Day 129: Verily, Said the Brigand
At a small game studio in Myślenice, Florian (A), a sound designer from Szaflary who speaks the Podhale dialect, reads the lines that his colleague Bianka (B), the narrative designer, has written for Janosik, the legendary highland brigand who is the hero of their new game.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Polish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Polish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Bianka, coś ty za zbójnika napisała? „Zaiste, waćpanie, bogatym zabieram, albowiem biednym dać trzeba”. Dyć on godo jak ksiądz na kazaniu.
Bianka, what kind of brigand have you written? 'Verily, good sir, from the rich I take, for unto the poor one must give.' Why, he talks like a priest giving a sermon.
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B
Gra dzieje się na początku osiemnastego wieku, więc zarówno szlachta, jak i zbójnicy muszą brzmieć staropolsko. Gracze tego oczekują.
The game's set at the start of the eighteenth century, so the nobles and the brigands alike have to sound like the Polish of old. Players expect it.
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A
Moze i staropolsko, ale zbójnik nie prawi kazań, ino godo krótko: „Hej, wy tam, sakiewki na stół, bo my som zbójnicy, nie zebracy”.
Old-fashioned, maybe, but a brigand doesn't preach, he keeps it short: 'Hey, you lot, purses on the table, we're brigands, not beggars.'
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B
Świetne! Tylko że historyczny Janosik urodził się w Terchowej, na Słowacji, zatem nie mówił ani po staropolsku, ani po góralsku.
Great! Only the historical Janosik was born in Terchová, in Slovakia, so he spoke neither old Polish nor the highland dialect.
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A
Słowak, nie Słowak, Tatry som jedne i po obu stronach śpiewajom o nim piosnki. Ino nigdzie nie śpiewajom „zaiste”.
Slovak or not, the Tatras are one range, and they sing songs about him on both sides. Only nowhere do they sing 'verily'.
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B
No dobrze, wobec tego wyrzucam „zaiste” i „albowiem”. Powtórz tę kwestię z sakiewkami, powoli, jak powiedziałby ją twój dziadek.
All right, in that case I'm cutting 'verily' and 'for'. Say that line with the purses again, slowly, the way your grandad would say it.
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A
„Hej, wy tam, sakiewki na stół, bo my som zbójnicy, nie zebracy, a kto sie stawio, tego ciupaga pogłasce”. Tak by pedzioł dziadek.
'Hey, you lot, purses on the table, we're brigands, not beggars, and whoever puts up a fight gets a pat from my ciupaga, my highland axe.' That's how Grandad would say it.
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B
Idealnie, mam to. Nagrywam cię od pierwszego zdania i ten plik idzie prosto do gry jako głos Janosika.
Perfect, got it. I've been recording you since your first sentence, and this file's going straight into the game as Janosik's voice.
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A
Hej, ze mnie ani aktor, ani zbójnik, ino dźwiękowiec. Kie mama usłysy, jak strase ludzi ciupagom, to mnie z domu wygoni.
Hey, I'm neither an actor nor a brigand, just a sound guy. When Mum hears me threatening people with a ciupaga, she'll throw me out of the house.
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B
Za późno, zbójniku. Zaiste, bogatemu w gwarę zabrałam, a biednym graczom oddam, jak przystało na Janosika.
Too late, brigand. Verily, from one rich in dialect I have taken, and to the poor players I shall give, as befits Janosik.
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A
To jo tyz bede jak Janosik i wezme swoje: za kazde słowo po złotówce, a za kazde „hej” podwójnie.
Then I'll be like Janosik too and take what's mine: a złoty for every word, and double for every 'hej'.
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