[Jasiu]

Hello! My wife (Kama) asked me to post this attachment with Polish vocabulary. She tried to make them funny and easy to remember for English speakers. She will keep adding to this list. You can also email her if you have any questions (she is experiencing some difficulties with the forum account). Her email: kpolanska@yahoo.com

[yusen]

Thank You Kama's Husband,, I'l need these phrases,, I sure miss her around here!!!
I also hope it was ok to say this!!

[momraine]

Thank you so much, these are wonderful!

[LisArno]

Thanks for sharing

[momraine]

I thought of some things I would love to have in Polish.
I am planning to make our child a small photo album. What I would like would be to read it to him in Polish. I was thinking I could cut and paste what Kama writes. That way he can look at the Polish words, and I can read the phonetic ones!
Things like:
This is our house.
This is our Dog/cat.
This will be your room.
This is your new sister/brother. Her/his name is:
This is your new Aunt/uncle/cousin/grandmother/grandfather
This is our church.
This is will be your new school.
This is our car.

Maybe some of you can think of some more photo album captions.

[Jasiu]

Here is an updated vocabulary list from my wife. Note: Polish uses some symbols that do not exist in English, and the Polish program we have on our computers does not transfer well. Other than accented "o", the Polish version on this list is missing some symbols. However, the words/phrases in Polish are completely clear and understandable without the symbols.

Please let us know if you have other ideas.

[momraine]

These are awesome! Thank you so much. I will try to think of more. Hmm, perhaps some travel related phrases. (I am trying to walk through in my head and think about when and where I would need a phrase.)
Perhaps these or maybe you guys can think of better ways to phrase it.
We will be going on a ride in the car/Train
We will fly in a plane.
It will be a long ride.
We will have to change to another plane.
We have to wait in line here. (like at immigration and customs!)
We have to get our luggage.
It will be a long drive to our home.

Oh, here is one I use a lot with my bio boys:
Where is your toothbrush/shirt/sock/pants/shoes/toy/backpack/suitcase/book/crayons etc. (you get the idea, kids are always misplacing things and I can see when we are sitting at the airport or in hotel needing to gather things together)
Oh and how about
Time to clean up. Pick up your things.
Oh and for me and my situation.
Time to get in your wheelchair.
That's all I can think of for now.
thank you so much. I am listening to pimsler CD's, but so much of it is not stuff I need to say to a child.

[Jasiu]

My wife added some phrases to the Polish vocabulary list as per Lorraine's request. She also bolded the syllables that should be accented, which should make it easier to read and pronounce them. The general rule in Polish is that the second to the last syllable in a word is accented, but there are exceptions.

Please let us know if you would like any other phrases or if anything is unclear. You will likely find that it is easier to simply teach children English phrases in some cases, because Polish gets complicated beyond the simple phrases. For example, all nouns are feminine, masculine, or neutral, and this in turn necessitates the use of an appropriate pronoun, and so on.

[momraine]

Thank you! I think these things will help a lot. I can't think of anything else right now. I was trying to think of things I might want to say to an older child on the journey home, if he starts to get antsy. I am hoping that before we go, I can get our translator to explain to him the details of the trip, so he will be aware of what is coming next. I also found a neat computer program that teaches English vocabulary with games. I am hoping to bring my laptop and let him play it some during our bonding and waiting periods. It has a tiger that gives you instructions in one of 48 languages if you don't understand something. One of the languages is Polish. I am also trying to learn some Polish with CDS but it's hard! I think kids brains are more flexible and they learn faster. LOL
Thanks again!
Lorraine

[yusen]

Jasiu,
Please thank your wife, for the phrases, They surely will be helpful, as my Polish is not getting any better,, I am having trouble with making complete sentences, right off the bat my children and I have something in common.
I was thinking about buying a Cd or tape that is Polish to English for the children to listen to with head-phones on the plane ride home.. It might be easier for them to learn English than it will be for me to learn Polish. I of course will have a head-set for the way to Poland, as well as for our Plane trip home..

[manatus]

I am hoping someone can help us getting some of the following phrases translated into polish. We are trying to send two cards a week but have found our mainly functional Polish (which worked great in person and for interacting with the girls) is seriously lacking for postcards and phone calls.

Below are some of the basic phrases we are trying to find with transliteration if possible for calls (my gesturing is much less effective on phone calls ). Any help on any of them at all would be very much appreciated.

1. We miss you very much.
2. You are such special girls and we love you very much.
3. We can’t wait until we can live together as a family.
4. We will come back to see you and bring you home to live with us as soon as we can.
5. We loved spending time in Poland with you.
6. We think about you every day.
7. Every night until we come back we will look up at the stars and say goodnight to you.
8. We hope you are enjoying your summer break.
9. It is warm here and we swim in the pool almost everyday.
10. All the cousins are very excited to meet you.
11. When you get here we can all go to......
12. When you get here we can (build sand castles, pick up sea shells, and watch for whales) at the beach.
13. Mommy rode the horses today. When you get here you can ride the horses too!
14. When you get here you can help take care of Blaze, Echo and the horses.
15. We have to wait until the court says we can come back and bring you to America.
16. Mommy finished sewing the curtains for your room.
17. Your room is ready for you.
18. If you like, when you get here you can do lots of different activities like (ballet, soccer, gymnastics, theater, choir, or girl scouts).
19. Daddy went fishing today and caught some big fish. You can go out in the boat with Daddy when you get here.
20. We miss getting to play..... with you.
21. We will call every Sunday night at 7:30pm, and send you letters every week.

