English borrowings in Polish

Hi! I'm writing a research paper on Poles' attitudes towards English borrowings. For that I'm planning to conduct a little survey/ a questionnaire and that's why I'm looking for a Polish text that would contain loooots of Anglicisms. Does any one of you know of anything like that? Thx in advance! Gośka

Hi Goska,

I think you need to buy a Polish newspaper publised in Chicago and you'll notice a lot of strange Polish/English words ;).

I have no access to Chicago papers, I'm affraid G.

Try the Polish News of Chicago (in Polish language version) at polishdailynews.com

Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic had two books published as spin-offs of her Ph.D. thesis on English borrowings in the language of Polish youth. Ever heard of her?

Sure I have! (my BA was on borrowing ). I'm just about to lay my hands on them - again - and maybe I'll make use of her questionnaire. I was hoping though that maybe there exists something like a Polish text with English borrowings written specially with the intention of including in it as many borrowings as possible. Thx anyway! G.

I know a couple of them ;):

samochod (auto) - "kara"
dociekac - "inwestigowac"

Can anyone help me? I bought what I thought was a Polish Christmas ornament - it says Wesotych Swiat. Is this a Polish saying?

- it means: "Merry Christmas"

doga ("dog") - psa

How about "brejka" ("break"), like in this sentence:

"masz teraz brejka?" - "do you have a break now?"

Could you send me more borrowings from american to polish language for example "break" - brejka becauce i'm writhing about this and I will be very appreciate .

Not sure if it's from the English language but my friends say "On hajtnal sie" which means "He got married" (in this case "hajtnal sie" means "got married").

Also "szyfta" (zmiana) - from the English "shift" like "work shift".

Yep, and what about polish to english? Kielbasa and pierogi only?

If you come from the airport in Warsaw and drive in towards the town centre, you will see loads of bill boards with advertisements for cars ect. It is interesting to see how the Polish people have so successfully destroyed their language since the fall of Communism. Why does someone need to do a BA or Phd to see the corruption in the language? There is no 'przepraszam' only the English word 'sorry'-very, very strange. I wonder what the reaction would be in Guildford if I go in to shops and say 'przepraszam'!! There is the English word 'marketing' and 'leasing', I am sure that I could think of hundreds of other examples if I had the time to think about it. After all I speak very good English-ja jestem nativespeakerem!!!!!! The Poles never had much pride in their language or culture.

I wouldn't call it corruption, I would say it's foreign companies investing in Poland and advertising in English.
Poland is very proud of their culture in the US. There are many older Polish people who came here at the turn of the century, many cities are named after Poland, there's a Krakow, Warszawa, Poland, Pulaski etc. just to name a few.
The US has sister cities in Poland and each year many towns celebrate Polish Fests, Polish masses, etc. In my town alone there is a Koziczkowski Park and a Pulaski Park. We have Polish dance groups and singers, and a Polish Newspaper company.
Many Poles felt homesick when leaving their country but their traditions and culture is going strong in the US.

The fact is, the Polish Language must adapt its languages to embrace new needs-otherwise it will end up like Latin and it will not be able to adjust to new technology and social needs. There is an institute in France, of course, which tries to see that the French Language is kept pure. Maybe Poland will have to do more on the same lines. Polish dance groups and singing is very nice but the decay in the Polish Language is seen everywhere in Poland now. First generation emigrees will have lubs ect but it is the third and fourth generations that go their own way-and I suppose that it is natural for them to do so. There used to be a thriving community of Polish in Sheffield but their club now looks very sad indeed. Not a word of Polish is spoken, if fact out of all the drinkers there now I doubt if one could even point out on a map where Poland is! When you have time , watch a programme like to M jak Milosc! The English words that have come in to the language 'casting' is just one that springs to mind.

Okay, so there is too much English in Polish nowadays. Surely the majority of people read these words found in computer games (for example) as if they are Polish words, but languages will change. Almost half of English is borrowed French, pronounced wrongly.

The only English word that has come from Polish, I think, was 'horde', and that was originally a Turkish anyway. I had always thought kiosk was Polish, but that was Turkish as well.

You could look at the London Polish magazine, 'Cooltura' .

A Russian translator friend commented all the strange Polish/English words

I love this one: "antycypowac" :D instead of przewidywac...
For football: offside, "korner", "koucz"