need to live. In this way, they produce oxygen, which is necessary for us to live. This process is technically called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis occurs in plant cells that contain chlorophyll. We came across some specialized, professional terms, but children learn them at school during biology lessons, so maybe it's worth at least hearing them. Some plants have needles instead of leaves.
Of course, flowers and fruits are also part of the plant. In science, a fruit is the part of some plants that contains seeds. Many fruits are edible for humans, such as apples and raspberries, but there are also some that are poisonous or we simply do not eat them. Flowers are the most beautiful parts of plants, with colorful petals and often used to decorate gardens and parks. The flowers then produce fruit. How beautiful the orchards are when they bloom! An orchard is a place where fruit trees are grown in order to harvest the fruit. The flowers attract bees, which pollinate the flowers and produce honey from the collected nectar.
Interestingly, in Polish there is a word "flower", which means any plant we have at home. Hence we talk about watering flowers at home, transplanting flowers or growing flowers. And the plants we have may not actually have flowers. Such home flowers include, for example, ficus, fern or cactus. It doesn't really matter what genre it is. If it is at home, you can call it a flower.
Naturally, plants can be found in many places. In the forest we mainly find trees. In Poland we have deciduous forests, where trees have leaves, coniferous forests, where trees have needles, and mixed forests, where both types of trees grow. A very dense and old forest is called a primeval forest. There are other types of forests in the world, such as tropical forests. Outside the forests, we can find meadows where various types of grass, flowers and other field plants grow. The name "field plants" is interesting because they do not grow in a field, but in a meadow. A field is a place where a person grows plants or cereals, such as wheat or oats. The sunflower fields are very nice, their huge flowers look beautiful and beautiful.
We can also divide plants into other groups. So we have potted plants, i.e. those that we grow in pots and pots, most often at home. Garden plants, for growing in the garden. Of course, sometimes we keep potted plants in the garden, and these terms are not very accurate and precise.
Another category of plants are herbs and medicinal plants. They can be used to prepare medicines, herbal teas and other things that have a good effect on our body. Still other plants are weeds. A weed is a plant that grows in the garden and we don't want it. It is difficult to get rid of it because it grows back quickly. The most popular weed in Poland is dandelion. Interestingly, it is both a weed and a medicinal plant. Dandelion, or dandelion, is its common name. Dandelion is a professional, specialized name.
That's it for today. Plants are part of our everyday life, so it is worth knowing something about them and taking care of them naturally. Polish homes often have a lot of plants and flowers, but in yours? What are the traditions in your countries?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
This podcast is longer than usual, but I also think it's an important topic. To understand Poland, you need to know its history, including its difficult one. And the 20th century was a very difficult time for us, even after the end of World War II.
A few days ago, on May 8, Western Europe celebrated Victory Day, i.e. the end of World War II. In Russia, and once in all communist countries, this day was May 9. However, for these countries, it was not exactly a day of victory. Poland came from one, Nazi, occupation to another, Soviet one. The authorities imposed by Moscow introduced terror in the country, forced obedience, and anyone who protested faced severe penalties. Democracy was a word often used, but behind this word there was a sad reality. Poland fell under Soviet occupation. For appearances sake, elections and referendums were held. All this to make the government look democratic. However, the results were rigged and it was known in advance who was going to win.
The Red Army that fought against the Germans did not return intact to the Soviet Union. Units of this army remained in many countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In this way, Stalin could forcefully introduce communism in these countries. Poland and other countries were heavily damaged by the war. First, many things were stolen from Poland by the Germans, and then by the Russians. Also after the war, many machines, goods and valuable things were exported to the USSR. The country was ruined and robbed. Poland was deprived of lands in the east, where cities such as Lviv, Vilnius and Grodno are located, which are extremely important for Polish history and culture. I feel most sorry for Lviv, the city of such writers as Aleksander Fredro, Seweryn Goszczyński, Wincenty Pol, Marian Hemar and Stanisław Lem. Also associated with this city are, among others, geographer and cartographer Eugeniusz Romer, philosopher Kazimierz Twardowski, president of Poland, chemist, scientist and inventor Ignacy Mościcki and polar explorer Henryk Arctowski. And many, many others. In exchange for grabbing lands in the east, Stalin moved the Polish border to the west. The lands that were within its borders at the time the state was established - Silesia, Pomerania, and the Lubusz region - returned to Poland.
Due to border changes, many people were displaced, i.e. had to change their place of residence. Poles from the East were forcibly moved to the West, to the Recovered Territories. These people did not know how long they would be able to live there, they were afraid of another war. And Stalin would really like war, because it is important for communism to conquer other countries and bring revolution there.
Another example of how Stalin liberated Poland is the indifference of the Red Army, which stood in Warsaw, on the right bank of the Vistula. There, Soviet troops occupied Praga, a district of Warsaw, but did not start fighting the Germans on the other side of the river. It was the time of the Warsaw Uprising. Poles who fought in that army wanted to help their compatriots, but they could not. Why? Because Stalin did not want Poland to be free. He preferred that Poles be killed by Germans, and then he would have fewer problems by imposing communism in our country. Soldiers of the Red Army, occupying Polish lands, robbed Poles, raped women and committed many other crimes. It was a terrible time when one occupier was removed by another, equally brutal.
The communists, on orders from Moscow, organized concentration camps in Poland. Some of those founded by Germans did not stop operating, only the management changed. There were Germans, future communists. Molotov, the USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs, wanted to lock up all Home Army members, i.e. those who fought against the Nazis in the Home Army.
What kind of life did the communist revolution bring to Poland? Life in poverty, censorship and lack of freedom. Censorship meant that it was impossible to write a book or article that would criticize the government. You could be imprisoned for saying that communism was bad. There were also people who were murdered for criticizing the government, such as priest Jerzy Popiełuszko. The public often opposed the government's actions and strikes and protests broke out. However, the government sent the army and repeatedly killed people who protested against the communist regime. There was often nothing to buy in stores, people stood in queues for many hours to buy meat or other basic products. I still remember the butcher shop I visited with my mother before Christmas. It was almost completely empty, only carp swam in a small pool and you could buy them. Of course, you had to queue first.
In Poland, already in 1944, communists began to organize services whose aim was to combat all manifestations of hostility towards the communist authorities. There was no room for free political discussions or freedom of opinion. Today you can protest against the government on the streets, back then you could get killed for such a thing. This type of services operated in communist countries. In Poland it was the Security Service, in the GDR the Stasi, in the USSR the NKVD and the KGB. The purpose of these services was, among others, control of its own citizens. To further illustrate this reality, I will quote Lenin's words: "The court should justify and validate terror." Communism is a system as cruel as Nazism. Its greatest victims are those who have to live in communist countries.
In Poland after the war, people were poor. Western countries received help from America, the communists did not want this help. A few years after the war, even in Germany, people lived well. On the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, poverty continued until the 1990s. Only the fall of communism brought freedom. Personal freedom, freedom of speech have returned and capitalism has arrived. Thanks to this, people in Poland began to live better and better. Now it's obvious that we go to the supermarket and buy what we want and how much we want. However, this was not the case in the past, because socialism causes people to live in poverty.
This is what Poland looked like for several dozen years after the war. From one occupation to another. Fortunately, this is now history, there are no Russian troops in Poland and the country is developing, enjoying freedom. Unfortunately, not everyone respects this and there are many who would like to introduce socialism again, take away freedom and so on. But I won't get into that today. Maybe someday, but it would be a very political episode, and that's always a topic that leads to arguments.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Today I would like to introduce you to one of the Polish authors, namely Stanisław Lem. It is one of the most famous in the world. His books have been translated into over 40 languages and he was even nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He was born before the war, in 1921 in Lviv, which was still a Polish city at that time. He died in 2006 in Kraków. He wrote science fiction books and was also a philosopher and futurologist.
His debut and first major literary success was the book "Astronauts". People were very eager to read it, and thanks to that he was able to start writing more books. And there were a lot of them. I won't list them all here, but it's worth mentioning at least "Solaris", one of the most famous in the world, and "Return from the Stars".
“Solaris” is a story about a human meeting with another intelligent being. She is completely different from humans. The main character of the novel is psychologist Kris Kelvin, who comes to the planet Solaris. This planet is covered with an ocean that appears to be this intelligent being. This book was and is a bestseller not only in Poland but also around the world.
However, "Return from the Stars" is a book whose action takes place on Earth. A group of astronauts returns home after several years of space travel. According to the laws of physics, over a hundred years have passed on Earth during this time and a lot has changed. People stopped being interested in anything and chose a life that was pleasant and devoid of major emotions.
Stanisław Lem's books are not only science fiction and entertainment. They also contain philosophical reflections and attempts to find answers to difficult questions related to people, our communities and science.
Finally, an interesting fact. American science-fiction author Philip K. Dick believed for some time that Stanisław Lem did not exist. He believed that it was actually a group of writers from the communist bloc. He explained this by the fact that Lem's books belonged to different literary genres and were written in different styles. The aim of such an operation was to gain greater influence of the communists on Western public opinion. However, Philip K. Dick changed his mind and explained that he was having a nervous breakdown.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Interpersonal relationships can be very complicated. We often see this in families, when loved ones may have very different attitudes towards each other. I think it is similar between Poles and Russians, Poland and Russia. I was inspired to prepare this podcast by a conversation with Artyom from the great Russian Progress podcast. I'll make a reservation right away that what I'm going to say today may not be entirely true, because maybe I don't know and understand everything. Before each sentence, I could say "I think," "I think," or "I suppose." I want to try to describe to you what the relations of Poles to Russia and Russians look like and what they result from. First of all, I will speak with the thought that Russians will also listen to me, whom I greet very warmly!
If I were to look for a simple answer to the question in the title, I would say this: We like Russians very much, but not necessarily Russia. We like people who are fantastic, we like Russian literature, which is amazing, but Russia as a country has shown us an unfriendly face more than once.
Poland and Russia have been at war for a long time. However, nothing hurt Poles as much as the events of the 18th century, when the partitions of Poland took place. Three countries neighboring our country caused Poland to disappear from the map of Europe. Our freedom was taken away, our country was taken away, and persecution began. They were the largest in the Russian partition. The Tsar tried to Russify Poles and turn us into Russians. When in 1815 a small Kingdom of Poland was created, completely dependent on Russia, with the tsar as king, there was a chance to change these relations. However, the Tsar of Russia violated the agreements signed and the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland adopted by him. The situation was very difficult until the First World War.
After this war, Poland regained independence. Unfortunately, in 1919 the Polish-Bolshevik war broke out. Russia, already under communist rule, attacked our country and wanted to conquer it. The communists wanted to forcefully introduce their totalitarian system in Poland and then throughout Europe. Fortunately, Poland managed to win this war and our country enjoyed independence until World War II.
World War II was a very difficult experience for Poland. Not only Germany attacked Poland. There was a military agreement between Germany and Russia, and the Red, or Russian, Army attacked Poland on September 17, 1939. It was a knife in our backs. Our country was divided again, this time between Germany and Russia. This alliance did not last long and in 1941 Germany attacked Russia. After Germany's initial major successes, the tables turned and the Russian army began to push the Germans westward. In this way, it reached the pre-war borders of Poland and continued its attacks. She stopped in front of Warsaw. At that time, an uprising broke out and fought against the Germans for two months. The Russians did not come to our aid. Only when the uprising collapsed did the Russians move on. They went through all of Poland and reached the capital of Germany, Berlin. Unfortunately, Russian troops did not return from Poland until the 1990s.
I often hear that the Red Army liberated the world from fascism. From our point of view, however, it was a change from one occupation to another. Stalin decided to take away the most important centers of Polish culture. In this way, Poland lost Lviv, a city very important for our history, culture and fight for independence. Russia murdered hundreds of thousands of Poles in battles, deportations to Siberia and mass murders such as in Katyn.
This difficult history gives us very bad memories of Russia. Also, the current policy of this country is far from friendly, and we also see what is happening in Georgia and Ukraine. That is why many people in Poland have not very friendly feelings towards Russia.
It's completely different with the Russians. Many people who were exiled to Siberia or the steppes of Kazakhstan during the war survived thanks to the help of the inhabitants of those areas. We sometimes understand each other well with Russians and I personally feel that there are many elements that unite us rather than divide us. We like the Russian language, which is soft and pleasant for us. Although during communism many people did not want to learn it for obvious reasons, nowadays more and more people are learning it. We eagerly read Russian literature, from Dostoyevsky, through Bulgakov to Glukhovsky. Crime and Punishment, The Master and Margarita, Roadside Picnic and Metro 2033 are very popular books by Russian authors in Poland.
As you can see, these relationships are difficult and often full of contradictions. We have experienced a lot of bad things from the state of Russia and a lot of good things from simple Russians. There were Russians who murdered us and those who saved our lives. Russia brought a lot of suffering, and Russian culture gave a lot of beauty. So there is no simple answer to the question about our relations with Russia and Russians. Many people have their own experiences – bad and good, painful and beautiful. I'm learning Russian, I want to read Russian books in Russian because I like this language very much. I like Russians very much and I haven't met anyone I didn't like yet. However, I would like Russia not to interfere in the policies of our and other countries, and to abandon imperialism and the desire to dominate Europe. What has happened will never go away and wounds or scars will remain. However, the future can be built in a completely different way.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Yesterday, the Polyglot Gathering 2020 meeting, which took place online, ended. It was supposed to take place in Teresin, Poland, but due to restrictions it had to be held online. The "real" meeting has been postponed to 2021. It was my first time participating in this type of meeting and I would like to tell you a little about it.
The meeting was attended by people from all over the world. The program included various speeches, meetings during which you could talk in the selected language, and open meetings for those who want to talk without any language restrictions. During these open meetings, participants spoke in many languages, often switching from one language to another.
During the speeches, you could learn new languages, such as Basque or Belarusian. There was also a very interesting speech about how linguistics can be used to learn foreign languages better. For me, there was a lack of speeches on the history of languages, my favorite topic. I guess I have to prepare something for next year myself.
Meeting places in different languages were very interesting. You could enter a virtual room and listen to others talking or join the discussion yourself. At the same time, we could meet new people from all over the world who learn the same language as us.
The open rooms were also very interesting. I like conversations in different languages. I also met one of my students there, whom I hadn't seen for a long time. He made amazing progress in Polish. I'm really impressed.
What do I have left after Polyglot Gathering 2020? First of all, the desire to learn all languages. Yes, all of them, not just some. I am also very interested in the history of languages, so I would like to learn not only those that are currently used, but also those that are already extinct. Besides, I would like to create even more interesting and diverse materials for all the people I met there.
What advice do I have for you? Try to look for every opportunity to learn and use the language. The point is to set ourselves even small challenges and take small steps that will lead us to our goal.
Finally, a small announcement. I would love to switch to professionally creating materials for learning Polish and other languages, especially Latin and Uzbek. To do this, however, I would have to have fewer lessons. I am a teacher and I make a living from teaching. That's why I would appreciate your support on Patreon. Therefore, I also plan to release the "Polish with John Extra" podcast from time to time, the transcription of which will be available only to people who support me on Patreon. I would like to keep the transcription of this podcast free, but to keep it that way I would like to ask you for a donation of at least one dollar. And thank you very much in advance!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
I thought I wouldn't be able to record this episode because I'm very tired. Do you know why? Because I was at my nephew's birthday party, i.e. my brother's son... He is very young, so we had to have fun and have fun, hence the tiredness. What we played and had fun with, I will tell you today.
It started with playing with gifts. My nephew got the ball, so we had to throw it, kick it and run after it. Then there were blocks. At least it was peaceful until the guys (because I have two nephews) decided that their uncle was a good way to practice climbing. And they started climbing over me. Yep, uncle is the best toy.
Then the game of chaser or "got him" began. The rules are very simple. One chases and the others run away. When he touches another person, that other person "has" him, which means he starts chasing others. Another important rule is that there is no giving back. So you can't give "it" back to the person who gave it to you. Just between you and me, I don't really know what this "go" is that you give to others.
After all this chasing and running, I was completely exhausted and could barely move. Guys have a thousand times more energy and can run and go crazy endlessly. Fortunately, there were no more games, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do it. And there are a lot of these games!
You can play hide and seek. One person counts, for example, to fifty, and the others hide. Then the person who counted must find all the others. The winner is the one who couldn't be found. Another game that I remember from my childhood is "one, two, three, Baba Yaga is watching." One person was a Baba Yaga, she turned around and said these words loudly: "one, two, three, Baba Yaga is watching." Meanwhile, the rest of us were running from the agreed place to this woman. When Baba Yaga finished speaking, she turned around and the rest couldn't move. Anyone who moved would be eliminated from the game. Then again Baba Yaga turned around, said "one, two, three, Baba Yaga is watching", and the rest ran. Whoever reached Baba Yaga won.
