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Spelling out words in Polish



acrimonThreads: 8
Posts: 9
Joined: May 10, 08 		  Sep 13, 08, 11:59 /  #
Hi,

I had this question on my mind for a while now, and I guess it's high time I asked. ;D I was wondering, how exactly does one go about spelling out words in Polish to someone else. I know it's not like in English where you spell out words by the "names" of letters rather than their sounds, and so I'm not exactly sure how it works in Polish.

Additionally, let's say you want to spell out an English word or words in Polish that don't have translations in Polish, such as a name of a store, like "Food Basics." I'm not sure how I would spell out the double o sound, and especially the final c in Basics as it has more of an k sound than the Polish variant. Or, in this case, is it just better to spell it out in English?

I appreciate any help! ;D
Thanks in advance!
sausageThreads: 25
Posts: 1,053
Joined: Sep 21, 07 		  Sep 13, 08, 12:09 /  #
acrimon:

spell out words by the "names" of letters rather than their sounds

do you mean like alpha, bravo, charlie?
The "Teach Yourself Polish" book says that christian names are used when spelling out words...
e.g A jak Adam (A like Adam)
B jak Barabara
C jak Celina
and so on
acrimonThreads: 8
Posts: 9
Joined: May 10, 08 		  Sep 13, 08, 13:55 /  #
Sorry, I think I worded that question a bit vaguely. ;P Like in English, for example a spelling bee, one would spell the word pool as: (the letter) P (the letter) O (the letter) O (the letter) L; that is, not by how those letters sound in the word.

Hope that clears it up a little. ;P

But what you said is also a good bit of knowledge to have, though. ;P
McCoyThreads: 46
Posts: 1,756
Joined: Jul 3, 08 		  Sep 13, 08, 14:08 /  #
if something has english name we spell it like english do.
clouddancerThreads: -
Posts: 25
Joined: Jun 23, 08 		  Sep 13, 08, 16:28 /  #
A
ˇ
Be
Ce
Cie (=Ć)
De
E
Ę
Ef
Gie
Ha
I
Jot
Ka
eL
eŁ
eM
eN
eŃ
O
Ó
Pe
eR
eS
e¦
Te
U
fał (=V)
Wu
Iks (=X)
igrek (=Y)
Zet
ziet (=¬)
żet (=Ż)
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		Edited by: osiol   Sep 13, 08, 16:46 /  #
clouddancer:

igrek

Why?

Actually, I like the distinction between curly-kuh and kicking kuh.
clouddancerThreads: -
Posts: 25
Joined: Jun 23, 08 		  Sep 13, 08, 17:22 /  #
osiol:

igrek

Why?


From the Latin Y Græca? In most languages it's either a variation on that, or on Ypsilon, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y

I forgot to add the distiction between U and Ó:
ó - u kreskowane / u zamknięte / o z kresk±
u - u zwykłe, u otwarte
mafketisThreads: 17
Posts: 1,880
Joined: Mar 31, 08 		Edited by: mafketis   Sep 14, 08, 12:54 /  #
In my experience Polish people mostly don't spell words out loud.
This is because, mostly, there's no need. Polish pronunciation and writing are much in sync than in English.

There are strategies for dealing with the ambiguities that do appear.

1. If a word (esp name) has an ambiguous point you just mention that. "Dahowski przez samo h". "Korza przez er zet"

2. Pronounce a word just as it's spelled and not how it's commonly pronounced. Here, it's possible to voice final sounds that are usually voiced and ± and ę would be pronounced as in isolation. It's not uncommon for Polish people to do this with English words too (to indicate spelling) "'bread' pisane bread" (pronounced breh-ahd)

To clearly indicate a word (or in an argument or to make a point) English speakers might spell a word.
"I'm broke, get it? B-R-O-K-E!"
In Polish you'd say each syllable separately.
"Jestem spukłany, kapujesz? Spu-kła-ny!"

Finally, IME Polish people often don't use the official names of letters (back when I foolishly spelled my name using the official names of letters it almost always got written down incorrectly). Ry and sy are especially common instead of er and es though 'rz' is always er zet.
acrimonThreads: 8
Posts: 9
Joined: May 10, 08 		  Sep 24, 08, 19:10 /  #
Excellent, thank you everyone for the information! :) This will definitely help me out. :D
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