Polish Translation

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Warsaw-based native Polish speakers providing certified Polish-English and English-Polish translations for all types of documents both personal and official. Find Polish Translation WFH freelancers on January 21, 2025 who work remotely. Read less

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What to Know

How are Polish verbs different to English verbs?

Polish verbs differ from English verbs in several key ways:

1. Conjugation:

Polish: Verbs in Polish are conjugated for person, number, and often for gender in the past tense. This means that the verb ending changes depending on who is performing the action (I, you, he/she/it, we, you plural, they). For example, "to read" in Polish is "czytać" and its present tense conjugations are:
ja czytam (I read)
ty czytasz (you read, singular informal)
on/ona czyta (he/she reads)
my czytamy (we read)
wy czytacie (you read, plural or formal)
oni/one czytają (they read)

English: English verbs have simpler conjugation, mainly changing for the third person singular in the present simple (e.g., "I read", "he reads") and using auxiliaries for past tenses or questions.

2. Aspect:

Polish: Polish verbs come in two aspects: imperfective and perfective. The imperfective aspect describes actions that are ongoing, habitual, or incomplete, while the perfective aspect indicates actions that are completed, one-time, or with a result. For example, "czytać" (to read, imperfective) vs. "przeczytać" (to read, perfective, meaning to finish reading).

English: English does not have this grammatical aspect structurally built into its verbs but uses other means like adverbs or constructions to convey similar meanings (e.g., "I am reading" for ongoing action vs. "I read the book" for completed action).

3. Tense:

Polish: Polish has three main tenses (past, present, future), but the future tense can be formed differently depending on the verb's aspect:
Imperfective verbs form the future with the auxiliary "będę" (I will be) + infinitive, e.g., "będę czytał" (I will be reading).
Perfective verbs directly change their form for the future, e.g., "przeczytam" (I will read).

English: English has a more straightforward system with simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous forms for past, present, and future, using auxiliaries like "will", "shall", "have", "had" for different tenses.

4. Negation:

Polish: Negation in Polish typically involves adding "nie" before the verb, which doesn't change the verb form itself.

English: English uses "not" after an auxiliary verb or "don't/doesn't" for negation in simple present tense.

5. Imperative:

Polish: The imperative mood in Polish changes the verb ending, often matching the second person singular or plural forms, but sometimes unique, like "czytaj" (read, singular) or "czytajcie" (read, plural).

English: The imperative in English is simply the base form of the verb, e.g., "Read".

6. Conditional:

Polish: Polish uses specific verb forms for the conditional mood, often with the particle "by" to indicate hypothetical situations.

English: English uses "would" or "could" followed by the base form of the verb for conditionals.

These differences reflect how Polish, with its Slavic roots, handles verb morphology and syntax in ways that require more attention to detail in learning compared to English's relatively simpler verb system.

Which bits of the English language do polish people find the most challenging to learn?

Polish people often find several aspects of the English language particularly challenging to learn due to differences between Polish and English linguistics. Here are some key areas:

Phonetics and Pronunciation:

- Th Sounds: English has the voiceless and voiced "th" sounds (/θ/ as in "think" and /ð/ as in "this"), which do not exist in Polish. Polish speakers might substitute these with "s", "z", or "t" sounds.
- R Sound: The English "r" is usually alveolar or retroflex, while in Polish, it's more like a uvular trill or fricative, which can lead to a different pronunciation.
- Vowels: English has many vowel sounds, including diphthongs, which can be hard to distinguish for Polish learners who are used to a different set of vowel phonemes.

Articles:

Polish does not have articles (the equivalent of "a", "an", and "the"), making it difficult for Polish learners to grasp when and how to use them in English, often leading to their omission or incorrect use.

Word Order:

While Polish has a relatively flexible word order due to its case system, English has a stricter Subject-Verb-Object order, which can be confusing. This is particularly challenging in questions and negative sentences where word order changes.

Prepositions:

The usage of prepositions in English can be quite arbitrary and context-specific compared to Polish. This leads to challenges in understanding and using prepositions correctly.

Idioms and Phrasal Verbs:

English is rich in idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs (like "give up", "look after"), which don't translate directly into Polish. Understanding these requires cultural context and can be very confusing.

Tense and Aspect:

Although Polish has the concept of aspect, the way English handles tenses, especially the continuous aspects (like present continuous), can be hard to grasp. The difference between simple and continuous forms might not have a direct equivalent in Polish usage.

Pronoun Drop:

Polish often allows for the dropping of pronouns because verb conjugations indicate the subject. English, however, requires explicit pronouns, which can make sentences feel redundant to Polish speakers.

Spelling and Homophones:

English spelling can be erratic, with many homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings or spellings). This contrasts with the more phonetic nature of Polish spelling.

Stress and Intonation:

English word stress can change the meaning of words (e.g., "record" vs. "reCORD"), and sentence intonation can imply different questions or statements. These nuances are not as critical in Polish.

Colloquial Language and Slang:

The informal, colloquial, and ever-evolving nature of English slang and colloquial expressions can be hard to keep up with, especially when these terms don't have direct translations.

Despite these challenges, many Polish learners become proficient in English by focusing on these areas through practice, immersion, and sometimes specialized language courses aimed at addressing these specific difficulties.

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