There were a lot of these games. We didn't have computers or smartphones. We played more outside, away from home. Today, children probably spend more time in front of screens. Whether it's better or worse, I don't know. Different than before.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Do you like history? Today I would like to recommend the program "Sensations of the 20th century" by Bogusław Wołoszański. You can find many episodes on YouTube. There are also other historical programs by Bogusław Wołoszański. All you need to do is enter the phrase "20th century sensations" or the author's name and surname in the search engine.
What is this program about? As the name suggests, it is about the history of the 20th century, about what was exceptionally interesting, sensational and mysterious. From these programs we can learn a lot about the course of both world wars and the politics of the great powers and Poland.
The first episode was broadcast on television in September 1983. Bogusław Wołoszański talks very interestingly about various historical events and in most episodes, apart from the oldest ones, there are many moments when actors appear instead of the host. A bit in the style of programs called docudrama in English. Thanks to this, we are even more interested in watching the film. And these films often feature very good actors. However, when it comes to learning Polish, such a presentation of various situations will better allow us to understand what is happening on the screen.
I think that "Sensations of the 20th century" is a great program for learning Polish. Watching several episodes, we will notice that many political and military terms are repeated, e.g. tanks, special services, armored weapons, rifles and the like. You can choose a specific episode, read about it on Wikipedia, and then watch the movie. By reading Wikipedia, we will learn the historical situation and new words, which will allow us to better understand the content of the episode. Each next one will be easier.
Another advantage of watching these programs is learning about recent history. The 20th century has recently ended, but we know this history less and less. Even World War II is becoming a distant topic from history books, and very little is said today about what the policy of the Soviet Union was like and at what cost of human blood it was built. From the program we can learn about the activities of spies, whether Stalin could have been murdered and about various attempts on Hitler's life. We will learn about the activities of Polish scientists who broke the Enigma code and contributed greatly to the Allies winning the war. We will also learn about Hitler's secret plans that were to lead to his final victory. There are many topics in these programs, so you won't be bored.
So what remains? Watch! If you are only interested in history, I recommend it. And even if you are not a fan of history, this program may change your approach to the subject and interest you at least a little. And of course, help you learn Polish.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
He was born in 1847, and at the age of 16 he fought in the January Uprising for Poland's freedom. He went to prison for this. He wanted to study in St. Petersburg, but he couldn't afford it, so he studied in Warsaw at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. He wrote to earn a living. Who? Aleksander Głowacki, who published his first texts under the pseudonym Jan w Oleju, and then published as Bolesław Prus.
Apparently his life's work was "The Doll", a book that becomes torture for many high school students. His short stories from school, such as "Antek" and "Katarynka", are even worse remembered. Novels, not to be confused with the English word novel, are short stories. The ones selected for reading at school are somehow depressing and discouraging from reading. Recently, however, I returned to "The Doll" and read it for myself. I'm about halfway there. I had to stop reading, but I want to go back to this book and finish it. Then I will record a special episode only about this book.
But who was the author of "The Doll", the author of many bestsellers of the 19th and 20th centuries? He was very different from modern celebrities. His nieces recalled that he wore a black frock coat and dark glasses. He was supposed to live modestly and without scandals. For Prus, writing was a service. His popularity arose from his novels, and not from the loud scandals typical of our celebrities. He wrote his novels in installments that appeared in newspapers. Only later were they published in their entirety. When he was writing, he spent whole days in his study. He wouldn't go anywhere for days, and his wife would bring him food. He didn't want to see anyone while writing.
He was a man who noticed the problems of everyday life, including those of the poorest. This can be seen in his works, novellas and books. Apparently he also had a weakness for stray animals.
However, writing was not all he did in life. Before he could make a living by writing articles and books, he was also a photographer, a street speaker, and even a locksmith in a factory. Even though he came from a noble family, he was not rich, so he had to try different professions. In my opinion, this made his books take on a unique realism, because he knew the life of various social classes very well. At the same time, he had plenty of humor. While preparing for this podcast, I was looking for a funny quote, but I couldn't find anything on the Internet. My edition of "Selected Writings" does not include any humorous or sarcastic jokes. Hence, I placed appropriate orders in online stores and I hope they will arrive soon. Then I will share them with you and we will read something together. This will be an interesting topic for the next episode.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
We often ask each other at the beginning of a conversation, "How are you?", "What's up?" or something like that. What to answer then? As far as I know, in England the question "How are you?" this is not usually a question that requires more than “fine” or other short answers. In Poland, however, we do not ask such questions to people we do not know. If we ask, we usually really want to know more. Of course, the first answers are often like "Nothing new" or "An old joke." However, we can then tell you how the last few days have passed. Of course, this is not about a long report with all possible details. Rather, a short interesting story, an anecdote or something general.
How was your week? – And you know, quite well. I had a lot of work, but on Wednesday my boss told me that I would get a raise from July. Great, right? – This is what a simple dialogue between two people can look like. It's "Cool, right?" gives the other person the opportunity to agree. He invites you to talk and, of course, confirm that this raise is a great thing.
How was your week? – Oh, not so good. I was sick over the weekend, but I went to work on Monday anyway. Massacre. I felt terrible. It didn't get any better after that either. They've given us so much work that we won't be able to recover from it for a month. – We often complain in such conversations. We have too much work, we were or someone was sick and so on. In Poland, we have an internal resistance to saying that everything is going well, that everything is great. Maybe that's why we sometimes say "old woman" or "old woman." Because poverty is not good, but if it is old, it means that it is the same as always and there is no new one. I once read that such behavior may result from the fear that saying that everything is fine may be interpreted as bragging, exalting oneself over another person, and in the times of the Polish People's Republic it could additionally show that someone was doing illegal business or collaborating with the communist party. Today, however, this is slowly changing and, in my opinion, there are slightly fewer complaints than before.
How was your week? My week? My personal week may be boring for others, but for me there's usually a lot of interesting things going on. This week I managed to read some interesting things about linguistics and watch some interesting lectures. I really liked the lecture by Dr. John McWhorter, who at one of the Polyglot Gatherings talked about a myth based on Whorf's hypotheses. It is a very popular hypothesis that the language we speak shapes how we perceive the world, how we understand it, and shapes our worldview. McWhorter debunks this myth and shows that this hypothesis has little to do with reality. If anything, the culture, literature, history, customs of other groups and nations that we get to know while learning the language can influence us. But the mere fact of using this or that grammatical structure is not.
What else happened this week? I bought a lot of books, probably too many, more than I should and my budget will suffer. But these are very interesting books and I hope to read them soon, or at least some of them. If you are interested in what books these are, please visit my Instagram, which is called ioannesoculus. Of course, I leave the link in the description.
What else was I doing? Of course, I worked and taught English and Polish. Besides, I taught myself. I've been watching a bit, recently I've been hooked on The Big Bang Theory. Who among you watched it? What do you think about him? I like it very much.
Well, that's it. Do you know anything about how my week went and you also learned other examples of how to answer questions like "How are you?" and “What have you been up to lately?” I hope you find this useful the next time you're in a situation where small talk is necessary. By the way, I don't like small talk and prefer conversations on specific topics.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Have you ever wondered how language came to be? As far as we know, no animal can use language freely. Some animals, such as chimpanzees, have managed to learn several hundred words in sign language, but none of them can actually use the language. And we, people, representatives of the species homo sapiens, have no problem learning language naturally as children, and we probably have something in our genes that allows us to speak. So how did we go from ordinary sounds that have no special meaning to words, sentences, metaphors, similes and poetry?
There are many theories about this and they are quite interesting. One of them says that it started with sounds that resembled different things. So you could call the dog "hał" and the cat "had". But how many objects or animals can we name this way? Not much.
Another theory is that language comes from the sounds we make in various emotional states. We say ouch when something hurts or bleeah when we don't like something. Again, this is probably not an exhaustive source for the development of the entire language system.
I also read about the theory that language comes from music, from humming a melody. Or that it comes from the sounds the mother makes to calm the baby, for example. I suspect there are even more such theories. So where could all this complicated language come from? Who is right, which theory is true?
In my opinion, all of them together could turn out to be true. Why couldn't every method mentioned be used to create words, to create language. As humans, we easily create abstract words. So why couldn't such a sentence appear in the history of mankind: Wow, wow, wow!, which would mean that the dog said wow to the child. He made it hurt. Maybe he bit? Monkeys have their own sounds that warn other monkeys about danger from certain animals, for example. In the process of evolution, couldn't such signals be elements that create language?
But how did it happen that we moved from simple, concrete words to abstract concepts or words like with, from, through. It seems impossible to move from hał, ałć or other words denoting very specific situations to such grammatical words. And yet it turns out that it is possible. Words change their meaning and become grammatical words and this process is called grammaticalization. An example is the English go, which means to go, to move. However, in English you can say I'm going to read that book tomorrow. To going to has lost its meaning of moving and means that we intend to do something in the future. It is therefore a form of the future tense. It is interesting that something similar occurs in Polish. We say, for example, that we are going cycling. But you ride a bike, not walk. You can say that you have to walk a little, take a few steps, but this is a marginal activity. Besides, if we say: Tomorrow I'm going for a bike ride, where in this sentence do we talk about walking as an activity?
We may ask ourselves, What should I do? This I have doesn't mean I own something, but I should. Żeromski used the following sentence in Lalka: Wokulski hesitated what to do at that moment. Another word that might be an interesting example is take. In the normal sense we will say Take these books and put them on the shelf. However, it can simply be a form of the imperative mood, for example Don't laugh at me.
Languages are alive, they change. Neither for worse nor for better, they just become different. This is how the first language, or perhaps the first languages, could have arisen from simple words and changed over tens of thousands of years until it reached our times. It continues to change before our eyes, although we often do not notice it. Have you noticed any changes in your languages? Or maybe you could give examples of ordinary words that have become grammatical? Let us know in the comments on the blog or on social media.
The podcast is also accompanied by a longer article on my blog titled: How did language start? You will find more details about this in the article. I will, of course, put the link in the description.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
On Sunday, July 12, 2020, presidential elections were held in Poland. Therefore, I would like to present you some vocabulary related to them and tell you something about President Andrzej Duda, his opponent Rafał Trzaskowski and these elections.
According to the Polish constitution, the president is "the highest representative of the Republic of Poland and the guarantor of the continuity of state power." It is he who "ensures compliance with the Constitution, guards the sovereignty and security of the state as well as the inviolability and indivisibility of its territory." Such an important person in the state is elected for five years and this period is called a term of office. The term of office of the Sejm and Senate, i.e. parliament, is shorter and lasts four years. One person can be president for a maximum of two terms. Therefore, one can hold the office of president for a total of ten years.
The president in Poland does not have much power compared to, for example, the president of the United States. Each act, i.e. a new law, passed by the parliament must be signed by the president. If the president does not sign the bill, i.e. vetoes it, then it is not valid. The Sejm and the Senate can reject this veto, but this requires 3/5 (three fifths) of the votes of the Parliament. The president himself can also propose new laws, but they must first be approved by the parliament.
The president is elected in an election. Every citizen eligible to vote may vote in such elections. Then the votes are counted and whoever gets more than half becomes president. That's why there are two rounds, because there can be many candidates and in the first round of voting it often happens that no one gets more than half of the votes. Only the two candidates who received the most votes advance to the second round. So it was this time. The first round of the 2020 presidential elections took place on June 28, 2020. Then Andrzej Duda got 43.5% of the votes and Rafał Trzaskowski 30.46%. Since none of the candidates received an absolute majority, i.e. over 50% of the votes, a second round was held.
Before the elections, there is an election campaign during which candidates convince voters about themselves and their program. However, on the day before the elections there is an election silence, which means that you cannot conduct an election campaign. Similarly, you cannot campaign on election day. The first results are announced right after the elections are over. However, these are survey results, i.e. unofficial. The first results from counting votes appear after midnight. Final results are usually available the next day, although sometimes you have to wait a little longer.
In these elections, Andrzej Duda became president and was elected for a second term. Turnout, i.e. the number of people who took part in the elections, was very high. Nearly 68% of those eligible to vote took part in the second round of elections, and the current president received over 51% of the votes.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
In the centuries-long history of the Republic of Poland, we can find many good, wonderful and worthy figures. However, as in the history of every country and nation, in the history of the Republic of Poland we can find people whose fame is ill-known. In the history of the Republic of Poland, such a person was Stanisław Stadnicki, better known as the Devil from Łańcut or the Devil of Łańcut.
This character was terrible. He looted, burned, invaded neighbors and murdered. And all because of his wounded pride after the expedition to Moscow. This brawler and brawler felt not appreciated enough by the king for what he had done during the expedition. He received from the king "only" 1,000 ducats an annual salary and a starosty in Livonia. He was not satisfied with this, so he never went to Livonia. Instead, he went to Hungary, where he sought war fame. He fought there against the Turks. After this expedition, he married Anna Ziemięcka, and in 1586 he took over the city of Łańcut.
If you have been to Łańcut, you have probably seen a beautiful palace, which is now the seat of a museum. In the 16th (16th) century this palace did not yet exist. The city did not develop during the times of the Stadnicki Devil. Stadnicki was more interested in political struggle and armed struggle. He must have loved riots, brawls and brawls. He became a member of the Sejm, and after a few years he took part in the nobility's rebellion against King Sigismund III Vasa. After some time, however, he changed the front and fled the battlefield.
Stadnicki also waged a private war against the staroste of Leżajsk. Łukasz Opaliński, the starosta, captured Łańcut in 1608. Then, in retaliation, Stadnicki captured Leżajsk. The final battle between these two magnates took place on August 14, 1610 near Tarnawiec. During the retreat, he was spotted hiding from the pursuers and was killed.
This story is terrible and sad. Full of blood and robberies. However, it did not end with Stadnicki's death, because his wife, children and the entire family continued to fight, mainly among themselves. Unfortunately, it must be admitted that he also found followers among the nobility, which was one of the reasons for the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century.
You will certainly find more about today's antihero on the Internet, and finally, I would like to help you with a few words. I used some phrases that are used today in literature or in a historical context, but less often in everyday speech.
Stadnicki was a brawler and a brawler. These two words have a similar meaning. A brawler and a brawler is someone who is a criminal, who likes to cause confusion, likes brawls, likes to cause quarrels. Stadnicki looted, burned, invaded neighbors and murdered. He plundered, or robbed, often during combat. He smoked, i.e. he set fire to other people's houses. He invaded his neighbors, i.e. he fought private wars with other nobles. He murdered, that is, he killed. Of course, he did this not only personally, but also gave such orders to his troops. Ducats are a type of currency, money, used at that time. Starosty is an office that was quite a high office in those days.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
People collect things. Stamps, dolls, fridge magnets. Collections can be small, large, and sometimes huge. As you may remember, my great-great-great-grandfather Franciszek Reichard had a very large book collection, i.e. a collection of books, on forestry and hunting. My grandfather, Władysław, also had a lot of books, including philosophical books. My uncle also has a large collection of philosophical and legal books. My great-grandfather's cousin, Jan Oko, was a professor of classical philology and I suspect he also had a lot of books. So, the love of books is probably in my genes, both from my father and my mother. There were and still are a lot of interesting books in the family home. Today I would like to tell you something about my book collection.
I don't collect books for the sake of having a collection, but because I am interested in a given topic. The three main topics of my home library are languages, Tolkien and Lviv.
I have enjoyed reading books for as long as I can remember, although I didn't start reading them earlier than I usually do. The first book I remember reading all by myself was "The Children of Bullerbyn". However, "The Lord of the Rings", which I read a dozen times, made a huge, lasting impression on me. Of course, I also read Tolkien's other books. “The Ruler” was also my first book that I read in English. I tried to keep up to date and bought every new title that was published in Poland. I read Tolkien in Polish and in the original, i.e. English. I also read "The Hobbit" in German, and in fragments in Ukrainian and Russian. I also read about Tolkien and his works. At some point, the idea of collecting Tolkien's books was born. It started with interesting editions bought randomly, sometimes in other languages. My Tolkien book collection is quite large now. I have editions of his books in many languages, e.g. Hungarian, Latin, French and Spanish. I have books related to the film and audiobooks. Tolkien's "Letters" are very interesting to read, as they say a lot about what kind of person he was. Interestingly, I have "The Hobbit" published in Kiev in 1993 in Polish! These books have been collecting dust for some time because I haven't had time to come back to them, but I plan to use them when learning new languages.
Tolkien made me interested in languages and linguistics. Books related to languages currently constitute the largest group of my books. I have a lot of Latin and Latin books, tutorials and textbooks for the languages I study, are learning or would like to learn. That's why on one of the shelves there is a textbook for the Tagalog language, tutorials for Croatian or Korean, and much more. I also have books on ancient languages, and I learned Egyptian hieroglyphs from one of them. Naturally, I have a lot of scientific books on this topic, e.g. books by Chomsky, McWorter and many other authors. I am also interested in the Polish language, so I have descriptive grammars, historical grammars, atlases of the Polish language and many other studies. I must admit that there are so many of them waiting to be read that if I did nothing else for the next few years but read, I probably wouldn't read them all. But that doesn't stop me from trying!
