Day 74: Sparrows in Little Caps
In the kitchen of their flat in Puławy, Anita (A) reads out the reviews of a paper by her husband Jarek (B), a climatologist, which he based on the birds their daughter Lilka (C), ten, counted all winter at the feeder on their balcony.
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
Jarku, przyszły recenzje. Skoro od rana chodzisz wokół laptopa jak kot koło gorącej kaszy, przeczytam je na głos: pierwszy recenzent jest zachwycony.
Jarek, the reviews are in. Since you've been circling the laptop all morning like a cat round a bowl of hot porridge, I'll read them out: the first reviewer is delighted.
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B
Pierwszy zawsze jest zachwycony. To cisza przed burzą, a na burzach akurat się znam. Czytaj drugiego, zanim stchórzę.
The first one's always delighted. It's the calm before the storm, and storms happen to be my field. Read the second one before I lose my nerve.
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A
„Dane z karmnika zebrano starannie, jednak autor najwyraźniej nie odróżnia wróbla od mazurka. Należałoby zweryfikować całą tabelę”.
'The feeder data were collected with care, but the author evidently cannot tell a house sparrow from a mazurek, the tree sparrow. The entire table ought to be checked.'
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C
Mazurek? Jak ciasto na Wielkanoc? Tato, przy niektórych pisałam „wróbel w czapeczce”, a ty wrzuciłeś wszystkie do jednej rubryki!
A mazurek? Like the Easter cake? Dad, I wrote 'sparrow in a little cap' next to some of them, and you lumped them all into one column!
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B
Myślałem, że ta czapeczka to taka twoja poezja! Jestem klimatologiem, a nie ornitologiem: dla mnie wróbel to wróbel.
I thought the little cap was just you being poetic! I'm a climatologist, not an ornithologist: to me, a sparrow's a sparrow.
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A
Czyli Lilka wyłapała różnicę pół roku przed recenzentem, a ty to zbagatelizowałeś. Wypadałoby ją przeprosić, panie doktorze.
So Lilka spotted the difference six months before the reviewer did, and you brushed it off. I think an apology is in order, Doctor.
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C
Przeprosiny to za mało. Jak to mówi pan recenzent, należałoby mnie dopisać do artykułu, bo to ja całą zimę ogarniałam te wróble.
An apology's not enough. To quote Mr Reviewer, I ought to be added to the paper, because I'm the one who kept track of those sparrows all winter.
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B
Współautorka z czwartej klasy? Nie godzi się, kochanie. Pomocników wymienia się w podziękowaniach, drobnym drukiem na końcu.
A co-author from Year Four? That's not the done thing, sweetheart. Helpers get a mention in the acknowledgements, in small print at the end.
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C
Drobnym drukiem? Masakra. Mamo, powiedz mu coś, bo ja z nim nie mogę.
Small print? That's brutal. Mum, say something to him, I can't deal with him.
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A
Przykro mi, Jarku, ale według zasad, które sam mi tłumaczyłeś, kto zbiera dane i wyłapuje błędy, ten jest współautorem.
Sorry, Jarek, but by the rules you explained to me yourself, whoever collects the data and catches the mistakes is a co-author.
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B
No dobrze, druga autorka. Ale odpowiedź dla recenzenta piszesz sama, grzecznie i bez żadnych „sztosów”.
Oh, all right, second author. But you're writing the reply to the reviewer yourself, politely, and without a single 'epic'.
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C
Spoko. „Szanowny Panie Recenzencie, ma Pan rację: tata nie odróżnia wróbla od mazurka. Pozdrawiam, Lilka z 4b”.
No worries. 'Dear Mr Reviewer, you're right: my dad can't tell a sparrow from a mazurek. Best wishes, Lilka, 4B.'
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