Thanks! And for those following the saga ... still no 2nd court date scheduled.

[aurika]

Kama can probably make these sound prettier, as her Polish is more up to date than mine, but...

We miss you very much.
Tesknimy za Wami bardzo

You are such special girls and we love you very much.
Kind of an odd thing to say in Polish. Special is not used the same way there as it is here...
But you could say something like:
Jestescie bardzo dla nas Wazne I bardzo Was kochamy. (You are very important to us and ...)

We can’t wait until we can live together as a family.
Nie mozemy sie doczekac az bedziemy mieszkac razem jako rodzina.

We will come back to see you and bring you home to live with us as soon as we can.
Jak tylko bedziemy mogli, wrocimy po Was.
(As soon as we possibly can, we will come back for you... which implies "we will be taking you home with us")

We loved spending time in Poland with you.
(Saying loved in Polish like that is basically a nono... love is reserved for... well... Love with a capital L)
Bardzo mile spedzilismy z Wami czas w Polsce.
(This is a little formal, perhaps... basically means the time we spent with you in Poland was very pleasant)

We think about you every day.
Myslimy o Was kazdego dnia (every day) or
Myslimy o Was codziennie (daily)

Every night until we come back we will look up at the stars and say goodnight to you.
Kazdej nocy bez Was bedziemy patrzec na gwiazdy i przez nie mowic Wam dobranoc.
more like... every night without you we will look at the stars and through them say goodnight to you
(sounds contrived either way)

We hope you are enjoying your summer break.
Mamy nadzieje ze macie przyjemna przerwe letnia
or
Mamy nadzieje ze macie fajne wczasy (more colloquial)

It is warm here and we swim in the pool almost everyday.
Jest tutaj cieplo i plywamy w basenie prawie codziennie

All the cousins are very excited to meet you.
Wszyscy kuzyni nie moga sie doczekac kiedy przyjedziecie (actually more like can't wait until you arrive)

When you get here we can all go to......
Jak przyjedziecie to pojdziemy do...

When you get here we can (build sand castles, pick up sea shells, and watch for whales) at the beach.
Jak przyjedziecie bedziemy mogli bawic sie w piasku na plazy, szukac muszelek, i czekac na pojawienie sie wielorybow.

Mommy rode the horses today. When you get here you can ride the horses too!
Mama dzisiaj jezdzila na koniach. Jak przyjedziecie to tez bedziecie mogly jezdzic!

When you get here you can help take care of Blaze, Echo and the horses.
Jak przyjedziecie to pomozecie nam opiekowac sie Blaze, Echo, i konmi.

We have to wait until the court says we can come back and bring you to America.
Musimy czekac az sad powie ze mozemy wrocic i przywiesc Was do Stanow.

Mommy finished sewing the curtains for your room.
Mamam skonczyla szyc firanki do Waszego pokoju.
Your room is ready for you.
Wasz pokoi stoi gotowy dla Was.

If you like, when you get here you can do lots of different activities like (ballet, soccer, gymnastics, theater, choir, or girl scouts).
Jezeli chcecie, jak przyjedziecie bedziecie mogly uczestniczyc w wielu roznych zajeciach, tak jak naprzyklad w balecie, w pilce noznej, w gimnastyce, w teatrze, w chorze, lub w harcerstwie.

Daddy went fishing today and caught some big fish. You can go out in the boat with Daddy when you get here.
Tata dzisiaj pojechal lowic ryby i zlowil kilka duzych ryb. Bedziecie mogly isc na ryby z Tata w jego lodce.

We miss getting to play..... with you.
Smutno nam ze nie mozemy sie z Wami bawic.

We will call every Sunday night at 7:30pm, and send you letters every week.
Bedziemy dzwonic w kazda niedziele o 19:30 i bedziemy wysylac listy kazdego tygodnia.


Hope that at least gets you started...
I am not sure if this is supposed to be one contiguous letter (in which case I would change a few things) or if you are trying to get various phrases ready for multiple letters...?

[Mom2_4]

In our pigeon Polish conversation with our oldest adoptee (then just 7 years old) within a few days of us meeting him in Poland, we were trying to tell him that we "kocham'ed" certain foods.


He rolled his eyes a little , and then patiently explained to us that the correct word for expressing fondness for a certain food was was "lubie".

[manatus]

Aurika - I can't thank you enough for the translation AND help with more correct phrasing!! We are going to be sending postcards about twice a week and just wanted some basic phrases we could mix and match for each of the three girls. In fact I am sending out three this morning thanks to your help .

We got plenty of giggles at some of our pronunciation. Our oldest loved sitting down with the polish/english dictionary with us and having us try to say the polish and her the english. She was much much better than we were!

Mom_2_4 - We and some of the same at first with the laughing and eye-rolling. Funny my DH and I thought our polish was getting better by the end of the trip but now I am wondering now if the girls had just gotten better at understanding our poor pronunciation and grammar.

[Kama]

Good job Aurika! Sorry I have not responded, I am usually more than happy to help with translations but I am teaching this summer and had to prepare my first lectures the past few days.