After languages, it's time for Lviv. This city is extraordinary. I was there for the first time over fifteen years ago and I fell in love. Since then, I want to know more about this city, so I have a lot of books about its history, people, etc. I also have a lot of books about the former Eastern Borderlands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, because that's where Polish life, culture and science flourished. These stories are so fascinating that I cannot quench my hunger and I keep wanting to know more.
Right now I should be offended by history books. I didn't mention them at the beginning, but I really like history! I am interested in antiquity and the Middle Ages as well as the history of Poland. Unfortunately, I don't have much time for it, so I don't often reach for this topic.
I also have some fantasy books, because I used to read a lot of such literature. Much less now, although I still like it very much. I have a lot of Harry Potter editions, not because I'm a particular fan, but because I have them in different languages and it helps me learn them. Recently I bought "Harry Potter" in Ukrainian, and I also have a translation into Ukrainian of one of Anna Kańtoch's books. I will have something to learn from! I also have books by the Dyachenkos, Ukrainian fantasy authors, so that will be a fun learning experience.
When it comes to gems, my oldest book was published in 1766. I also have the first Polish edition of "The Hobbit" and "The Silmarillion" and two of the three volumes of the first edition of "The Lord of the Rings". I also have some beautiful books from the 19th century, for example a very large geographical atlas.
In total, I have about three thousand volumes, or books. If one book is in three volumes, each volume counts as a separate volume. My problem is lack of shelf space. However, I have no intention of getting rid of my books and I hope that one day I will be able to afford a large apartment where I can set up a real library. Then I will be doing tours not only on the podcast, but also live, for those who would like to see my collections.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
The twentieth century was very difficult for Poland. The beginning of the century was a period of slavery under partition. Polish lands and Poles were under German, Russian and Austrian occupation. However, the outbreak of World War I brought hope that maybe Poland would be free again. And so it happened. The fighting was long and bloody, and continued even after the end of World War I, because Poland was attacked by Bolshevik Russia. Despite this, Poland defended itself and regained freedom and independence. Unfortunately, only for a short time. After less than twenty years, World War II began. In September 1939, Poland was attacked first by Germany, then by Russia. Initially, the Germans won and achieved subsequent military successes. However, the situation changed in the middle of the war and Russia, the Soviet Union, began not only to effectively defend itself, but also to attack German troops, the USSR went on the offensive.
In 1944, Soviet troops, the Red Army, were approaching Warsaw. Everyone knew that they did not bring freedom, but a new slavery. That is why Poles in many places in the country started fighting against the Germans, so that Stalin could not say that he had defeated Nazism and the Germans on his own. The most important element of this operation was to be the Warsaw Uprising.
There are still debates about whether it was worth it and whether fighting was the best choice. After all, so many people died. After the Uprising, the Germans murdered the city's inhabitants even more brutally and robbed the Polish population (they took about 45,000 wagons full of cultural goods, monuments and other valuable things from Warsaw by train). They destroyed what was left there - they set fire to buildings and blew them up, they burned millions of Polish books, Warsaw was to be wiped off the face of the earth. So why did the Uprising break out, which, let alone as we know, brought such terrible consequences. Polish actor Bogusław Linda answered this question brilliantly in one of his interviews:
We were so pissed off at those Germans for so many years that they beat us to pieces so that we would go anyway, even to die, but to have even five minutes to be fucking free.
These are very strong words, but they clearly show how the inhabitants of Warsaw must have felt. They just wanted to be free, live in their country. They did not want German captivity and they did not want Soviet captivity. Therefore, on August 1, 1944, at 5 p.m., at "W" hour, the Uprising broke out. Fighting began on the streets of the city. Posters were also posted officially informing about the start of fighting. Residents of Warsaw could read the proclamation of the insurgent authorities on them:
All Poles joined the fight and supported the combatants. Field kitchens were established, a post office operated, and nurses who provided medical assistance enjoyed great fame in Warsaw at that time. One of the uprising songs remembers this. A lot of songs were written then, and many of them were lively and funny. In that difficult time, the hope of freedom gave joy and the will to live. The song encouraged courage and not giving up. What did such a song sound like? Let's listen to how the people of Warsaw and others present at the celebration of the 76th anniversary of the Uprising sang:
This song is very long, so we couldn't listen to it all here, but these first two verses show us something about that time. “Umbrella” is the name of a unit of the Home Army for special tasks. They fought around Michler's palace, or Michla as we sing in the song, on Żytnia Street and in Wola, a district of Warsaw.
The Tigers we sing about are German tanks, and the Vis is a model of the gun used by the insurgents. Unfortunately, although there were fewer Germans than insurgents, they had much better weapons - tanks, heavy equipment, weapons and ammunition. The insurgents produced some weapons and ammunition themselves, some of them obtained from the Germans, but they were much worse supplied than the enemy.
In the chorus we sing "watch the faith". Faith here means a large group of people. To flex is to tense your muscles and show your strength. The song calls for vigilance, to be ready and to work for two, for two people. Everyone has to listen carefully, i.e. listen and be careful whether the enemy is approaching. People of different ages fought in the Uprising, but each of them was young in spirit and this spirit had to be as hard as steel, to have the strength to the end and not to give up.
In the second verse we hear that every boy wants to be injured, because then he will be taken care of by a nurse who is morowa, i.e. brave, beautiful and simply wonderful. And for special sacrifice, such a maiden, i.e. an unmarried woman, will give the soldier a kiss.
It is worth noting that everyone fought in this Uprising. Men and women, young and old, Poles, Hungarians, Slovaks, Georgians and even Azerbaijanis, Australians and Nigerians. The latter, August Agbola O'Brown, was a famous jazz musician who came to Warsaw before the war and fell in love with the city so much that he was ready to give his life for its freedom. The Uprising was also joined by Jews whom Poles had freed from German captivity in the first days of the Uprising, as well as those who were hidden by Poles from deportation and German repression.
Halo halo! This is Lightning! Broadcasting station of the Home Army. We are speaking to you from fighting Warsaw. We broadcast our program on waves 32 and eight tenths of a meter, 52 and one tenth of a meter. Our troops are repelling German attacks in Śródmieście. The enemy attacks Królewska, Grzybowska, Krochmalna. People were driven out from under the collapsed houses on Iron Gate Square. We also stopped the attacks heading towards the Old Town towards Bielańska and Bankowy Square. German aviation drops incendiary bombs in this area. The Germans expel people from the surrounding streets. The men were shot, the women were taken to cover the attacking tanks. Increasing pressure on insurgent centers in Ochota.
With such short reports, the radio informed about the course of the fighting and what was happening in the capital. You can also find other fragments of programs and reports broadcast by this radio on YouTube.
The beginning of the Uprising was extremely optimistic. Warsaw regained freedom. Unfortunately, however, the insurgents were alone in this fight. None of the Allies came to the aid of fighting Warsaw. The British and Americans were more preoccupied with fighting in the West and did not allow Polish pilots to provide air support. Stalin did not allow Western planes to land in the areas captured by the Red Army. In the first days of August, this army occupied the part of Warsaw on the eastern side of the Vistula, where there was no fighting. There was no help from them throughout the entire period of the Uprising. Stalin did not want freedom in Europe, he wanted to subordinate it to himself and become a new dictator on the entire continent, as if he were Hitler's successor. So he preferred Warsaw to bleed out in the fight against the Germans. The attitude of the Soviets was hostile towards the combatants. There was a total ban on helping the insurgents. Stalin was asked for help many times, Poles who marched with the Red Army wanted to help fighting Warsaw. However, Stalin refused and forbade any help. He called the insurgents a "group of criminals."
Despite the lack of help, the uprising lasted a very long time. The capitulation and the end of the fighting took place after two months, in early October. However, Warsaw's nightmare continued. The Germans stole whatever they could, destroyed and burned what was left. Warsaw was almost completely destroyed, many buildings were blown up. In total, approximately 85% of Warsaw's buildings were destroyed during the war, including the Royal Castle, which dates back to the 14th century, as well as medieval and Renaissance buildings - churches and tenement houses. Books were burned en masse. Soviet troops waited calmly on the other side of the Vistula for the Germans to complete their destruction. Yes, even after the fall of the Uprising, the Red Army did not immediately go into battle. Warsaw was allowed to be destroyed so that not a single stone was left. What Warsaw looked like in 1945, after the war, can be seen in a short film called "City of Ruins". It's easy to find on YouTube and I'll leave the link in the description.
It was a very long podcast, and yet I only managed to talk about those events in general terms. If you are interested in more, I can recommend you some materials and videos that will help you learn more. Of course, I will leave the links in the description.
The Second World War was a terrible time. The Germans committed genocide on a scale previously unknown. Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe suffered a terrible fate after the war. Instead of enjoying peace and freedom, we had to face another occupation. Nazism and communism are actually very similar ideologies. Both are built on hatred and the desire to subjugate others who, for one reason or another, are inferior. Nazism was present in history for a relatively short time, communism for much longer. So wherever communism arrived, often with slogans of peace in its propaganda, poverty, persecution and dictatorship began. In the 20th century, Nazism collapsed and today no country follows this ideology in its political system. Let us hope that the 21st century will be the end of communism, the second criminal and totalitarian ideology.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Recently I noticed that I have more and more papers around me. Whatever I find interesting to read on the Internet, I print it out. I really like reading on paper and I don't like reading on a monitor. I only buy regular, printed books, but many articles are available in PDF format. I don't like the monitor, and I can't read such articles on Kindle because they are neither displayed correctly nor legibly. However, the phone is too small. So I thought I might need a tablet. However, in order to make a good purchase, you must first consider what equipment will be best for my needs.
Why do I need a tablet? For reading, that's for sure. The screen must be large, at least 10 inches. Then it is easier to read articles written in small font. It would be useful to be able to easily select text in articles - underline, circle and take notes. So maybe a stylus or a stylus. I assume that I will collect more of these articles over time, and maybe I will even start reading e-books this way, so some memory would be useful. However, books don't take up that much space, so you won't need, for example, 512GB. 128 GB should be enough for me.
As for applications, the standard set should be enough for me. For me it would be Mendeley for managing my library and taking notes on articles, Evernote for the rest of my notes and collecting articles from websites on topics that interest me. Of course, Microsoft Office, which I also use on my computer, and, above all, Word for writing texts. When it comes to writing texts, it would also be useful to have a keyboard that could be connected if necessary. For entertainment Netflix, YouTube. Maybe there are a few others, but I don't need games or advanced graphics applications, for example.
Tablet, stylus, keyboard. It's already quite a set, I don't think it will be cheap. I have looked at what is currently on the market. I once bought a nice and cheap tablet. Unfortunately, apart from being pretty, it had no other advantages. It broke down quickly, so I had it replaced. I got a new one and it broke too. Since then, I don't want to buy tablets from unknown companies. So I thought about Xiaomi, because I have such a phone, but this company does not offer tablets. Then there were Lenovo, Samsung and Apple.
They all offer tablets with a screen size of 11 inches and larger. Of course, there are also 10-inch ones. When it comes to quality, they should all be good, these companies are rather known for their good products. However, Apple is much more expensive than others, and each add-on also costs a lot of money. For the same price you can buy two devices of similar quality. On the other hand, Apple users are very attached to their devices and claim that they last longer than others. However, they are said to be "fanboys", i.e. people who do not see the world beyond their brand. Lenovo has the widest range of tablets and even some that resemble laptops. They also offer devices with various operating systems - Android or Windows. However, some tablets have a built-in keyboard, which can sometimes bother me when I just want to read. Finally, Samsung offers tablets with Android. The new ones, e.g. in the S7 series, have a special stylus attached, so it is not necessary to purchase it separately. You can buy a keyboard for them and use them as a computer.
Of these three, Apple and Samsung are probably the most popular, so any replacement or repair should be the simplest in this case. All companies offer large screens, but in my opinion, a screen larger than 11 inches would not be comfortable for reading. It would be difficult to hold one in your hand.
Buying a Lenovo tablet seems to be the cheapest solution, unless I decide to buy a hybrid of a laptop and a tablet. However, these laptops and tablets seem to me to be slightly weaker than the competition when it comes to their parameters (e.g. memory or processor). However, they are not that important, because I don't want to use the tablet for any extraordinary tasks. Samsung is more expensive, but probably better. Tablets are completely flat (Lenovo, for example, has a thickening in the Yoga where there are speakers and a support). I don't know what's better, I'd have to test it. However, according to many opinions of my friends and those found on the Internet, Samsung is a better device. Apple, on the other hand, is the most expensive solution and probably not very profitable when it comes to my needs.
So what to choose? This is not a sponsored podcast, so I won't tell you that. I won't say because I don't know. I would have to pick up these tablets and try them out. Moreover, I currently don't have money for high-end equipment, and I don't want to buy just anything. All I can do is ask you about your experiences and save money to buy something for yourself. In the meantime, I will go to a store and at least see and hold some of the equipment. Maybe I'll find one that really suits me?
As I mentioned, this is not a sponsored or advertising podcast. Each device has its advantages and disadvantages, everyone is used to different solutions and likes them in phones, tablets and computers. However, I hope that you learned some new words and phrases today.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Kiler was a professional contract killer. He killed bandits, mafiosi and other gangsters, but his streak had to end and he was caught. Or at least that's what Commissioner Ryba thinks. This is more or less how one of the best Polish comedies begins, a film called Kiler. In my opinion, this is one of those Polish films that you absolutely must see. The director is Juliusz Machulski, who created many cult comedies, such as Vabank, Sexmission, or Money is not everything. I highly recommend all of them to you, although they are not new films and you often need to understand many cultural contexts to understand everything. Despite this, they can still entertain and make you laugh. Try entering the title of the movie on YouTube and adding "whole movie". I think you will find the movie you are looking for, even in good quality. Some may be on TVP or IPLA vod platforms.
I think that after this introduction you understand that the whole thing is a coincidence, comic coincidences and attempts to get out of unforeseen situations.
But let's get back to Kiler. Commissioner Ryba is chasing a serial killer who goes by the nickname Kiler. In the trunk of Jerzy Kiler, a taxi driver from Warsaw, the police find the weapon with which Kiler, the killer, committed his crimes. Jerzy Kiler is arrested and imprisoned. Not everything is going as Commissioner Ryba and Jerzy Kiler expected. Then, Siara, the boss of the criminal world, rescues Jerzy Kiler from prison. Siara has a beautiful wife who is attracted to a handsome contract killer.
– Fry your tits! Do you know who this is? Do you know who this is? This is Kiler! He can eat Chateau, he can eat an oyster, he can eat whatever he wants, not your messy sandwiches!
– Kiler?Ciao.JestemGabrysia… Siarzewska.
– Killer? Ciao. My name is Gabrysia... Siarzewska.
Many popular sayings come from this and other Machulski films. These include the words "fry your tits". If you want to understand colloquial Polish, you must remember this saying! Also notice that Siara says se instead of herself. This is often said colloquially, in everyday life. But don't use it in exams or in written language.
In the quoted fragment you could hear what the actors were saying, but you could not see them. And these are unique characters - Cezary Pazura as Jerzy Kiler, Jerzy Stuhr as Commissioner Ryba, the great Katarzyna Figura as Ryszarda "Gabriela" Siarzewska, Janusz Rewiński as Siara and many other very famous Polish actors.
I hope that I have interested you at least a little, that you will watch this film and laugh. I also suggest asking questions in the comments, if you don't understand the context of some scenes, I will be happy to explain them to you.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Two thousand six hundred and ten (2610) and it's not over yet! That's how many books I currently have cataloged on LibraryThing. I still have some work to do. In total I have about three thousand. Last week I decided to finally catalog them.
I could do it simply - write down the titles and authors in Excel, for example. But it seemed too labor-intensive to me, it would require too much work. Fortunately, there are many applications that make this task easier. I tried several and LibraryThing turned out to be the best choice. Where possible, the application scans barcodes and searches for books itself. If there is no barcode, you can search for a book by ISBN number, author or title. This makes my work much easier and faster, because I actually have to enter very few books manually.
Why am I doing this? Sometimes I bought a book that I already had. A list of books will be useful when shopping. Sometimes I didn't buy a book because I didn't know which volumes I already had and which ones I didn't have yet. It will be easier for me to complete series. Plus, it's a great opportunity to rearrange all the books on the shelves. However, this is where the biggest problem begins.
How to properly arrange books on the shelves so that they fit, so that the titles are easily visible, so that it is easy to find the one I am looking for. Some people think about the alphabetical system, but it is, contrary to appearances, the most chaotic. The books do not look nice on the shelves, they are small next to the very large ones and it is difficult to fit them all. The size and format of the book are very important if you don't have a lot of space. I place books of similar format and size together so that I can then adjust the shelf height accordingly. Then, which I really don't like, I can also place books horizontally on top of those that normally stand.
