Saturday, March 23, 2013

Quotes of Polish satirist - Władysław Grzeszczyk



I’m in a very translating mood lately, and because of that there’s another literature related post. I came across this extremely interesting Polish satirist couple days ago and decided to share some of his aphorisms with you. Maybe some of you will like them as much as I did :) Some of them are really funny, but the majority is a bit bitter, pessimistic even. After reading so many Mr Grzeszczyk’s quotes this past few hours, I can’t help but feel that I know him a little bit as a person - I wonder how close to the truth am I with my assumptions.. He must be someone really interesting, that’s for sure :)


Władysław Grzeszczyk - Parada paradoksów (The parade of paradoxes)

Sen - to rozplątywanie w zupełnej ciemności tego, co zostało poplątane w pełnym świetle.
(To dream – is to untangle in the total darkness things that were tangled in the daylight. )

Kobieta zawsze woli jednego, stałego mężczyznę. Oczywiście nie musi to być stale ten sam facet.
(A woman always prefers one, stable man. Of course it doesn’t have to be the same guy all the time.)

Szczęście - to nadzieja przed faktem; nieszczęście - to fakt po nadziei.
(Happiness – it’s the hope before an event; unhappiness – it’s the event after the hope.)

Najkrótsza droga wiedzie na manowce; najdłuższa - z powrotem.
(The shortest path leads astray; the longest – back.)

Planowanie tym różni się od marzenia, czym marsz od tańca.
(Planning differs from dreaming the same way march differs from dancing.)

Na początku jest chaos. A po nim - koniec.
(At the beginning there’s chaos. And after that – the end.)

Pies na łańcuchu nie błądzi, ale i nigdzie nie trafia.
(Chained dog doesn’t stray, but it also never gets anywhere.)

Jedyną wadą nieśmiertelności jest to, że przychodzi ona dopiero po śmierci.
(The only flaw of immortality is that it comes after death.)

Każda droga ma dwa kierunki. Z wyjątkiem drogi na cmentarz.
(Each path has two directions. Except the path leading to the cemetery.)

Mądra żona jest szóstym zmysłem męża, głupia - usiłuje być wszystkimi.
(Wise wife is the husband’s sixth sense, a stupid one tries to be all of them.)

W życiu najpierw na wszystko jest jeszcze za wcześnie, a później - po prostu - jest już zwykle na wszystko za późno.
(Firstly in this life it’s too soon for most of things, and then – just like that – usually it’s too late. )

Człowiek jest kroplą w morzu życia - i tylko tym się różni od kropli wody, że zdaje sobie z tego sprawę.
(Man is a drop in the ocean of life – and the only thing that differs him from that drop is that he realize it.)

Dogmatyczny daltonista przede wszystkim wierzy w kolor.
(Dogmatic daltonist above all believes in colour.)

Niektórych najlepiej poznaje się wtedy, gdy odchodzą. A jeszcze lepiej, gdy grożą powrotem.
(You get to know some people best when they’re leaving. And even better, when they’re threating to come back.)

Kto hoduje kilka róż, kocha piękno; kto hoduje tysiące - kocha forsę.
(Who grows couple of roses, loves beauty; who grows thousands of them – loves money.)



What do you think about those quotes? Quite witty, aren’t they? ;)

Magdalena

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Polish poem "Ze złości" - Władysław Broniewski

It’s me again! I have a very bittersweet poem for you today. Broniewski is a popular poet in my country, although the poem itself isn’t very well-known. I’m aware that it sounds a lot better in Polish, I’m not going to pretend that my translation is very good. I’m not a real, professional translator, so I focused on the literal meaning – not making the lines rhyme too. I wonder if it’s good enough :) Feel free to point out my mistakes (grammar?), I will surely appreciate it.

Once again, my goal was to share with you a little bit of my favourite parts of Polish culture, and maybe show you how nice and interesting our language can be. I assumed some of you might find the pronunciation useful, so Iza recorded it for you. But now we faced a little problem – we have no idea is it possible to add a sound file here, we’re still very new in this blogging world ;) So I’ll just call a defeat for now and show you what I’ve got so far. If someone out there happens to be interested in the pronunciation, I’ll do my best to add it later.


Broniewski Władysław
Ze złości                                                           Out of the anger

Kochałbym cię (psiakrew, cholera!),            I would love you (shit, dammit!),
 gdyby nie ta niepewność,                            if there wasn’t this uncertainty,
 gdyby nie to, że serce zżera                         if not the fact that my heart is being eaten
 złość, tęsknota i rzewność.                           by anger, longing and soppiness.

