Day 48: The Illinois Number Plate
In the garage of his house in Przemyśl, Henryk (B), a retired builder, is asked by his granddaughter Tosia (A) about an old American number plate hanging on the wall.
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
Dziadku, a skąd masz tę tablicę z napisem „Illinois”? Wisi w garażu, odkąd pamiętam.
Grandpa, where did you get this plate that says "Illinois"? It's been hanging in the garage for as long as I can remember.
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B
Z naszego pierwszego auta w Chicago. Wyjechaliśmy tam we troje: babcia, ja i twoja mama, wtedy dwuletnia.
It's off our first car in Chicago. The three of us went there: Grandma, me and your mum, who was two at the time.
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A
Mama mieszkała w Ameryce? Przecież ona po angielsku umie powiedzieć tylko „hello” i „sorry”!
Mum lived in America? But the only things she can say in English are "hello" and "sorry"!
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B
Wtedy mówiła lepiej po angielsku niż po polsku. Na pierogi mówiła „dumplings”.
Back then her English was better than her Polish. She called pierogi "dumplings".
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A
I przez to wróciliście? Przez jakieś pierogi?
And that's why you came back? Because of some pierogi?
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B
Między innymi. Pracować mogliśmy gdziekolwiek, ale oboje z babcią nie chcieliśmy, żeby córka zapomniała języka ojczystego.
Among other things. We could have worked anywhere, but neither Grandma nor I wanted our daughter to forget her mother tongue.
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A
No to wyszło aż za dobrze. Mama teraz nawet frytek po angielsku nie zamówi!
Well, that worked all too well. Now Mum can't even order chips in English!
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