However, not only size is important. I arrange the books thematically, according to what they are about. On one shelf I have books on linguistics, on another I have books related to Latin. Other shelves or shelves include, for example, literature or history. This way, it's easier to find something you may need at a given moment.
My friends sometimes suggest Kindle to read e-books, but they don't suit me at all. When reading an e-book, I have the impression that I remember much less than from a regular book. It is also more difficult to take notes in an electronic book. I have a Kindle and I read on it for a while, but after a few books I went back to paper. That's why I have so many books at home now and why I need to have them conveniently arranged on the shelves.
However, there is a certain temptation in such work. I often pick up a book and think to myself, “Oh! This is intresting!" I immediately start leafing through, reading a little, and instead of cataloging or arranging, I read. It's not a bad addiction though, so I don't feel guilty about it.
Have I read all my books? Unfortunately not. I would like to and I am buying them with such intention. Not all of them, of course, because I have various types of lexicons, encyclopedias and dictionaries, and these books are not read "from cover to cover", i.e. in their entirety. I have a lot of textbooks and grammar books for various languages, and these are not books to read either. Which doesn't change the fact that I would like to have more time to read, because I have something to read!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Travel, travel and more travel. Many people's dream is to travel around the world. Hundreds of books have been written about travel and hundreds of films have been made. I guess everyone has places they would like to visit. How popular this topic is is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that already in ancient Greece, Herodotus described his travels in the book Ἱστορίαι, or Histories. Just a year ago it seemed that we could go anywhere in the world, all we needed was to have some money, buy a plane ticket or hitchhike. Today, due to the coronavirus, we no longer have such opportunities. Maybe in a year or two we will be able to move freely again. Now, however, we can only travel with our finger on the map.
Today I would like to tell you about my travels, where I would like to go and what places I would like to see. I invite you to follow the map with your finger.
There are many places in Poland that I haven't been to yet and which I would like to see. One of the cities I would like to see is Toruń, the city of Nicolaus Copernicus. From there I would go to Malbork, where there is a medieval Teutonic castle. Then I would go to Gdańsk, where I would like to visit some museums.
I am a fan of museums, especially those related to history. So then I would go to Berlin, where there are many historical and archaeological museums. I've been to many places like this in London and I really liked them. I always like to visit the British Museum when I'm in the capital of England.
In Berlin I would start a small trip around Europe. I would go to Hamburg and Bremen and learn more about the history of these cities. Then I would probably visit Amsterdam and Brussels on the way to Paris. Although I must admit that the French capital does not attract me as much as other cities. However, I would like to go to the Basque country, both in its French and Spanish parts. Basque is a very interesting language. It does not belong to the family of Indo-European languages, which were brought to Europe later. This is a language that was spoken in Europe even earlier.
After the Basque country, it would be time for Madrid and, I won't surprise you, museums in this city. In Spain, I would also start part of the journey in the footsteps of ancient Rome. So I would definitely visit other places related to this empire. I would have to have a good guide to not miss any of them! From there I would sail or fly to Sardinia. The local language is in many aspects very similar to the Latin of the times of Caesar and Cicero, so I would not miss the opportunity to listen to it live. Then Rome, which I've already been to, but never really explored.
After Rome, I would go to Athens, which would continue along the ancient route. After Athens to Egypt. However, in Egypt I would not like to spend time in hotels, but to visit, visit and visit again. Pyramids, temples and other monuments of this ancient civilization. Herodotus, mentioned at the beginning, who lived about 2.5 thousand years ago, considered this country to be ancient and very interesting!
And what next? Get on any train and go wherever your eyes take you? Why not? If possible, go to Iraq and Iran to see the remains of other ancient civilizations. Then follow the Silk Road to Uzbekistan to see the wonderful architecture of Samarkand. On to China, where paper was invented. And on and on…
Traveling around the map is great because it doesn't cost anything. Today they are even easier because all information, many photos and videos can be found on the Internet. And yet they will never replace real travel. So, although I don't mind being at home because I love reading books, I'm starting to seriously wonder what kind of journey I should embark on...
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
The history of Poland begins "officially" somewhere in the 10th century. Then the Polish prince Mieszko I accepts baptism and the Christian faith. His wife was a Czech princess. We also have the first documents from this century from which we learn about the history of Poland.
However, Poland and Poles did not appear here suddenly. In what is now Poland, people lived much, much earlier. One of the most famous places is Biskupin Castle, a fortified settlement from around the 8th century BC. A stronghold or a fortified settlement is a place where there were more houses and where residents could defend themselves against attacks. The stronghold had ramparts or walls around it. So no one could enter only through the gate. Around the stronghold there were swamps, i.e. marshy areas, swamps, which were very difficult to cross. Such an ancient stronghold, today we might say a city, was located near Gniezno, in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.
The settlement was discovered by accident. In 1933, a teacher from a local school learned from children that various antique items could be found in the area. This was not possible before, because the lake in this place had a higher water level, and the items appeared only after it lowered. This teacher's name was Walenty Szwajcer. He quickly guessed that there was something important in this place. This interested the archaeologist, Professor Józef Kostrzewski.
“When we arrived at the site, I saw that the professor was stunned for a long moment when he saw the profile of the Jercha trench [the owner of the field] and the structures sticking out of it, and then he hurriedly started unpacking a backpack with boxes stacked inside each other like Russian dolls. I was also excited. We ran around the pit collecting bones, ceramics, stone grinders for grinding stones, and fragments of wood. The professor's backpack swelled before his eyes and soon there was no room left in it.
The grave is a wonderful and old find. The defensive embankment around Biskupin was 460 meters long, and about 1,000 people lived inside. Based on research, we know that construction began in 748 BC, just five years after the founding of Rome!
There were wooden huts in 13 rows in the town. Each had a place for animals, for sleeping and for storing food. There were no windows to keep it warm. Inside there was a fireplace where a fire burned, providing warmth and light. You could also bake something on this fire. The doors to the houses were on the south side. Thanks to this, a lot of light came in. In winter, animal skins and furs were hung on the doors and walls to keep it warmer inside.
The inhabitants of Biskupin produced beautiful ceramics, for example vases. They also produced tools, clothes and everything they needed in everyday life. They also had contacts with other settlements. Biskupin was a trading settlement, because we can find there monuments from various other places. Residents sometimes had to bring them from hundreds of kilometers away.
What did they do? They fished, cultivated fields, and hunted animals. They produced tools and weapons from wood, bone and bronze. They made pots from clay and often decorated them. Archaeologists also found toys that children played with almost 3,000 years ago.
Places like Biskupin allow us to travel back in time. If you are in the area, you must visit this place. The museum is very large and you can enter houses from three millennia ago, and you can also see what life was like in a medieval settlement, i.e. from a later time than the castle. You can also enter even older houses that were found in the same area. All this is not "pretend" or just for viewing behind a museum display case. You can see and touch everything, so I highly recommend this place if you are interested in prehistory and want to see how people lived almost 3,000 years ago.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Today will be a little different. No specific topic, but more about myself and myself. The reason is simple - the podcast has to come out, and I don't have a topic! I mean, I would like to prepare an episode about the Silesian dialect, or, more correctly, the Silesian dialect. Well, I eat from Ślonsk, so I thought I'd tell you a little about the local godka. I started to prepare something, but I ran out of inspiration.
Inspiration, inspiration or an idea are very important and sometimes it is really difficult to prepare a new episode without them. Sometimes I'm tired and without an idea, without this thing, I sit in front of the monitor and stare into nothingness. I have no idea. Sometimes it works great, quickly and I immediately know what I want to say and how I want to say it. Sometimes, however, there is a day like today. I mean Sunday, when I'm preparing a podcast that you can listen to from Monday.
What day is it? Kind of weird. On the one hand, it's OK because I can easily read something, go for a walk with the dog or sit and watch a TV series. Today I watched the first season of Criminal: UK. I liked it very much. And that British accent! However, on the other hand, it is somehow not as it should be. I don't want, at least for now, to share what's inside me and what's maybe less cheerful. There's just a missing spark sometimes.
I really like being alone with myself and reading. I admit that if I have a lot of contact with people, I feel very tired. I like my students very much. However, I think that's why I prefer teaching one-on-one, because I can simply give more to that person and at the same time have the strength to work myself.
Sometimes there comes a moment when I would like to be able to just study languages all day long, learn them, study linguistics, write about it on a blog, maybe make materials for YouTube, etc. I think that then I could finally start taking my Polish course properly. , which I don't have time to do and so it waits and waits and waits for a continuation. I like teaching, so I probably wouldn't give it up completely, but I really don't have time for these other things. Then I feel a little… how to say… “not so much”. As if the most interesting things were missing from me. Then some of the air escapes from me and I feel less energy within me.
I am preparing, or maybe it would be better to say I am starting to prepare, a series in Polish about languages and linguistics. It won't be something for people learning Polish, although I would like to do it in the simplest language possible. However, like other projects, this one will have to wait.
I just have to tell you, I am in love with languages and their history. My dream is to immerse myself in them and learn how they have changed. The only constant in languages is change. Words change, grammar changes. Today I pulled out a whole stack of articles I want to read. I hate reading from a monitor, so I print them out and I can't read them all. I put them in a pile, you can find the photo on Instagram, and now I will try to read them all one by one. There are texts on linguistics, teaching foreign languages, Proto-Indo-European peoples, history and many others. Maybe the size of the pile overwhelmed me a bit today. Well, time to finish the podcast and go read. After all, it won't all read itself!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Today will be a little more difficult. Because today I want to show you what the Silesian Godka looks like. There are many dialects in the Polish language and one of them is Je Slonsko Godka. Jo will advise you to talk, although it has been a long time since he had anyone to talk to in Silesian. But what I wouldn't do for you! Sam, in Silesia people worshiped in the dialect, but they always shouted and prayed in Polish, i.e. in standard Polish. I will try to make this podcast simple, but I must admit that it is very difficult to figure out how it all fits together and how you would understand it too. But you might find it useful if you come alone to Ślonsk. Who are we here today? Today we are in Ślonsk!
It's nice to eat in Silesian, because he always eats cheerfully. You can meet someone hunting in the park and get along with other Hanys there. You can go to your family home and it will be a lot of fun. Each wedding is a bit different, because it is not the same everywhere. And some stupid things spoiled it even more and turned it into an artificial language, which no one ever deserves. Because it's not like there is only one word for everything in God. Some people buy blues, others buy flowers. Blumy is German, and flowery is our Polish word.
The Silesian dialect is a bit different than standard Polish Godko, but not as much as some people might think. The accent in the words je tak som, and, for example, highlanders stress differently. However, we will change these poor words differently. Let's go, I drink, I read, instead of I walk, I drink, I read. But you have to understand that they are similar. Because if you live alone and the weather is nice, everyone will be able to make peace.
What was important in Ślonsk was the mining industry, i.e. the mines. A lot of people did and still do the festival and it's good to get fat on it. But there are also many others who did it in steelworks or in the fields.
In the 19th century, the Germans wanted to replace the Ślonzoks with Germans. They didn't like the festival because they celebrated in Polish and not German. It was very difficult to communicate, because at school and sometimes even in church they sang in German. But the Ślonzoks did not like it and defended their speech. Fest, many people tried to prevent the Polish language from disappearing from Ślonsk. They were Norbert Bończyk, Karol Miarka, Bronisław Koraszewski, Jan Karol Maćkowski and others. They published newspapers and books in Polish. And when the Germans wanted to hold services in German, people didn't like it. When they interrogated Jerzy Treska, a peasant from Laskowice, in 1826, he said this:
I would like to thank you for listening to this podcast. Fest would also like to thank those who are keeping me busy on Patreon. And those who haven't done it yet have no reproach? The dollar will be low and I will feel better. Hide yourselves and get going! What are you gelendra?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
What to do when we feel stressed? Hard day at work, difficult clients, co-workers? When does everything and everyone get on our nerves? Then you need to relieve yourself! You need to calm down and find a way to get rid of all this stress. How to do it? That's what this episode will be about.
I'll start with the biggie. Some people use cigarettes, alcohol or even worse to de-stress. I don't recommend this. This will not solve any problem, but will only bring new ones. I'm not saying that having a beer from time to time, or a glass of wine, or something stronger at a party from time to time is a bad thing. However, you can't overdo it. So let's leave the stimulants and focus on something healthier.
A party, because I mentioned it. This is something that many people like. Talk to friends, dance, be silly. It is often a way to relieve the stress of work. Then you can also laugh.
That's a laugh! This is the best way. We laugh at jokes, jokes and other funny stories. We laugh at our friends' antics and funny situations. Apparently "laughter is health", at least that's what the saying goes. We can also laugh while watching cabarets, short, funny theater scenes. They are very popular in Poland. My favorite is the no longer existing cabaret "Potem". Their skits make me roll with laughter and hold my stomach while giggling loudly. I also like the skits of Kabaret Młodych Panów, especially since some of them are in the Ślonska godka. Anyway, listen (and then, after the podcast, watch the entire skit titled Gay in the Mine). :-Erwin? - I?
– Jaktampołykendzie?
– How's it going after the weekend?
– Aa, powiemciczadowo.
– Oh, let me tell you, it's cool.
– Aa!
– Aah!
– Myzmojąmielirocznicaślubu, piętnościelot.
– My wife and I had our wedding anniversary, our fifth birthday.
You can also listen to music to relax. Tastes and preferences vary. Some people get rid of tension with lively music, others prefer heavy rock. Apparently there are also those who listen to disco-polo. But it's probably after really hard times. At the same time, you can also learn the language and kill two birds with one stone.
Another way to de-stress are movies, series or television. Some people choose comedies, sometimes the stupider they are, the better, because they want to say goodbye. You can relax with a book, in the garden or for a walk. Again, both can be done in a foreign language, so it's worth taking advantage of. I watch, for example, The Big Bang Theory or Keeping Up Appearances when I need some entertainment.
There are also those who lounge on the couch and do nothing. Others decompress at the gym and regain balance after intense training. They run, lift weights, sweat out all the stress and are as good as new.
And the best way? Vacation, warm countries, beach and drinks with a liqueur, or vacation, good books and sleeping until you wake up. For me it's definitely the latter. And if there are trips, then they include sightseeing.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
A week ago I didn't record the podcast because I had a sore throat. I have a bit of a cold now, so my voice probably won't be the best, but I'll do my best!
Recently I talked about how to de-stress and release bad emotions. Today I will talk about learning to learn. For me, learning can also be a way to relieve stress. So let's get started.
As the title says, I'm currently learning to learn. This weekend I started postgraduate studies, the full name of which is: "Postgraduate Qualification Studies in Teaching Polish Culture and Polish as a Foreign Language". The name is long and complicated, but the idea is to better teach Polish as a foreign language.
What's the deal with postgraduate studies? After graduating, i.e. after obtaining a bachelor's or master's degree, i.e. after studies leading to such a diploma or title, you can go to postgraduate studies. They do not end with a new academic title, they are usually shorter, but they provide very specific qualifications. Often, such studies and qualifications are necessary to work in certain professions. In my case, after completing these studies, I will be able to teach Polish as a foreign language in state schools. One of the motivations for taking up studies is a piece of paper, a document granting new, formal rights.
However, it's not just about the piece of paper, it's about the certificate. In my studies and learning, the most important thing for me is to expand my knowledge and skills. I graduated from English Philology, so I know many elements of general grammar from the perspective of the English language. Now I learn many details related to, for example, the phonetics of the Polish language. For example, we learn the Slavic phonetic alphabet, which is different from IPA - International Phonetic Alphabet. This is useful because it is often used in scientific publications related to the history of Slavic languages, and I am very interested in this!
This course, this study, these studies are carried out 100% online due to the current situation related to the coronavirus. This form suits me very well. I like online courses because they give me a lot of freedom, I save time and money on commuting. I believe that this form should always be available, not only in exceptional times.
Learning to learn is also interesting because we learn how our brain works. Stephen Krashen's books are very interesting, as they describe research on how we learn foreign languages. It turns out that standard courses are often not well designed and it would be better to learn in a different style. This is how I try to learn and see my students' successes. When I learn, I use these methods and I see that they work.
Finally, I encourage you to learn not only the Polish language. You will find a lot of free and inexpensive courses on the Internet, maybe also in Polish. Sometimes you have to pay for the certificate if you want to receive it. However, it is a great thing and it develops the mind a lot. Try it, you won't regret it.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
What connects a transistor, processor, computer, laptop, tablet, phone, digital camera? All of them could have been created thanks to the Czochralski method, a technique for obtaining single crystals. An anecdote says that Jan Czochralski dipped his pen instead of in an inkwell, i.e. a container with ink, in a container with hot tin. When he took out the pen, he saw a thin thread of metal. I won't tell you exactly why this is so groundbreaking because I'm not a chemist. I also don't know exactly what a single crystal is, although I could read up on it. However, this is not the most important thing. Today our hero is someone who understood all this, described it and was able to use it in practice, i.e. Jan Czochralski.