Byłbym wierny jak ten pies Burek,               I would be faithful like the dog Lassie,
 chętnie sypiałbym na słomiance,                  I’d gladly sleep on the mat,
 ale ty masz taką naturę,                              but you have such personality
 że nie życzę żadnej kochance.                     that I wouldn’t wish any lover.

Kochałbym cię (sto tysięcy diabłów!),        I would love you (bloody hell!),
 kochałbym (niech nagła krew zaleje!),        I’d love (goddammit!),
 ale na mnie coś takiego spadło,                  but something has crushed me,
 że już nie wiem, co się ze mną dzieje:         and I don’t know what’s happening to me:

z fotografią, jak kto głupi, się witam,            I greet a photograph - like a fool,
 z fotografią (psiakrew!) się liczę,                with a photograph (shit!) I reckon with,
 pójdę spać i nie zasnę przed świtem,          I go to sleep and don’t doze off
 póki z grzechów się jej nie wyliczę,            until I confess it my sins,

a te grzechy (psiakrew!) malutkie,               and (shit!) those sins are really small,
 więc (cholera!) złości się grzesznik:             so the sinner is annoyed (dammit!):
 że na przykład, wczoraj piłem wódkę         that I, for instance, was drinking yesterday
 lub że pani Iks - niekoniecznie.                   or that Miss X – not necessarily.

Cóż mi z tego (psiakrew!), żem wierny,       So what (dammit!) that I’m faithful,
 taki, co to "ślady po stopach"?                  one that loves even your footmarks?
 Moja miła - minął październik,                   My dear - October has passed,
 moja miła (psiakrew!), mija listopad.         My dear (shit!), November is passing.

Moja miła, całe życie mija...                        My dear, whole life is passing…
 Miła! Miła! - powtarzam ze szlochem.        Dear! Dear! – I repeat while sobbing.
 To mi życie daje, to zabija,                         What gives me live, and what kills me,
 że ja ciągle (psiakrew!) ciebie kocham.       is that I (dammit!) still love you.


Let me know what you think, should we do this more often? Is there anyone interested in Polish poems/ quotes/ songs? :)

Magdalena

Thursday, March 14, 2013

"Robcusie" ;)


Hello! Today I would like to share with you one of huge parts of my life. I love music in every form – dancing, singing, playing or listening! When I was about 7 year old I fell in love in my regional culture. This two loves in my life caused that I started dancing in a small regional group for kids in my town named “Robcusie”.  Now I am member of “Robcanie”  taking part as an older person. We are singing and dancing and some of us are playing on violin or accordion. We’re always dressed in special clothes – women has long skirts usually in flours motif, white laced shirt and corset. Man has trousers with special motif, white shirt and a belt, they sometimes has some kind of jacket (in polish named “cucha”) and hat on their heads. We have special shoes – made out of leather and named “kierpce”.  We represent a culture of people who lives in our mountains – highlanders – in Polish language we call them “górale” ;)


I won’t write here a history of this group or describe our success in Poland and European, because it isn’t  the most important thing I my opinion. For me the most significant is taking part in life of my town and happiness on a people’s faces when they are watching us! I am the happiest person on Earth when I see that people enjoy our performance!

The second important thing in doing what I am doing in this group is fact that when I am wearing our special  suit I become a different person… I feel that I can show something to others and I know that it is valuable. I belive, that we must know something about area where we live because this culture create us as a person! I would like to show you one of our performance;)
 
 
I will be happy if you tell me what do you think about this? Do you enjoy it or you prefer something else? If someone will be interested in knowing more about our group or culture which me present write to me, I write something more ;)

My e-mail address is :    krzak2@onet.pl

Iza

Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Eye of the Sea and the Black Lake



If you happen to be in the southern Poland (Lesser Poland Voivodeship, somewhere near Zakopane to be exact), you love mountains as much as I do and you have at least half day off, there’s a place you definitely need to see. It’s called The Eye of the Sea (Morskie Oko) and it’s the largest lake in the Tatra Mountains.
From the nearest parking lot (and the beginning of the National Park) the walk here should take you about 2 hours. Of course you could also take horse-drawn cart that would take you almost to the lake, but I don’t really see the point in doing so. The path isn’t very demanding, and you can enjoy the beauty of the nature more going by foot. And you’ll save a lot of money too ;)


Morskie Oko is one of the most popular destinations in the Tatra Mountains, sometimes the area close to the shelter is a bit overcrowded for my taste (but you can order hot chocolate here, so...). If you decide to encircle the lake not only will you find much more secluded locations, but also some even more breathtaking views than at the entrance of the valley.




