Language learning is all about saying things – what and how to say them. However, sometimes we tend to forget that certain things are said differently in other languages or… not said at all! In this blog post, I’d like to discuss some things that Polish learners are taught in the language class but aren’t normally used in natural conversation.
How are you?
Most language courses start with teaching you greetings. While in English it is customary to throw “how are you” at just about everyone, in Polish you ask Jak się masz? or Co słychać? etc. only to people you know. Moreover, in Polish, it’s not a way to greet someone, it is a genuine question to show that you care about the person you are talking to, unlike in some cultures, in Poland you’d never say “how are you” to a shop assistant! Nowadays you can hear jak się masz? a little bit more often but it’s reserved for greetings and conversations between friends.
I’m fine, thank you
If you ask jak się masz in Polish it usually means that you care and you would like a genuine answer! Don’t be surprised if, as a reply, someone gives you a lengthy overview of their recent life events – you asked for it! Of course, from time to time you’ll hear standard dobrze or w porządku as a reply, which sometimes is a way to cut the conversation short but, as I said in the previous paragraph, a simple how are you is an actual way to find out how those you care about are doing!
Nice to meet you
Yet another conventional phrase. You are rather unlikely to hear Miło Cię poznać – this absolutely doesn’t mean that the person isn’t happy to meet you! It’s just not customary to say, especially in a casual context, you may only hear it on more formal occasions. After all, you don’t know the person you’ve just met – saying right away that it’s nice to meet them might not feel genuine to some.
Degrees of friendship
While in English you can call anyone your “friend”, the situation in Polish is a little bit more complicated. Students are usually taught that “friend” in Polish is przyjaciel or przyjaciółka (masculine and feminine, respectively) but how often did you really hear this word? Przyjaciel is someone special, like “best friend”, someone you trust, regular friends could be referred to as kolega or koleżanka (masculine and feminine, respectively) – which doesn’t necessarily mean “colleague”! If you don’t know someone very well, you could call them znajomy or znajoma (masculine and feminine, respectively) – acquaintance. None of these terms implies that you like someone more than the others, it rather tells how well you know someone.
Talking about feelings
As you might have noticed in the case of the word “friend”, in Polish you should avoid “big words” when you don’t mean them. For instance, in English it is common to say that you “love” something – it could be an experience, a movie, or a place, in such contexts in Polish we use podobać się (komu? czemu?), the verb “to love”, kochać is reserved only for very special people in our lives – family, very close friends and partners. Similarly, in everyday situations you will hear cieszę się – “I’m glad” rather than jestem szczęśliwa/szczęśliwy – “I’m happy”.
Of course, languages are constantly changing and some expressions might be used more or less often but I hope you’ve learned something from this short blog post. I’m curious about your experience, have you heard any of these expressions? Is there anything else you noticed that isn’t normally said in Polish?