Czochralski was born in Kcynia, near Bydgoszcz. His father wanted John to become a teacher. He sent him to school for this purpose, but Jan tore his certificate at the end. Without it, he couldn't get into college and his academic career seemed to be over. He came back home. He did not abandon chemistry, which he was very interested in. He did chemical experiments at home until one day he caused a small explosion. Then his father told him that he had to choose "chemistry or home." Jan chose chemistry. He told himself that he would come back home when he was famous. This is how his career began.
At first he was a pharmacist, first in Krotoszyn, then in Berlin. When he started working, he was only 16 years old! In the German capital he not only worked, but also studied and probably experimented. He was very talented and quickly found another job, this time in a laboratory, and then another in the laboratory of an even larger company - Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft. There, at a very young age, he became a manager and inspector in a copper refinery.
During this time, he also met a unique woman, pianist Marguerit Haase. They fell in love and quickly got married. She was rich, she came from a Dutch family that had considerable wealth and connections in Germany. This was later to turn out to be very important for Jan Czochralski and many other people.
The following years brought further successes. Although the technique mentioned at the beginning brought him the greatest fame, his subsequent inventions also deserve recognition. He invented a metal alloy called duralumin, which is still used today in the construction of aircraft. In 1924 he patented metal B, which proved revolutionary in the railway industry. The world's largest companies, including Henry Ford, began to seek such a scientist. However, Jan Czochralski made a different decision.
In 1929 he moved to Warsaw. His words came true - he returned famous and rich. His patents were bought by the USA, Great Britain, France and other countries. In Poland, however, he had no official education and there was a problem with employing him at the university. This was achieved thanks to a legal trick. First, the Warsaw University of Technology awarded him an honorary doctorate, and a few months later he became a professor. We can, of course, imagine that not everyone liked it. Moreover, his research attracted the interest of the authorities, and the new professor carried out many orders for the army. His fame, wealth and success did not please everyone, he was even challenged to a saber duel. We don't know whether he fought or how it ended, but he managed to win in court against another professor, Witold Broniewski.
Despite these difficulties, Jan Czochralski's life in Poland was very successful. He had a lot of money, he bought a beautiful house in Warsaw and a villa in his hometown - Kcynia. He was also involved in poetry and wrote poems. Artists and poets met in his house. The professor provided scholarships for students, allocated money for research in Biskupin, which I told you about recently, for the reconstruction of Fryderyk Chopin's manor house in Żelazowa Wola and other important projects.
Difficult times began with the beginning of the war. When black clouds came over Poland from Germany, many people found themselves in a very difficult situation. Jan Czochralski found a way to help both himself and others, and at the same time harm the occupier, the Germans. Thanks to his connections, he received permission to start a company. He established the Materials Research Department on the premises of one of the institutes of the Warsaw University of Technology. The company was growing quite quickly. Thanks to this, many employees of the University of Technology avoided being sent to German concentration camps. Other people Jan Czochralski also protected and used his connections to get anyone he could out of concentration camps. His company also employed many Home Army soldiers. Parts for printing machines, guns and grenades were produced there, of course illegally, for those fighting the occupier. Sabotage was also carried out, i.e. making life difficult for the Germans. For example, electrical parts for the V-1 and V-2 rockets were destroyed.
However, it was after the war that Czochralski had the biggest problems. The communist authorities accused him of collaborating with Nazi Germany. He was arrested. Then the court acquitted him, but he could no longer return to work at the university. He founded a small chemical company in Kcynia to survive. In 1953, he sold his house in Warsaw to the Swiss Embassy. He was paid in foreign currencies, i.e. Western currency, which was illegal in the Polish People's Republic. For this reason, his house was brutally searched and destroyed by the Security Office. Everything of greater value was taken or destroyed. After the search, Jan Czochralski was hospitalized with a heart attack. On April 22, 1953 he died. The communist authorities never appreciated his work, and his memory was to be erased from history forever. However, it turned out differently.
Already in 1954, Gordon Teal's team from Texas Instruments constructed the first transistor from a silicon crystal grown using the Czochralski method. Since then, his method has been used around the world in the production of electronic equipment. In Poland, his memory was restored only after the fall of the communist regime.
Jan Czochralski is an extraordinary person for me. A scientist who created things that are so useful, so important in our everyday lives. At the same time, he was quite an efficient entrepreneur who was able to use his talents to make money. Then he shared the money and helped advance science. It's a pity that he was forgotten for so long, and even today not much is said about him. But you already know about him!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
How time flies! Two years ago, in August 2018, my podcast Polish With John was launched. From then on, I create a new episode almost every week. I have been meeting you for two years and helping you learn Polish. I look at the stats and my podcasts have been downloaded over a hundred thousand (100,000) times! It's hard for me to believe it! I know some of you. Some from Patreon, some from Facebook.
NaserwisiePatreonjesteściezemnąiwspieraciefinansowo.OddługiegoczasujestzemnąLukeRanieri, którysamtworzyświetnemateriałydonaukiłaciny.JestteżArtionzRussianProgress, którypomagauczącymsięjęzykarosyjskiego.Sązemnątakżemoiuczniowie, m. in.Trev, którymaswójkanałnaYoutubie, gdziepoangielskudzielisięswoimispostrzeżeniamioPolsceiPolakach.OczywiściewszystkiekanałyzalinkujęWamwopisiepodcastu.
On Patreon you are with me and support me financially. Luke Ranieri, who creates great materials for learning Latin, has been with me for a long time. There is also Artion from Russian Progress, which helps Russian language learners. My students are also with me, including: Trev, who has his own YouTube channel, where he shares his observations about Poland and Poles in English. Of course, I will link all channels in the podcast description.
When celebrating anniversaries in Poland, we often think of a song from an old TV series called Czterdziestolatka. It was a comedy series, very popular in the times of the Polish People's Republic. The first episode was broadcast on May 16, 1975. The title character is an engineer and his name is Stefan Karwowski. Every episode of this series begins with this song.
Where did these forty years come from? The idea was to show life in its mid-life, during the midlife crisis. The main character tries to feel young again and finds himself in many funny situations. By watching this series, you can see a little what the Polish People's Republic looked like, but remember that this is not a completely true, improved image, everything is shown to look better than in reality.
I'm coming back to you, without whom it wouldn't be worth doing this podcast! On Facebook I often see Andrij from Ukraine and Alex from Kenucky. Andrij and Alex, you probably like every post of mine! Thank you for this! I promised Alex a podcast about Lalka and I hope to finally do it someday. There is also Andrej, who also comes from Ukraine, and we wrote to each other on Facebook for some time. I know from Facebook that you like podcasts about history, so I will definitely do them.
I also want to thank my students, especially Ryszard from Great Britain, who started my adventure with Polish and with whom we still meet in lessons. Ryszard runs an interesting blog about learning foreign languages – Polyglossic. If you know English, you will find many interesting articles there. I've had almost 800 lessons on Italki! I met and continue to meet fantastic students there and I warmly greet you all. Among those studying with me are Emy from Canada, Rodrigo from Colombia, Mark from England, Samuel from Catalonia, Phil from Germany. I wonder what's going on with my former students, including Gellert from Hungary, Thali from Brazil and Leon from Israel. If you listen to this podcast, let me know what you hear!
And since you like history, I will definitely come back with you to Lviv, my beloved city. Currently, Lviv is located in Ukraine, but it is an extremely important city for Polish history and has been one of the centers of Polish culture for centuries. Many famous Poles came from Lviv. One of the very characteristic features of this city was the Lviv balak, which I like very much. It can still be heard in pre-war songs, such as Łyczakowskie Tango, which was performed by the Chorus Dana band in the 1930s. So who will go with me to Lviv? Who will want to roam around this beautiful city with me?
I certainly haven't mentioned all of you from Patreon, Facebook, Twitter or Italki. As I'm recording this podcast, I'm having trouble logging into Patreon, and I wanted to mention all of you who are there. I hope it will work next time. I had and still have a lot of students, so I couldn't name them all.
I would like to get to know you better. I invite you to write on Facebook, on the Polish with John fanpage. Maybe I won't always answer a lot because there isn't always time. However, if you let us know what you like, what you would like to hear in the next podcasts.
Myślałemteżtransmisjachnażywo, tak, żebyśmymoglilepiejsiępoznać, żebymmógłodpowiedziećnaewentualnewaszepytania.Cowynato?Myślę, żemożnabyzrobićtransmisjęnażywonaYoutube.MożejakieśQ&A;, czylisesjępytańiodpowiedzi?DziękujęWambardzozatenodcinek.Zapraszamnamójblogioannesoculus.comalbopolishwithjohn.com.BędęwdzięcznyzawsparciemnienaserwisiePatreon.Tymktórzyjużtorobią, serdeczniedziękuję!Trzymajciesięzdrowoitrzymamzawaskciuki!Dousłyszenia!
I was also thinking about live broadcasts so that we could get to know each other better and so that I could answer any questions you might have. What do you say? I think you could do a live broadcast on Youtube. Maybe some Q&A, i.e. a question and answer session? Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
There is a saying that "man is a wolf to man". It means that people are often unfavorable to each other, even hostile to each other. In this phrase we have three nouns in different cases, each with an appropriate ending. It is the nominative “man”, the dative “man” and the instrumental “wolf”. There is nothing strange about this, after all, nouns in Polish are declinated by cases. However, not all of them. There are some that look the same in every case. This is, for example, a zombie. So who is a zombie? A zombie is a zombie. And who is he to another zombie? A zombie is a zombie to another zombie. So man is wolf to man, and zombie is zombie to zombie.
What is said to be very difficult in the Polish language is this variety. Everything changes, each word has a different ending in a different place in the sentence. There is no such problem in English. If 'apple' is red, it looks the same as when I have 'apple'. And in Polish, 'apple' is red, but I have 'apple'. Where did this come from? Why isn't this in English?
There is currently no such variety in English as in Polish. However, there is something there. “I” is “I” in English. The Polish dative form of "ja" is "mi" or "me", in English "me" as in "Give me your money!" ...or "him" in "He sees him" - here it is like the Polish accusative case. English also used to be inflected, and these "me" and "him" are like zombies, living fossils of ancient times. This variety was almost completely absent from English five hundred years ago!
Other languages that have cases include German and, at one time, Latin. Ancient Greek and Sanskrit had them. Where did they come from? All these languages have a common ancestor - a language that scientists call Proto-Indo-European. It is the great-great-great-grandfather of our European and not only European languages. It had as many as eight cases, one more than the Polish one. Moreover, it had not only singular and plural, but also dual, and the verb was also conjugated by singular, dual and plural. Additionally, it had many additional forms.
It can be said that in Proto-Indo-European everything changed because of everything. However, it is not the only complicated language. There are fourteen cases in the Mengrelian language, a relative of the Georgian language. So you could go crazy trying to learn them all! Still, someone speaks these languages. Someone once learned them. There are people who speak Polish very well, such as Ignacy from Japan. Ignacy runs a very interesting YouTube channel, where he talks in Polish about his country, his impressions of Poland and the Polish language. He speaks very well, but Polish is apparently such a difficult language!
If you think that all these variations and cases are difficult to learn, don't worry. We, Poles, learn what they are called only at school. As adults, we often forget this grammatical knowledge. And yet we have no problems with them. Why? Because we are still in this language. We listen to it constantly, from the moment we are born, and only then we speak. So if you are learning Polish, listen a lot. Gradually, these variations will become more and more natural to you and you will feel what the correct form is. Of course, listen to my podcast!
Thank you, as always, for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would also appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. And to those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Of course, stay healthy; I keep my fingers crossed for you for your Polish language learning, and... See you soon!
Last Saturday, November 14, 2020, the Polish edition of the popular Lego Masters program started. As a Lego fan, I couldn't miss this event. I watched the entire US edition and parts of others that are available online. Today I will tell you about my first impressions of the Polish edition.
Both programs, Polish and American, are very similar. Each team involves several teams whose task in subsequent episodes is to build a building from Lego bricks. At the end of each episode, one team is eliminated. The winning team receives the title of Lego champions and a cash prize. The jury includes two people associated with Lego bricks, who are specialists and professional brick builders. Or professional block builders... because they are not made of blocks, they are not made of blocks, they build professionally with blocks. ABOUT! There is also a person running the program. In both editions, the studio is arranged similarly and the program logo is identical.
However, there are a few differences. The Polish edition included six two-person teams, and the American edition had as many as ten. The musical and sound elements are also much more modest in Poland. There is less music that builds tension and strengthens emotions. The American program is a huge show, the producers of the Polish version were probably a bit afraid of such a grand scale. However, the biggest difference is the person running the program. In the US version, it is Will Arnett, who is the voice of Batman in the Lego film series. In Polish it is Marcin Prokop. While Will Arnett is a phenomenal actor, a great host and you can immediately see that he felt like a fish out of water in this program, which is very, very good, Marcin Prokop was there, in my opinion, probably by accident. He's not funny, he's downright stiff, he can't relax, he's numb. He looks like someone who is not at all excited about blocks and what can be created with them. I guess he treats them only as a toy for children and doesn't understand those who came to the program and try to win the main prize. The American program is, in my opinion, fantastic, and the Polish one is very good. If it weren't for Marcin Prokop, he would be great, excellent. Luckily, everyone else who participates is a true Lego fan.
The judges in the program, i.e. the jury, are Aleksandra Mirecka and Paweł Duda. Aleksandra Mirecka worked for Lego and designed, among others, set No. 41318, Heartlake Hospital from the Friends series. Paweł Duda, on the other hand, is known as the Bearded Geek and runs his own channel on YouTube. It is a very popular channel and has over 25,000 subscribers. That's a lot for such a topic on Polish YouTube.
In the first episode, each team was tasked with building a fragment of the city. Six teams created six original concepts and ideas. Each different, although the challenge was not easy. After thirteen hours of work, there were six new magnificent buildings in the city. But that wasn't the end! It turned out that the participants were given another three hours to destroy something! Yes, tear it down! Listen to what they were to introduce, what they were to destroy, and why they were to destroy what they had built:
[Maciej Prokop] You were great. So it's time for you to hear the verdict on who will receive the golden brick in today's program. And this statement could be true if this was the end of the program, but it is not the end yet. This is just the beginning, the beginning of what lies ahead, if you don't have enough challenges, we have something else for you. But our jury will tell you about it.
[Paweł Duda] You have three hours to turn your constructions into an image of a total disaster, an alien attack, a country wedding and any other strange things that may appear there.
[Aleksandra Mirecka] But, but, but, just to make things easier, this time you won't be able to talk about your buildings. It's time for buildings to start speaking for themselves.
We heard words that I have already used today. For example, a jury, i.e. a group of people assessing the performances of participants in various types of competitions. People who are members of a jury are called jurors. They are the ones who announce the verdict, i.e. they say who won, who scored how many points and so on. Later, Aleksandra Mirecka used the phrase "speak for yourself", which is often used. We can hear it in the form of "speak for yourself" when we want to express disagreement with an opinion expressed by another person. We can also hear that "something speaks for itself", i.e. it does not need additional explanations, for example from the author, we can understand it without extra help.
Who of you is a Lego lover? Do you think you could cope with the challenges of the Lego Masters program? I think it would be too difficult for me, I wouldn't have enough time to build what I would come up with. However, I really like building with Lego because it is great entertainment, a break and a break from everyday work. If you want to see the Lego Masters program, I watched it via the TVN VOD platform, so I hope you will find it there too.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
I am often asked why I am learning Uzbek, why I am learning Mengreli. My answer is simple: because yes. Maybe stupid, but simple. I'm just interested in languages and how they work. For example, in Mengreli, a different verb is used instead of the Polish "to have" when we talk about a dog, and a different one when we talk about a mug - in the sense of having a dog, having a mug.
As a teacher, I ask students why they choose Polish. The answers are different because the motivations are different. I've also noticed that they sometimes change over time.
So where does one start? Very often from meeting a beautiful Polish woman or a handsome Polish man. Someone falls in love, the feeling blossoms and the day comes when you have to talk to your in-laws. And in-laws, and sometimes even extended family, do not always speak English, especially the older ones. And sometimes someone in love simply wants to make a good impression and be able to talk at least a little in Polish.
Some people have friends from Poland, they work with Poles and that's why they want to learn a little Polish. Sometimes someone goes to Poland for vacation and wants to brush their tongue and learn at least a few basic phrases before leaving.
Another motivation for learning is professional motivation. There are people who want to run a business or work in Poland or are already doing so. Then language is very important to them. They often want to take the exam to gain permanent residence.
There are people who learn Polish because they want to study in Polish in Poland. Then you need to know the Polish language really well, there are special courses that prepare you linguistically for such studies.
There is one more reason. Some people, like me, enjoy learning languages. Then Polish is an interesting choice among European languages. Difficult, but very interesting.
However, I would like to look at this question in another way. Why is it worth learning Polish? The Polish language is a door to many interesting people and things. It will be a very interesting grammar exercise for linguists. For fans of good literature, it will open the way to interesting books. If you are interested in European history, Poland and the Polish language played a huge role in it.
