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Yup Polish is actually quite regular in pronunciation, there are very few exceptions and only about a dozen rules to remember to be able to pronounce any word.
by ajuc 5y ago
Yup Polish is actually quite regular in pronunciation, there are very few exceptions and only about a dozen rules to remember to be able to pronounce any word.
The reputation comes from different conventions. In English letter+h is the escape code (gh, th, sh, ch) in Polish it's letter+z (rz,sz,cz,dz,dż,dź,dzi).
Especially vowels are much easier than in English. Each vowel in Polish maps to exactly one sound and vice versa.
> y - a vowel, I don't think the sound exists in english
it's the English short i like in bIt. As is the rule- Polish has a special letter for that sound and English has 2 sounds encoded the same way and you have to remember which is which :)
Another difference is that Polish j is English y. And English j is Polish dż (dżungla = jungle).
ń is the same sound as the funny n in Spanish word for Spain: España
> w is v [..] Always, no exceptions and never anything else
There actually are exceptions, but they are regular as well - w before last syllable is often devoiced to f. Levandofski. But even most Polish speakers don't know that it's the rule, they just speak that way without thinking :) And if you ignore it you are fine, it sounds unnatural but it's still correct. Like saying "I am" instead of "I'm" in English.
BTW I think all that additional complexity in English writing system is the reason you have to teach kids to read for so long. In Polish kids are usually taught reading in preschool or first class at school and they are expected to be able to correctly read any text after 6 months to 1 year.
There are some gotchas the other way around (hear something and write it) because that way the mapping isn't unique (there are sounds that have 2 ways to write them), but reading is easy.
- ithinkso 5y ago>There actually are exceptions, but they are regular as well - w before last syllable is often devoiced to f. Levandofski. But even most Polish speakers doesn't know that it's the rule, they just speak that way without thinking :) Well, true, but I don't think devoicing w in 'Levandofski' is correct, sounds a bit sloppy but hard to hear the distinction to be honest so maybe There is though a clear devoicing not only before the last syllable but before 'sz' as in 'wszystko'(all), 'wszędzie'(everywhere). Not sure if there's a surname that that applies to.
- mkotowski 5y agoWszystko and Lewandowski both are subjected to the same principle, namely: in Polish consonant clusters, including across a word boundary, the obstruents are all voiced or all voiceless.[1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_phonology#Voicing_and_devoicing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_phonology#Voicing_and_d...
- ithinkso 5y agoYup, thanks, that's the rule. I think I should change the 99.99% in my original post to 98%
- mkotowski 5y agoI wouldn't be so strict with it to be honest — it is still a rule that is internally consistent, and as far as I know it lacks any significant exceptions.
- ajuc 5y agoI wonder if there is a rule that lets people get away with "Lewandoski" :)
- andrewl-hn 5y agoRule of thumb of consonant clusters in mos languages: break the cluster. Don't try to pronounce "VSK" directly. Instead, split it and add different parts to syllables before and after: Le-van-dov-ski. Adding "ski" after the word is much easier than dealing with three consonants in a row
- mbel 5y agoThere is, it’s called „dialekt małopolski” ;)
- ithinkso 5y agoEj, co kurwa? Jeszcze mi powiesz że wychodzi się na dwór a nie na pole ;)