Day 18: Borrowed from Mickiewicz
In their flat in Łowicz, Stanisław (A) tries out on his wife Jadwiga (B) the poem he means to read on Saturday, when the mayor presents them with medals for fifty years of marriage.
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
Jadziu, posłuchaj wiersza, który przeczytam w sobotę, jak burmistrz przypnie nam medale.
Jadzia, listen to the poem I'm going to read on Saturday, when the mayor pins our medals on.
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B
Czytaj, Stasiu, tylko nie tak, jakbyś czytał protokół z zebrania wspólnoty.
Go on, Staś, read it, only not as if you were reading out the minutes of a residents' meeting.
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A
„Gdy cię nie widzę, nie wzdycham, nie płaczę, nie tracę zmysłów, kiedy cię oglądam”. Mocne, co?
'When I don't see you, I don't sigh or weep, nor lose my senses when I look at you.' Strong stuff, eh?
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B
„Jednakże gdy cię długo nie obaczę, czegoś mi braknie, kogoś widzieć żądam”. Recytować dalej, panie Adamie?
'Yet when I haven't seen you for a long while, I feel something missing, I long to see someone.' Shall I recite the rest, Mr Mickiewicz?
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A
No dobrze, trochę się Mickiewiczem podparłem. Ale on od stu siedemdziesięciu lat nie żyje, więc mnie nie pozwie.
All right, I leaned on Mickiewicz a little. But he's been dead for a hundred and seventy years, so he won't sue me.
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B
Podparłeś się nim już w siedemdziesiątym piątym, na zabawie w remizie. Tylko wtedy, o ile pamiętam, przysięgałeś, że to twój wiersz.
You leaned on him once before, in '75, at the dance in the fire station hall. Only back then, as far as I remember, you swore it was your own poem.
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A
Jak to? Wiesz od pół wieku, że to Mickiewicz, i nie pisnęłaś ani słówka?
What? You've known it was Mickiewicz for half a century and never breathed a word?
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B
Znalazłszy ten wiersz nazajutrz w podręczniku siostry, uznałam, że chłopak, który dla dziewczyny okrada wieszcza, ma przynajmniej gust.
Having found that poem in my sister's school textbook the next day, I decided that a boy who robs the national bard for a girl at least has taste.
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A
A zwrotkę o twoich warkoczach, tę na samym końcu, napisałem naprawdę sam, słowo harcerza!
But the verse about your plaits, the one right at the end, I really did write myself, scout's honour!
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B
Wiem, bo jako jedyna się nie rymowała. I właśnie ją przeczytaj w sobotę: Mickiewicz swoje oklaski już zebrał.
I know, because it was the only one that didn't rhyme. And that's the one to read on Saturday: Mickiewicz has had his applause.
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