So what do I find particularly interesting? Polish hussars, a unique army from the 16th and 17th centuries. The history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a fascinating time, an extremely interesting period of history. There are also interesting books by Polish authors, for example The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. Other very interesting authors include, for example, Stanisław Lem and Jacek Dukaj.
Remember that motivation may change over time. At the beginning we usually have a lot of enthusiasm and energy, then crises come. Try to take an interest in something, learn something in Polish, and this will definitely help you stay motivated to learn.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Lately I haven't been able to do a podcast on Monday, I'm very sorry about that. I want to tell you why this is happening. Well, I'm learning to learn.
I have been a student again since October this year. This time my studies are Postgraduate Qualification Studies in Teaching Polish Culture and Polish as a Foreign Language. After these studies, I will be able to teach Polish as a foreign language in Polish schools or other state institutions.
Such studies are very interesting to me. They contain elements of grammar and phonetics as well as elements of foreign language teaching. Although I already know most of these things - I have already studied linguistics and foreign language teaching with particular emphasis on English, but I don't always know how to say it in Polish, and I'm learning new things about the Polish language.
The methods of teaching foreign languages are very interesting. Unfortunately, in my opinion, old methods based on teaching grammar are still popular. Personally, I am a supporter of teaching using the TPR (Total Physical Response) method and the natural approach. My students don't always know all the technical grammar terms, but they have a better sense of the language. Just like in our native language, we do not need knowledge of grammar to speak, the same effect can be achieved by learning a foreign language. For me, it is important that the student feels the meaning of the words, and not only knows how to translate them.
As a student myself, I expect this from my teachers. I like grammar very much, but even if I know the rules theoretically, it doesn't help me speak at all. I have to feel the language, for me, for example, a book, it has to be something that I have on the shelves, something that I read, and not an abstract word that I have written in my notebook. That doesn't mean I don't use a notebook. I try to copy words several times, including entire texts, to remember them better. Whenever I write a word, I try to imagine it, see it in my head. If I write "book", I try to see a book in my imagination, open it, feel the paper, maybe even smell it.
That's why my lessons involve a lot of talking, and I ask students to write at home. I try to ensure that students always have something to do between lessons. Because learning a language is not the teacher's task, but primarily the student's task. Therefore, if I learn to learn, I learn to be a guide, someone who helps others learn. I try to be a coach, like in sports. I show how to do something, how to say it, I show exercises, and then the student first tries to repeat these things and then become more and more independent.
If you are learning a foreign language, remember that it is always an adventure for two people. The teacher is there to help you. You also learn on your own, try it yourself, search. Then this adventure will be the most interesting and effective!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
How was 2020? It was a pretty good year for me. Last year, the 100th podcast from the Polish with John series was released, and I managed to make significant progress on my Polish language course "Simple Polish". Its current draft is available to my supporters on Patreon. I also learned a lot - I know much more about how to teach foreign languages, what is effective, what is worth doing to ensure the best learning results. I then tested these theories on my students, which turned out to be a success. I will talk about this in the next podcast.
I used to make New Year's resolutions. These were usually typical resolutions, e.g. study more, lose weight or start exercising. I never managed to achieve them, everything ended after two or three months, and sometimes I didn't even start implementing these resolutions. It was different two years ago. I decided to take stock of all the things I own and get rid of - throw away, give away, sell - everything I didn't need. I assumed that I would do it calmly, slowly, shelf by shelf, drawer by drawer. I managed to achieve this goal in three months. It was simple, it was specific, and it was a plan, not just a general resolution. I also want to have such plans for this year.
So what would I like to do this year? I would like a lot, but I plan less. I plan to do this podcast for you on a regular basis. I want to offer you something interesting every week that will help you learn Polish. I assume that during holidays such as Easter or Christmas there may be a week without a podcast. Similarly, during the exam session, when I will have to study very, very much. But it will be maybe 4 or 5 weeks a year. This year I also plan to complete the first part of the Simple Polish course - write all the reading texts, do exercises for each lesson, and explain the grammar. I want this course to be available as an e-book, at least as a book for additional reading. I would like to add listening exercises, videos and other elements, but it depends on time.
My resolution is also to study linguistics regularly. Last year, I met two or three times a month with a doctor of linguistics, with whom I discuss various topics and books. These are very interesting meetings and I plan to continue them.
Of course, I still want to learn languages. My problem is that I always want to learn multiple languages and never have enough time. I will definitely learn Uzbek this year. I am very interested in this language and I would like to be able to speak it very well and fluently.
I also have a lot of ideas and things I would like to do. I would like to learn other languages, start podcasts about linguistics, have more time to read books, and so on. However, at least for now, these are more dreams than plans. There are only 24 hours in a day and you can't do everything, even if you really want to.
Interestingly, this year many of my students do not have any New Year's resolutions. They usually already have some plans, but they don't make them for the new year. These are plans made in advance. They treat New Year's resolutions as a stupid idea that can never be achieved.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Recently I told you about different ways of teaching foreign languages and that I tested some of them with my students. My students benefited greatly from this, and I would like to describe one case to you today.
In November, I started studies preparing to teach Polish as a foreign language. They are official confirmation of qualifications and are necessary if someone wants to work, for example, in a state school. As part of our studies, we observe how other teachers work. Before Christmas, we were asked to observe a meeting in which students learned about Polish traditions and customs related to the holidays. The meetings were held in three languages - Polish, English and Russian. Due to Zoom's limitation of 100 people in one room, I went to the English meeting. Why was it held in English? Because it was prepared for beginners. Therefore, the entire content of the meeting was in English with many words in Polish - those relating to holidays, e.g. wafer or carol. After the meeting, we discussed and commented on them together with the meeting leaders, only among the students. I asked how long these people had been learning Polish and how intensively. It turned out that these were people who had completed two months of intensive Polish language courses - I don't remember how many hours exactly, but it was several hours a day. These people had a lot of activities and lessons behind them, and yet the meeting was conducted in English.
Why did I find this interesting? Because just before this meeting I had a lesson with my student from Germany. It was his seventh or eighth Polish language lesson. The topic was very similar - we talked about holidays, Polish traditions, customs, gifts. We talked in Polish for the whole hour, of course. How did it happen that with my student, who had much fewer lessons, I could teach a lesson about the holidays in Polish, and the meeting I observed was in English?
The essence lies in the method and method, the technique of learning. My student didn't waste time learning the grammar descriptions. Of course, he learned the correct forms and learned to use them, but he does not have to know what conjugation, coincidence, etc. are. I teach using a method combining James Asher's Total Physical Response approach and Stephen Krashen's natural approach. I also recommend this approach to you. Move while learning verbs, e.g. sit, take the cup and so on. Read a lot, read texts that are simple, even very simple. Unfortunately, there are very few texts in the textbooks, especially for beginners. That's why I do these podcasts. They are usually simpler and on different topics. My Polish course also has a lot of simple texts. If you read a lot, you start to really understand the language and feel what the words mean. If you learn a lot of grammar, you can decode the text, but slowly and not fully understood. The difference can be described as the difference between intuitive understanding, feeling the meaning, and decoding, deciphering the message. The latter requires more time and energy. In practice, the language must be understood very quickly, otherwise we will not be able to converse in it. Hence, let's learn effectively. If someone likes grammar and linguistic concepts, they can do it after learning the language. This will be faster and more effective. I like these topics very much, but I don't start learning from them.
This is my experience with teaching and learning languages, including Polish, of course. Study wisely, use methods that work. Standard textbooks and courses are not sufficient because they use ineffective methods. Of course, I'm not talking about some miraculous ways to learn a whole language in a weekend, but about scientifically proven methods that give much better results than those found in many textbooks or courses. You can't learn a language in a weekend, but it doesn't take decades of hard work either.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Tytus, Romek and A'Tomek – every Pole knows this title. It is neither the title of a national epic nor a classic collection of poetry. This is the title of one of the most famous Polish comics. Its author is Henryk Jerzy Chmielewski, better known as Papcio Chmiel.
The main character of this comic book series, Tytus, is not a superhero, but an ape that Romek and A'Tomek try to humanize. Tytus de Zoo, however, is not a very calm creature and causes a lot of trouble, although he often turns out to be more human than we think.
The first comic book with Tytus appeared in the Świat Młodych newspaper in 1957. From the very beginning he gained the sympathy of readers and subsequent comics were very popular. In 1966, Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek was published for the first time in a book version. Since then, several dozen comics have been published in book form, and the last one titled Tytus, Romek and A'Tomek on the Silk Road drawn from Papcio Chmiel's imagination was published in September 2019. During the Polish People's Republic, comics were published once a year.
This is how Papcio Chmiel talked about his work on the channel of the Warsaw Uprising Museum on the occasion of his 90th birthday, when he thanked everyone for their birthday wishes:
What have I done to deserve this? After all, I used to work like a shoemaker. I drew... Just like a shoemaker makes and sells shoes, I also drew this comic book, because I had to make a living, and I knew... I didn't know how to do it, because I was just learning. Each next one was better, so... Notebook by notebook, notebook by notebook.
And yes. Because it was sold in a circulation, I mean in the Polish People's Republic, three hundred thousand, and even this booklet, seventeen five hundred thousand copies. And the next one. One every year. Because… Why one? Because it was not allowed to publish more than one comic book per year. And so it went on and on until I heard such a story on the occasion of the ninetieth anniversary. Well, I'm happy.
On this occasion, I will explain to you what is wrong with this statement. This is not a prepared statement, very official. Papcio Chmiel is smiling and happy in the video. In his sentences you can hear that he is sometimes at a loss for words. This is typical of spoken language - sentences are not always complete, and some information is often inserted in the middle of the sentence. You may have also heard that in the word meaning the first sound has not been uttered. This simplification can often be heard in this word:
Published comics are often called issues, not books. Possibly books. That's why, instead of comic book or comic book, Papcio Chmiel used the words notebook and booklet. This probably comes from the fact that comic books were not taken very seriously in the past. It was entertainment rather than art.
This notebook after notebook as a structure saying that something is done many times. We can say that I read book after book or wrote test after test, for example during a study session. You can also say the same thing using the word za, i.e. notebook by notebook, book by book, test by test. If you listen to my podcasts one by one, episode by episode, you will quickly learn Polish. At least that's the plan.
Papcio Chmiel, the author of the comic book I'm telling you about, died a few days ago. It was sad news for me. I really like his comics and enjoyed reading them. In elementary school, when I joined the school library, I borrowed comic book after comic book and for a while every day I read three comic books a day. As a reader in this library, I could borrow three books at a time. So I would come in one day, borrow three comics, read them at home in the afternoon, return them the next day and borrow another three. Day after day, until I read everything in the library. These were not only Tituses, but also Asterix and Obelix, Thorgal and many others. If you have the opportunity, try to read comics about Tytus, Romek and A'Tomek. Maybe you'll like them too, and you'll practice your Polish at the same time?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
What do French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Catalan and several other languages have in common? These are Romance languages that share common roots in Latin. Latin is an ancient language that exists in many other languages today because it has changed so much in different regions. Not so with Greek. Greek or Ancient Greek is also an ancient language, but it no longer has so many descendants. Today, only the Modern Greek language exists, i.e. the one that can be heard, for example, in Greece. Both of these languages are a very important element of European culture. Many books, poems, poems, philosophical and scientific treatises have been written in both languages. To this day, many universities offer the opportunity to study classical philology, i.e. these two languages and what was created in them. Latin and Greek. So why is there Sanskrit in the title of this podcast? To discover what these three ancient languages have in common, we need to go back in time.
The year is 1786, February 2 to be precise. William Jones, gives a lecture that will create a new field of science, which will give rise to many other very interesting research. What did William Jones say there in India at the Asiatic Society meeting?
Sanskrit is an ancient language, with a wonderful structure, more perfect than Greek and richer than Latin and more refined than both, and at the same time it is a language that shares so many similarities with them, both in terms of word roots and grammatical forms, that it is impossible to think that this is a coincidence. This similarity is so strong that no philologist can study all three without thinking that they come from a common source that probably no longer exists. For similar reasons, although not as strong, it may be suspected that the Gothic and Celtic languages, although later fused with other languages, have the same origin as Sanskrit. Also, Old Persian could probably be assigned to the same family.
Today we know that this family is the Indo-European language family, and the language from which the languages mentioned by William Jones originate is Proto-Indo-European. This family, as we know thanks to later research, also includes Germanic, Slavic and other languages.
An interesting fact is that although classical Latin or Greek is not spoken by any native speakers today, there are about three thousand people living in India who declare that their native language is Sanskrit. One such place is the village of Mattur, where many people have been speaking Sanskrit since childhood.
The history of Sanskrit is long and interesting. I could definitely record more than one podcast on this topic. Today, however, we don't have time for that. Let me just briefly mention that it was in this language, or more precisely in its even older form - the Vedic language, that the Rig Veda, a collection of hymns, was written down, perhaps even 3,500 (three and a half thousand) years ago. Another interesting fact is that about two and a half thousand years ago, a scholar called Panini wrote the world's first grammar book. It was, of course, Sanskrit grammar. There is a legend that Panini, while studying grammar, saw the god Maheswara (Siva). He struck the drum 14 times, and these sounds formed a set of Sanskrit rules.
Are you interested in the history of languages? Do you know what family your native language belongs to, what ancestors and cousins it has? For me, these topics are very interesting and I would like to find time someday to learn many ancient languages that are new to me. Maybe one day it will work, who knows?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Recently I told you about three ancient languages - Latin, Greek and Sanskrit. Today I will tell you about the Polish language and its history. About the whole story? No, because even a hundred podcasts wouldn't be enough for that. I'll just tell you a little about where the Polish language came from and how it changed.
The Polish language is a very ancient language, as it has existed for tens of thousands of years! Did I surprise you? After all, all these ancient languages must be older than Polish! It turns out that Polish, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit have the same long history. They used to be one language. Today we call this language Proto-Indo-European, and we will probably never know what the Proto-Indo-Europeans themselves called it. Probably since the beginning of humanity, from the beginning of human language, we can talk about a constant change of language, which gradually led to the Proto-Indo-European language, then the Proto-Slavic language, and finally to today's Polish. Polish is therefore the first language that people spoke at the beginning. It is not unique, however, as the same can be said of almost all other languages. Yet it is different from other languages. How did this happen?
The furthest we can go back in time is the Proto-Indo-European language. The people who used it lived in what is now Ukraine. They developed technologies, there were more and more of them. So they wandered, but not all together. One group went in one direction, another in another, a third in a third, and so on. Each of them spoke the same language at first, but over time differences appeared. First small, then bigger and bigger. After a long time, new languages were created, and from them new ones, until in the areas of today's Poland, sometime in the 10th century after Christ, people began to differ linguistically enough from others that we can assume that they already spoke their own language, different from the language of their neighbors, a language which we call Polish today.
Of course, it did not resemble today's Polish language much, just as Beowulf's language does not resemble Chaucer's language, and this language does not resemble Shakespeare's language. The Polish language was different in those days and gradually changed. I once told you in a podcast called Linguistic Time Travel about these changes in languages, including Polish. There you can listen to what the Polish language sounded like in the 14th century or so.
An important date for the Polish language is the year 1136. The document titled Bulla of Gniezno comes from this year. In this document, which was written in Latin, so many Polish words appeared for the first time, more precisely 410 names of places and people, that since then we have been talking about the literate era of the Polish language. Although there were already documents with single words in Polish before this year, this is not enough to be able to research the Polish language on this basis. That is why we call the time before 1136 the pre-literate era of the Polish language. Of course, this does not mean that the language was worse or less developed. It just wasn't used in writing. People talked there every day, composed songs, and created oral literature. These texts were simply not written down at the time.
From the beginning of the Polish language to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, we talk about the Old Polish period. Now we are not so interested in whether the Polish language was written down or not, but we are more interested in its pronunciation or grammar. At that time, the Polish language had multiple tense, i.e. vowels could be short or long. Today they are all short, but if you see an o with a dash today, i.e. "ó closed", there used to be a long o in this place.
The next period is the Middle Polish period, until 1772, and then the New Poland period until 1939. The latest period is called the modern Polish language, although the Polish language of 2021 is slightly different from the language of 1945. However, I don't want to make this podcast longer, so I will talk about these periods in detail another time.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
In Poland, February is one of the coldest months of the year. So maybe let's move to warmer parts of the world? I invite you to Sardinia, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. The island has been inhabited for thousands of years. This island was the port of the Phoenicians, an ancient nation of merchants. Then it was, among others, under the rule of Rome, an ancient empire. For this reason, it is particularly interesting to me.
As you may know, Latin was used in ancient Rome. As a result of changes, over time it became Italian, Spanish, French and... Sardinian! Whether it is a language or a dialect of Italian, I cannot tell you, but there is another very interesting thing related to it. I have heard and read that it is the language most similar to Latin! As soon as I found out about it, I immediately thought that I would like to learn this language. Unfortunately, there was no time for this yet, but maybe it will be possible in the future.