If you’re confident with your condition I recommend climbing to the Black Lake too. The beginning of the path to this place is located about half way of encircling the Eye of the Sea (in the trees on the left side of two photos above), and it’s rather abrupt. You should be able to reach the lake in about half an hour. To me it was really exhausting, I’m not in a good shape at all :p But the view from above.. Breathtaking.
This smaller lake is located right below the highest peak in the Polish Tatras called Rysy, and is called Black because for most of the time sun isn’t able to shine at it surface and often we can’t see how clear the water actually is.



Photos simply do not do this place justice.  When I was there for the first time I was mesmerized, atmosphere of this area really touches your soul :)
And also, as a bonus, here’s a photo of a really small lake that I noticed close to the trail. It probably doesn’t even have a name, such a shame. It’s magical.


Do you feel encouraged to pay a visit? ;)
Magdalena

Friday, March 8, 2013

"Be a women" A. Majewska


Hello! If you know today is the Women’s Day!!! Women almost  all over the world are getting flours, chocolate boxes, jewellery or another beautiful things ;P

But in this day the most important aren’t presents but the fact that men remember about us! Maybe this Day is overrated but I like it after all…

 I tried to translate for you a famous song about us – about women! This song concatenate our normal life and life every women sometimes dreams about – a life like a princess, actress or famous person.

Are You dreaming about this things?

Would You like to be treated like a princess?

I think that this day is a good opportunity to treat women in special way;)

But we mustn’t forget about a men;P  The Men’s Day is 10 March, so women! Try to be nice to them too!!!
 
 

“Być kobietą”  
„Be a women”
Alicja Majewska

Być kobietą, być kobietą - marzę ciągle będąc dzieckiem,   
być kobietą, bo kobiety są występne i zdradzieckie...
Być kobietą, być kobietą - oszukiwać, dręczyć, zdradzać
nawet, gdyby komuś miało to przeszkadzać.

Be a women, be a women – I am dreaming constantly while still  being a child,
Be a women, because woman are cunning and traitorous…
Be a women, be a women – cheating, tormenting, betraying
Even if somebody would have something against
it.

Mieć z pół kilo biżuterii, kapelusze takie duże
i od stałych wielbicieli wciąż dostawać listy, róże.
Na bankietach, wernisażach pokazywać się co dzień...
Być kobietą - ta tęsknota się niekiedy budzi we mnie.

Have half kilo of jewellery, hats so big
And from constant admirers, still be getting letters, roses.
Showing up on the banquets, varnishing days everyday …
Be a women – this longing sometimes is waking inside me.

Ekscentryczną być kobietą - przyjaciółki niech nie milkną,
czas niech płynie w rytmie walca, dzień niech jedną będzie chwilką.
Jakaś rola w głównym filmie, jakiś romans niebanalny...
Być kobietą w dobrym stylu, Boże - daj mi...

Be an eccentric women – may the friend never stop talking,
May the time go in the rhythm of waltz, may the day be a one moment.
Some role in main movie, some original romance …
Be a women in a good style, please God - let me…


Gdzieś wyjeżdżać niespodzianie, coś porzucać bezpowrotnie,
łamać serca twardym panom, pewną siebie być okropnie...
Może muzą dla poetów, adresatką wielkich wzruszeń?
Być kobietą w każdym calu kiedyś przecież zostać muszę!

Going somewhere unexpectedly, abandon something irretrievably,
break strong man’s hearts, be very self confident…
Maybe a muse to poets, addressee of big emotions?
Someday I must become a women in every inch!


Być kobietą, być kobietą - marzę ciągle będąc dzieckiem,
być kobietą, bo kobiety są występne i zdradzieckie...
Być kobietą, być kobietą - oszukiwać, dręczyć, zdradzać
nawet, gdyby komuś miało to przeszkadzać.

Be a women, be a women – I am dreaming constantly  while being a child,
be a women, because woman are cunning and traitorous…
Be a women, be a women – cheating, tormenting, betraying
Even if somebody would have something against it.


Ach, kobietą być nareszcie, a najczęściej o tym marzę,
kiedy piorę ci koszule albo... naleśniki smażę...

Be a women at long last and always dreaming about it
When i am washing  your shirt… or when I am flying you a pancakes…


Szaga kara karira rira czaga,kara kara karira
szaga kara karira rira czaga,kara kara karira
szaga kara karira rira czaga,kara, kara karira
szaga kara karira rira czaga o!

This part of song haven’t got any meaning;-P

I hope that you like this song so much I like it!!!

Iza