Let's get back to the island itself. It has an area of 24,090 km² (twenty-four thousand and ninety square kilometers) and a population of over one million six hundred thousand inhabitants. The largest city is Cagliari, the capital of the island. It is a very old city and you can see a Roman amphitheater from the 2nd century AD, many churches and other monuments.
Moreover, on the island it is worth seeing nuragi, i.e. very, very old stone towers. The oldest ones date back to the 15th century BC. The tallest are 20 meters high.
If someone likes rock climbing, Sardinia will also be a great place for a holiday. According to Wikipedia, there are over several thousand places where you can climb! Maybe it's worth going on such trips in winter, because then it's not so hot? The average temperature in winter is plus fourteen to fifteen degrees, while in summer the average temperature is already thirty or thirty-one degrees Celsius. In summer, you can swim in the warm sea or sunbathe in the sun.
However, I would not go to the beach, but visit the monuments. I have already talked about the city of Cagliari and the nuragi. If I were going to an island, I would prepare a list of all interesting monuments from prehistoric times, the Roman Empire or the Middle Ages. I would check what museums are worth seeing to learn about local history. I think it would be worth going to, for example, Alghero, one of the cities of Sardinia, which is also very old. While browsing the Internet, I found, among others, the interesting church of St. Krystyna.
I also learned that in Sardinia you can visit the Su Zurfuru sulfur mine. I have already been to several such tourist mines and I would also like to see what this mine looks like. Supposedly, you can learn what miners' work was like in this mine at different times in history.
Such traveling, when you cannot go somewhere, is often called traveling with your finger on the map. It used to be more difficult because you could actually travel only with your finger on the map, but today we can use the Internet and see many places on Google Maps, walk the streets of many cities and... No, we won't feel exactly the same as we would feel if we they were there, but it's always something. Because there is not always time, there are not always opportunities to actually go somewhere, and yet we have at least a substitute for a journey.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Poets, writers, artists, all looking for inspiration. Inspiration is needed, without inspiration it is impossible to write or create. It is inspiration, creative enthusiasm, ease of creation. And sometimes you sit in front of the computer and run out of ideas. There must be a podcast, but what about it, what to talk about, what to share?
What's that? What is this sound, what is this music? Well, we have to come up with something. I made myself a cup of hot tea, waited for it to cool down a bit, added some honey, and in front of me was a white, blank document without a single word.
Under the pen? Rather, in a word processor, who uses a pen to write these days? Ok, I use it because I prefer it to a pen. However, when I write and arrange the podcast text, I do it on my computer, I use Google Docs. I write a lot of texts in Word. A computer is like a modern pen, where instead of ink we send digital signals and write subsequent bytes of information.
The podcast can't be about anything, I can't produce empty words, pour water, talk about nothing. There must be content, text. Something has to happen, there has to be a story. Crime fiction authors probably have it easier, they have to kill someone. There is a body, there is action.
So what should we do here, what should we talk about? After all, my listeners are waiting for the next episode. Maybe about books? This has already been discussed, even more than once. About languages? I'm afraid that they will stop listening to me when there is more linguistics. Something from history? Maybe, but there was a lot of that too. Literature? Well, I promised something about "The Doll" by Bolesław Prus, but there was not enough time to read this novel to the end. About flies? This could be a song about flies. I feel like everything I'm saying is meaningless and meaningless. Such empty words, such grass speech, straw speech.
Maybe something about music? I don't know much about this topic, but many people like it. I could weave in bits and pieces of the song and explain the lyrics, use synonyms and paraphrases so that my listeners would understand them better. Then they will find the song on YouTube, listen to the whole song, and Google the lyrics to read the whole thing. What might they like, what is popular, what is good? There was a piece, a song about how difficult it is to find inspiration, how difficult it is to compose good song lyrics. There was also something about a fly that could be killed, so it's almost like a crime story. What is that song? Hmmm…
I already know! It's a song called Texan by Hey. Why Texan? Does this have anything to do with Texas? I don't know, but it might be a good idea. I will talk about how difficult it is sometimes to find inspiration, when it doesn't come and you have to think and think and think to come up with something. I think it will be useful for my listeners. After all, this song has a positive thought that also applies to language learning. After all, we learn so that what our heads think, our tongues say. Or as Juliusz Słowacki once wrote:
Chodzimioto, abyjęzykgiętki
My point is to keep the language flexible
Powiedziałwszystko, copomyśligłowa:
He said everything your head could think:
Aczasembyłjakpiorunjasny, prędki,
And sometimes he was like a bright, fast lightning bolt,
Aczasemsmutnyjakopieśństepowa,
And sometimes sad as a steppe song,
Aczasemjakoskarganimfymiętki,
And sometimes as a complaint of the mint nymph,
Aczasempięknyjakaniołówmowa…
And sometimes as beautiful as angels speak...
Abyprzeleciałwszystkaduchaskrzydłem.
So that he may fly over all spirits with his wing.
Once I create a podcast and someone listens to it, they will know Polish better. If he knows him better, it will be easier for him to say what he thinks. Or even sing, because he will be able to speak Polish so much and so beautifully!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Today the podcast will be about reading and learning a foreign language. Why is reading so important if we want to really know a foreign language well? Why can reading in another language be very difficult and how to change it?
Many of you are familiar with the levels of advancement when it comes to a foreign language. We are talking about levels from A1 to C2, from beginner to advanced or in English from beginner to advanced. At the beginning we have a lot of motivation, and each lesson introduces new words, new sentences and it seems to us that we are making great progress. Every new ten words means dozens, if not hundreds, of new sentences that we can say. The first words, then the first hundred, two hundred... When we already know over a thousand or two thousand, the next ten are no longer so important. Suddenly it seems like our progress is getting slower and slower. We also forget more and more. It's impossible to repeat everything in every lesson, and the list of words in Anki or Memrise becomes so large that it can't be done in one day. At the intermediate level, somewhere between B1 and B2, this problem arises. We learn and learn, but it seems like we are not making any progress. This is where reading comes in handy.
It is very difficult to read at the beginning. To actually read as if we were reading in a language we know very well. We want to use a dictionary because almost every word is new. But it's worth trying. By reading without a dictionary and trying to understand words from context, our brain learns to understand a foreign language as it is, not through translation. This is how we learn new words in context, and sometimes unconsciously. At the same time, we can read a lot, but we don't always have the opportunity to talk in the language we are learning. We also find richer language in books than in films or TV series. This will definitely be useful during exams or when writing your own texts. I remember the advice our lecturer gave us during a text translation class. He advised that before we start translating texts from a given field, we should first become familiar with them - in both languages. Even if my native language is Polish, I do not know all the specialist terms, I do not always know how to describe, for example, technical processes or legal issues. Therefore, in order to use the language we translate into and from well, we must first know it well.
Similarly, we learn general language when we learn a foreign language. If we want to navigate it well, speak it well, write it well, we must know it well. That's why reading is so helpful, because we can read various texts - novels, scientific articles, reports and many others. We learn the language from different sides - in the form of dialogues and descriptions, explanations and reflections. It greatly enriches and develops our linguistic skills.
However, when we read a book in a foreign language for the first time, we usually do not understand anything. Sometimes single words, but it is difficult for us to grasp the meaning, even the most general one. What can you do, what should you do to change it? There is only one main piece of advice - read. Read, read and read again. Although it is not easy at the beginning, only by reading will we learn to read. Of course, if we have the opportunity, it is worth reading simple, simplified texts at the beginning. You can also use what you already know well. It may be Harry Potter or the Bible - books that many people know very well. Then it is easier to understand what we read. However, each step forward will be a challenge. First difficult, then increasingly easier and more pleasant. As a result, we will start reading books in a foreign language as if we were reading them in our own language. Then this alien will no longer really be alien, it will also be its own language.
If you have read any books in Polish and think they are good for intermediate students, please let me know. There are many simplified books written for learners, e.g. in English. However, there are not so many of them in Polish. Regular books can be very, very difficult. However, if in your experience some of them turn out to be interesting, easy and worth recommending, be sure to share this information with others!
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
In my opinion, dialects are one of the riches of every language. I cannot understand people who think that these are inferior varieties of the language, that it is something spoken by people with worse education. This is obviously nonsense, and using a local or general dialect has nothing to do with intelligence. Unfortunately, the prescriptivist trend dominates in Polish linguistics and there are always people talking about various errors, worse varieties of the language, etc. You won't find anything like that here! The language is rich as it is, not as someone behind a desk, locked in their own rules and systems, would like it to be.
No more complaining! Time for Polish dialects! So what does it look like for us? A bit unusual. The differences are relatively small. There are much stronger dialects in Germany and England. This is because after World War II, by Stalin's decision, Poland radically changed its borders. The entire Eastern Borderlands, where millions of Poles lived, found themselves outside the country. In the west, however, Stalin gave Poland the lands taken from the Reich. The communist authorities began to resettle people from the East and let them live in various places in the new country. However, they did not want them to live among their own people, but tried to mix everyone thoroughly so that no one felt any special social ties. This is especially visible in the west of Poland, where there are "new mixed dialects". It would probably be worth examining what they look like today, how they are beginning to differ from each other and perhaps they would need to be divided somehow.
Acopozatym?Standardowomówimyodialektachwielkopolskim, małopolskim, mazowieckim, śląskimiewentualniekaszubskim( oilenietraktujemykaszubskiegojakoodrębnegojęzyka).Jaksiegodopoślonskutożechjużwomkiedyśpokozoł, aleposłuchajciejeszczetego:
And what else? Typically, we talk about the dialects of Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Masovia, Silesia and possibly Kashubian (unless we treat Kashubian as a separate language). I've already told you how to say God in Silesian, but listen to this:
Shvyrko. You wanted to hear something in the Silesian language, if it's good in our country, then let us know what it's like to prepare for the New Year's Eve, if there was such a thing, such a little son, the coolest things in preparation for the New Year's Eve were Rorates. It's true that our parish priest used to tell the good Polish people that the most pleasant moments were when I went to the Roraty, taking inspiration from some bard, but we experienced it firsthand, what it was like with those Rorates. Well, it all started with the fact that it was early to get up. We got up at dawn, because there was already a six o'clock mass, but the fto arrived first at the mass, he got a bigger bed.
This is how Piotr Borkowy from Ruda Śląska remembers the holidays, and more specifically Advent. The full recording can be found on the Dialectology website run by the University of Warsaw. There will also be other fragments from this website, and for those interested, I will leave the link in the podcast description. So let's stay on the Christmas topic and listen to what this woman from Masovia says:
On Christmas Eve, we always went to see my son there, to the village headman, but now I won't go there because he's a priest there and he doesn't talk. I don't think we'll go, we're both old, some are young, and we'll be there with them, no, I guess we'll both just, well, not yet. Przemek says, Grandma, if you want it, we'll go and buy all those parcels.
Coming from Silesia, we bypassed Małopolska and went straight to Masovia, but we are not going back for now. We go further north, to Masuria, to listen to the memories of one of the women who lived there.
I have been riding a bike to Scytno for thirteen years. By bike and without forest. There were also wagons, but sometimes in sleighs, sometimes in sleighs, sometimes my father at Christmas. That's me and my mother, because he bought us good sweaters, 100% wool, and nice berets. And then I was shopping for Christmas, so my dad took a week off there and I went by sleigh. But when you go to the dentist in the summer, you go to Scytno by bike. How about along the front with these mushrooms to Biskupiec and on foot? And pull the stroller. And that's just time to get to Ryszl and the stroller. And where is Ryszel? Now they say, poor things, that the bus lady will come and take the children to school, that they will take them to the junior high school, that they will run the buses wherever. This is a golden world now and anything is possible.
Have you heard that instead of the standard "or" this lady says "cy"? Instead of "through the forest" he says "bez las" and the word "bez" can also be heard in Silesia, meaning that someone went without a forest.
but it was hard work... sir... it's incomparable in the past and now... no... because it was so busy... six o'clock... like this... April and May... six o'clock in the morning until seven o'clock in the evening... well, there was a fifteen-minute break for breakfast... you had an hour and a half for dinner... and afternoon tea at four... but you also worked until seven in the evening... sometimes until eight... there were so many hours... and a very thin day
- It was Christmas Eve... And the evening was coming... Only once upon a time it was here... there was straw in the house, you brought a sheaf of straw, you put this sheaf on top of this one, this sheaf was tied here, then it was put on the sheaf... Children They sat down, the sheaf was cut with a knife, the children were scattered, there was straw all over the apartment, and it was Christmas Eve, it was Christmas Eve, they called it Christmas Eve because it was straw. And later we carried them out, we carried them out here at night, because there was a cry for straw.
– There were these co-operatives on Christmas Eve, yes, there were co-operatives on Christmas Eve: King Herod, the Devil, a Jew, angels, an old man and an old woman… They went. Devil, the children screamed, cried, were afraid. There were girls and children walking around. Well, there was still walking in Óstrów.
I guess that's it for today. I didn't talk much, and the episode was longer than usual. Certainly more difficult too. But at least you listened a little, and for practice you can try to understand what these people were talking about, guess words that are not present in this standard dialect of Polish.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
I'm looking for an idea for this podcast and I'm browsing Facebook. I scroll a bit thoughtlessly, and various posts, memes, advertisements, comments and whatever else can be found on this website flash before my eyes. I look at the panel on the right. Oh! I haven't wished you a happy birthday yet today. It's time to make up for it. I click and the opportunity to enter wishes opens. I write "Happy birthday", I copy and paste and each of today's birthday recipients receives wishes from me. If I know someone personally, I will add two more words. Okay, time to think about the podcast. What should I write here today?
ABOUT! The chat popped up and my friend asked how I was doing. We start chatting a bit and time flies. In one of the groups I am in, someone posted an interesting post. Naturally I have to comment. I gave a like, wrote a comment and I can come back... but no, someone has already replied to my comment. We start the conversation in the comments. Time is running out.
In another group, someone tagged me because they thought I would be interested in a post about free books. Unfortunately, although the books are nice, someone has already reserved them. Somewhere, under another post, a storm broke out and hate poured out. Well, the post was about politics, that's how it often ends. Today it is somehow difficult for people to discuss and talk with respect, especially on such topics.
Some post already has over a hundred likes, hearts and smileys. Someone probably feels valued and liked because this post is a selfie, a photo of yourself taken from a cell phone. Some people's profiles contain a whole collection of such selfies, although I don't quite understand why they post several such photos a day on Facebook.
So I scroll, browse, read and finally I have an idea for a podcast. I will describe Facebook to you, what you can do on it, what at least some of the activities and things on this website are called in Polish. Actually, many of us are there. I have my own fanpage, which I invite you to visit. We get involved and talk in groups on various topics. But doesn't it sometimes take us too much time?
Such mindless scrolling usually does no good. We usually don't learn much from eFBe, and the algorithms and artificial intelligence will constantly show us advertisements and adjust our board so that we see what will keep us on the website the longest, and not what is most useful.
Hence the idea to clean up your Facebook and other social networking sites from time to time. Sometimes someone added us to a group, and actually there is nothing interesting there. A website that was supposed to be devoted to the history of the world publishes funny pictures of cats, and one of our friends regularly tells us what he has for dinner. You can then consider whether to leave such a group, unlike the page or stop following or following that particular friend.
Personally, I pay less and less attention to the main board. What's interesting is what happens in groups, there's no such mess there. I like interesting fan pages, but Facebook's algorithms do not allow them to reach me without paying for advertising. So what to do? I'm slowly finding alternative places, like this one Discord server where we talk about Lego. And I have subscribed to materials in Uzbek on Telegram. So maybe it's just a matter of time and we won't be on Facebook at all?
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. You will also find the Polish with John group on Telegram, where we can talk in Polish. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
The year is 1917 (one thousand nine hundred and seventeen), and Russia is boiling. First, in February, the Tsar was overthrown and the first revolution, called the February Revolution, began. Its goals can also be described as an attempt to democratize political life in Russia. At the same time, the Bolsheviks were preparing another revolution. They did not have broad social support, so they decided to come to power using violence and terror. This is how Bogusław Wołoszański talks about the first moments of Bolshevik power:
When did terror become the basic tool of the new government? Lenin believed that there would be no need for a police force in the new Soviet state, because the millions of workers and peasants guarding the welfare state would easily get rid of the handful of exploiters resisting the new government. This utopia was shattered when it hit reality. The Bolsheviks did not gain the support of the majority of society. The October Revolution was only a coup d'état, the overthrow of a government that did not want to end the war with Germany and was unable to provide bread to millions of people. It soon turned out that the Bolsheviks would not retain power by following the legal path. In the elections to the legislative assembly, which took place in December 1917 (one thousand nine hundred and seventeen), despite a very extensive campaign, they won only in two cities - Moscow and Petrograd. Across Russia, of the 36 million (thirty-six million) voters, only 9 million (nine million) voted in favor of them, or less than 25% (twenty-five percent). Let's pay attention to the dates. Elections that did not give the Bolsheviks an advantage in the Constituent Assembly were held on December 8, 1917 (December eight, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen). And on December 20 (December twentieth), two weeks later, the Council of People's Commissars established the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage. Its chief, Felix Dzerzhinsky, was 40 (forty years old) and had a very extensive record in the tsarist police. He was first arrested and sent to Vyatka when he was twenty years old. Until 1917 (one thousand nine hundred and seventeen), he was arrested six times (6x), sent to Siberia twice, and escaped three times. Perhaps these ordeals had deprived him of human feelings. Lenin wanted terror that would subordinate society to the Bolshevik party. He was supposed to organize it.
This was the beginning of the black, or red, history of Soviet Russia. From the very beginning it was based on violence and terror, because this was the only way to force society to implement the demands of Marxism. As Wołoszański said, the idea of a communist state as a welfare state, i.e. a state where everyone is provided with all the things necessary for a good life, is a utopia, an unrealistic vision, something that may look nice on paper, but is impossible to implement in reality. This can also be seen later, when collectivization and industrialization began. These are processes that were supposed to improve the quality of life of the population, but only led to suffering and poverty. In such conditions, resistance and society's aversion to communists were natural. However, the Bolsheviks, Russia's communist party, did not want to give actual power to the people. If this were the case, they would respect the results of the December 1917 elections, where less than a quarter of the population supported them, mainly in two cities where they were in power and could control the course of the elections. So from the very beginning they built an apparatus of terror. The result of the revolution, which was supposed to give freedom and prosperity to millions of people, was mass crimes, murders, terror and hunger. Politics based on Marxist assumptions led in the history of the USSR, i.e. communist Russia, to at least 100 million (one hundred million) victims, people who lost their lives because of this terrible ideology. It's hard to imagine such a quantity. It would be like murdering the people of Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Or the states of California, Texas, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania.
As we heard, Lenin built his power on terror and violence from the very beginning. Officially, he wanted the war to end, but Soviet Russia soon began to wage new wars, and the peace rhetoric was just empty words. Communist and socialist systems were forcefully introduced in other countries. Also in Poland, after World War II, the communist revolution was brought on the guns of the Red Army, and socialism was built against the will of society.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. You will also find the Polish with John group on Telegram, where we can talk in Polish. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
How valuable can one stone be? Can negotiations be held over a stone during a war? Just an ordinary stone with some inscriptions. Meanwhile, one of the elements of the capitulation agreement of Alexandria of 1801 (one thousand eight hundred and one), when the French troops surrendered to the English, was to give the victors, among others, Rosetta Stone.
Today he is very famous. Whenever I visit the British Museum, I look at this piece of rock with curiosity. On its black surface you can see that something is written on it, some text or texts. You can immediately see that these are three different types of writing. Hieroglyphic writing, or simply hieroglyphs, demotic writing, and Greek writing. It turned out that all three alphabets contain the same text and the same content. Thanks to this, it was possible to decipher the hieroglyphs, read them and discover their secrets. This became a milestone, or a very important moment, in the study of ancient Egypt. However, this whole story would not have happened if it weren't for many other events.
We have to go back to the late 18th century (18th century) when Napoleon goes to Egypt to attack this British colony. Then, as part of Napoleon's troops, many scientists also went to Egypt. Among them was Pierre-Francois Bouchard (sorry if I pronounced the name wrong). It was he, who was a lieutenant of the engineering troops, who, while preparing the defense in the city of Rosetta, noticed that one of the stones had texts written in different alphabets. He did not allow this stone to become part of the new fortress. He understood that it was a very important monument, although perhaps he did not know how important it was.
As I have already mentioned, the stone eventually ended up in the hands of the English, although the French had previously made a copy of it. Thus began a race against time between scientists from these two countries. It was believed that what was written on this stone would allow us to decipher the hieroglyphs, that it could be a breakthrough moment, a milestone in the study of antiquity.
Ceram described it very expressively in his book Gods, Graves and Scholars, which is no longer the newest, but tells the history of archeology and archaeological discoveries in a fascinating way. As a curiosity, I will present you a fragment of an old recording of this book. Listen to how books were read in the past, what pronunciation was used in the past, which was then artistic.
The greatest minds of that time worked on it. And not only in France. Work on deciphering the Rosetta Stone was also carried out in England (based on the original), in Germany and in Italy. In vain. All scientists, without exception, started from a false assumption. When it came to hieroglyphs, all of them, without exception, clung to ideas that went back in part to Herodotus and that blinded their minds with the incredible persistence typical of so many false conceptions of the human spirit. To reveal the secret of hieroglyphs, a revolution in science was needed on an almost Copernican scale, an idea was needed that would break away from all the established traditions and illuminate the darkness like lightning.
The difficulties the scientists faced were described very poetically. This is certainly due to the translator, as the book is originally in German. So we have incredible persistence instead of simple stubbornness, we have a revolution that was not supposed to be big, it was supposed to be like a revolution compared to the revolution that Copernicus made, the Copernican revolution. And this discovery was to be so great that it could be compared to lightning, which illuminates the night and darkness with its strong light.
In fact, Jean-François Champollion's work entitled The letter to Mr. Dacier concerning the alphabet of phonetic hieroglyphs, which he published in 1822, was just such a lightning bolt. After thousands of years, hieroglyphs were finally deciphered. A writing that, although visible to people for centuries, was incomprehensible for those centuries. Thousands of years ago, the knowledge of how to read them was forgotten. Then, in 1822, it was possible to start reading hieroglyphs again and learn the secrets of ancient Egypt. Of course, it didn't happen right away. Even we know how difficult it is sometimes to learn a language that is known, that we hear and see every day. It was even more difficult to read the new, unknown language. However, Champollion took the first step thanks to which today we know so much about ancient Egypt, its history and culture.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. You will also find the Polish with John group on Telegram, where we can talk in Polish. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
If any of you learn Russian, you probably know the Russian Progress podcast. And if you don't know it, it's worth visiting. Its author, Artem, creates very interesting content that is very helpful in learning Russian. However, he not only helps others learn Russian, but also learns many languages himself. One of them is Polish. While I'm recording this podcast, Artiom is conducting an interesting experiment.
For a long time, he tries to immerse himself in the Polish language as much as possible. He talks to Poles every day, listens to podcasts, and records videos in Polish. He has very intensive contact with Polish in order to learn as much as possible. Can such intense training be effective? How long should it last? Artyom will definitely talk about it, so if anyone wants to know his impressions, it's worth visiting. Today I will share my thoughts on this topic.
I've been spending a lot of time with Uzbek lately. I started using Anki to learn words, I watch videos on YouTube, I read books in Uzbek and I also try to be immersed in the language as much as possible. Unfortunately, I don't have time for daily live conversations, but I talk to several people on Messenger and Telegram. Every now and then I also have a lesson with my teacher. So, like Artyom, I try to be fluent in this language as much as possible. Do I see results?
Definitely! I feel like I'm feeling this language better and better. Not only do I understand, not only can I decode the meanings, but I simply feel the style, rhythm and melody. Of course, I'm still far from fluent, but I noticed that such intensive learning can sometimes be useful in making a significant step forward. Recently, I've been starting to understand not only single words in movies, but entire sentences and fragments of dialogue. Sometimes, if we only study every now and then, we may feel like we're not making any progress. We seem to know something more, but we don't feel it. Such intense monthly training can change that.
I also think that it is important to listen to the language and read at such times. Grammar is not the most important thing then, you don't have to try to remember all the rules. If there's anything to learn, it's new words. You can do this by focusing on selected topics and then reading or watching on these topics.
There is one more important conclusion from the artyom experiment. It's worth experimenting. Each of us has a slightly different learning style, and other methods turn out to be more effective. Therefore, it is worth experimenting with different approaches and observing which ones give us the opportunity to make the greatest progress. Because sometimes what one person considers to be the best in the world may turn out to be completely ineffective for another person. Sometimes not all methods are possible. In less popular languages, we will have less materials available, so it will be more difficult for us to find something that we like, that will be at our level, and so on. It may turn out that we will choose different methods for different languages.
The most important thing is not to be afraid, not to stress, just try and enjoy every step, even the smallest one. I know that if I had focused on Spanish instead of Uzbek, I would be fluent in Spanish today. But it is this Central Asian language that gives me more fun and pleasure, and each step, although more difficult, brings great satisfaction. That doesn't mean Spanish isn't cool! Quite the opposite. Besides, when I need to relax, I watch a series for people learning Spanish - Extr@. A bit stupid, but still cool to learn.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. You will also find the Polish with John group on Telegram, where we can talk in Polish. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
Blogs have already seen their best days. The time when they were extremely popular is over, now YouTube channels and Instagram profiles rule. But are you sure?
It turns out that many people continue to blog for various reasons. Our own blog gives us more control over what we create. No one will close our profile or fanpage, and if Instagram stops being fashionable, our content will still be easily accessible. Old posts on Facebook are practically non-existent. They're hard to find. The blog is a different story. Texts are easier to find, for example through Google or the search engine on the blog itself. So how do you set up your blog or simply your website?
Today it's simple, but there are a few things worth considering. This blog has to be somewhere. It can be your own server at home, but this is a very difficult and very expensive solution. Therefore, we can purchase hosting from one of many hosting companies. Hosting is like a piece of space on the server's hard drive. The prices are low, and the company provides us with all technical support. We have a lot of control over such a website or blog. We have direct access to the database, the place where all our posts, pages, etc. are saved. We have access to the files that support this website. We don't usually need this, but if we want to ask some entity to prepare a skin for our blog, it may be necessary. The skin is the external appearance of the template. We can also use the services of other companies that do not give us as much freedom, but we also have even fewer technical issues to solve.
The second thing is the domain. This one usually comes in handy. This is our website address, which will also be our business card. It doesn't cost much, about one hundred zlotys per year, but it looks nice and elegant. My domain is ioannesoculus.com. I also have another one - polishwithjohn.com, to make it easier to remember and then enter it in the search engine. Both of them will take you to my blog.
I have my blog hosted by cyber_Folks. If you click on the link in the text, you will go to their website. You can see that this is not a regular link, but it has a series of numbers at the end. This is the so-called affiliate link. If you buy hosting or a domain on this website after clicking on my link, I will get a few cents for recommending this company's services to you. And here we come to the next issue related to the blog, i.e. making money on the blog.
Thanks to Google AdSense services, we can place advertisements on our blog. Someone who clicks on them will cause the advertiser to pay us a few cents through the Google program. These are literally pennies, so it takes thousands of clicks to really earn something from them. We can also have affiliate links that advertise various products and services, and we can earn another few cents for effective advertising.
However, to make money, to even think about a blog, you need to think about what you want to write about. I left this topic for last, but it is the most important one. You can solve technical issues yourself sooner or later, and you can always outsource it to someone. However, no one will write a post for us or fill our blog with content. Blogs are different. At first, they were mainly diaries written on the Internet, but they have long since become professional websites devoted to various topics. So if we want our blog to make sense, we must have something to write about, have something to say about it, and write regularly!
Can anyone have a blog? Of course. Some may even become popular. However, I would like to give you an idea. Try to run your blog in Polish. Even if it's not a real blog, just a pretend one. It may even be in some text file on your hard drive or in a separate notebook. Write on various topics, write regularly, even if these posts are short. This will help you use the language you are learning. You can let someone check it from time to time, but often it's enough to go back to previous entries after a few months. Then you will notice how much you have learned during this time.
So what? Who of you is starting a blog? If anyone decides to start a public blog in Polish, a blog on the Internet, be sure to let me know. I'd love to go there and read.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. You will also find the Polish with John group on Telegram, where we can talk in Polish. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
You may have noticed that my new logo is starting to appear in some places. Previously, I made my own logos and they were different - sometimes better, sometimes worse. This time the author is Barbara Maroń, a professional graphic designer who can do wonders in graphic programs.
Let me tell you what I see in it and then how it was created. The inspiration for this logo is the Art Deco style, which on the one hand is a bit historical, and I like history, but on the other hand, it is still modern, and technologies, social media and the like are also part of my everyday life. So I think it combines the two well. There is a globe inside, because thanks to the Internet we can meet in our linguistic adventures anywhere on the globe. Foreign languages, including Polish, are learned by people from every continent and probably every country. We have rays of light in the background. They are like the rays of the Sun, which, together with the Earth, are a bit cosmic and futuristic, and this fits perfectly with my interests in astronomy. At the same time, light is associated with knowledge, with the development of science, and yet linguistics is a science. Such light means a better understanding of other languages and how they have changed and are changing. The rays themselves contain the colors white and red, the colors of the Polish flag. After all, we learn Polish here. In other materials there will naturally be other colors, other flags.
Sometimes you may think that creating a logo is one moment, ten minutes of work and it is. Perhaps, once we know what we want to create, it's like this. However, before the final one is created, you need to go through several projects and look for the best solutions. I'm not a graphic designer, but maybe it's similar to a podcast. Sometimes you think and think and can't come up with anything. Looking for an idea or inspiration can be very difficult.
However, the logo itself is only the first step. Branding, i.e. building brand awareness, is not just one image. This is a set of fonts to be used, colors, communication methods and a whole range of aspects. Large corporations commission the preparation of brand books, i.e. a whole range of graphics, styles and descriptions that describe how the company will create its image. This may include not only Power Point presentation templates, but also words to use and avoid, rules for creating new graphics and much, much more.
The results of cooperation with a graphic designer or a company preparing such branding may not always be pretty or interesting. Sometimes the client has a completely different vision than the person who orders such a service. Sometimes the result is heavily criticized because people don't like it.
I don't have a brand book, but I would like what I do to be elegant. This is what the graphics created by Barbara Maroń have always seemed like to me. That's why I decided to ask her for help. But you can imagine my fears. Will we reach an agreement? Will it be nice and worth the time and work invested? I was afraid that we might not match each other's tastes. I was afraid that I wouldn't describe my idea well or that something would be created that I wouldn't like. I know Barbara well, but it's one thing to know someone and another thing to be that person's client. However, it turned out that my fears were just fears. The new logo is very nice and I really like it and can be adapted to various projects. Now the only question is will you like it? I can't show it on the podcast, but check out Facebook and you can see it there. I hope you like it too. I also invite you to visit Barbara Maroń's profile on Instagram and on the Behance website, where you can see her other works.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. You will also find the Polish with John group on Telegram, where we can talk in Polish. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!
They say that today's times are very stressful. It's hard for me to say whether they are actually more or less stressful than before. However, there is certainly a lot of stress in our daily lives today. Everything is getting faster and faster, we don't have time for anything. Even news on the radio is being read faster and faster. Instead of newspaper articles, we read headlines. We are always in a hurry, worried that we won't be on time. Work demands more and more from us. Not to mention the various troubles and problems that sometimes appear in our lives completely unexpectedly. So what to do? How to cope?
Unfortunately, I don't know, I don't have a perfect answer. There are certainly situations when you need to seek the advice of friends, or maybe even a specialist. However, there are ways to reduce the negative effects of stress and to prevent it at least a little.
One way is to simply do something. A hobby or sport can occupy our attention for some time, freeing our thoughts from what irritates us, at least for a moment. I see myself that sometimes a good series, book or creative work frees me from bad thoughts. I can simply do something else, something interesting enough to take my mind off my problems.
Apparently a healthy lifestyle also helps. Healthy eating and exercise are supposed to have a positive impact on how the body copes with stress. We will definitely be healthier thanks to this, so we don't lose anything.
However, when trouble comes, sometimes it is worth considering what could really happen. Sometimes our problems are like a big black cloud that has no end. We don't see the world, the sun and everything positive behind it. However, when you put aside your emotions and approach the matter rationally, you can see that it is not the end of the world. Yes, it will be difficult, but there will also be other things, there will be other joys and sorrows of life, and time will heal the wounds. Not always, but it happens that we exaggerate our problems, making them seem more terrible than they really are. Then it's really hard to control them. However, when you think about it, there are also other issues in life, sometimes trivial ones, that will put into the background the problem that we cannot solve at a given moment.
There is another way that comes to mind, which I mentioned at the beginning. They are friends or good acquaintances. Sometimes it's worth just unburdening yourself and telling someone about it. Whether this person will have advice for us or not is not so important. It's about venting.
On the other hand, let's also be people we can talk to. It is sometimes difficult to devote time to others, but it is possible. Let's let someone talk, cry or scream to get rid of all the stress that is inside that person. Often, it is enough to simply be with that person and assure him that you are and will be with him. Just.
Thank you very much for this episode. Please visit my blog ioannesoculus.com or polishwithjohn.com. You will also find the Polish with John group on Telegram, where we can talk in Polish. I would appreciate you supporting me on Patreon. To those who are already doing it, thank you very much! Stay healthy and I keep my fingers crossed for you! Speak soon!