Learn how to talk about your profession
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello everyone, and welcome back to PolishPod101.com. This is the Upper Beginner series, Season 1, Lesson 3: Talking About Your Job in Polish. I’m Brandon. |
| Marzena: And I’m Marzena. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about different professions. |
| Marzena: This conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Brandon: It’s between Tom and Jane. |
| Marzena: Since the speakers are friends, they’ll be using informal Polish. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Tom: Co robią Twoi rodzice? |
| Jane: Mój tata pracuje jako mechanik samochodowy. |
| Tom: A mama? |
| Jane: Mama jest kucharką. |
| Tom: To na pewno masz dobre jedzenie w domu. |
| Jane: Dokładnie. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Tom: Co robią Twoi rodzice? |
| Jane: Mój tata pracuje jako mechanik samochodowy. |
| Tom: A mama? |
| Jane: Mama jest kucharką. |
| Tom: To na pewno masz dobre jedzenie w domu. |
| Jane: Dokładnie. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Tom: Co robią Twoi rodzice? |
| Brandon: What do your parents do? |
| Jane: Mój tata pracuje jako mechanik samochodowy. |
| Brandon: My dad works as a car mechanic. |
| Tom: A mama? |
| Brandon: And mom? |
| Jane: Mama jest kucharką. |
| Brandon: Mom is a cook. |
| Tom: To na pewno masz dobre jedzenie w domu. |
| Brandon: So you must get good food at home. |
| Jane: Dokładnie. |
| Brandon: Exactly. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: The topic of this lesson’s dialogue is different careers or professions. Can you tell us a little about working in Poland, Marzena? |
| Marzena: Sure. In Poland, the majority of the workforce works in the services sector, and about 30 percent is in industry. |
| Brandon: Is agriculture popular in Poland? |
| Marzena: Yes, and its popularity is still growing. About sixteen percent of the workforce are in agriculture. |
| Brandon: What about unemployment? |
| Marzena: It’s rather high – in 2012 and 2013, it was almost 14 percent. One problem is that many young people are moving away from Poland in search of better working conditions and wages. Also, many people are engaged in praca na czarno, which literally means “work on black.” |
| Brandon: What is that? |
| Marzena: It means they are working under the table; they don’t have a contract with their employer and they don’t pay income tax. Probably about thirty to forty percent of Poles work like that. |
| Brandon: That seems like it’s pretty bad for the Polish economy. |
| Marzena: Yeah, I agree. |
| Brandon: Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is: |
| Joanna: rodzic [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: parent |
| Joanna: rodzic [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: rodzic [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Joanna: tata [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: dad |
| Joanna: tata [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: tata [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Joanna: mechanik [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: mechanic |
| Joanna: mechanik [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: mechanik [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Joanna: mama [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: mother (semi-formal), mom |
| Joanna: mama [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: mama [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Joanna: zarabiać [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to earn |
| Joanna: zarabiać [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: zarabiać [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Joanna: kucharka [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: cook |
| Joanna: kucharka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: kucharka [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Joanna: na pewno [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: for sure |
| Joanna: na pewno [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: na pewno [natural native speed] |
| : And Last: |
| Joanna: jedzenie [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: food |
| Joanna: jedzenie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna: jedzenie [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. what’s our first word? |
| Marzena: Jedzenie. |
| Brandon: Meaning “food.” |
| Marzena: It can also mean “eating” in English. |
| Brandon: Can you tell us the difference between those two meanings in some sample sentences? |
| Marzena: Of course. For example, Moja lodówka jest pełna jedzenia. |
| Brandon: “My fridge is full of food.” |
| Marzena: Here’s one with the second meaning: Jedzenie przed spaniem jest niezdrowe. |
| Brandon: “Eating before sleeping is unhealthy.” |
| Marzena: In Polish, there’s one more way to say “food” and it’s żarcie. It’s a popular colloquial word, so you can only use it when you’re talking to friends. |
| Brandon: Okay, what’s the next word? |
| Marzena: Kucharka. |
| Brandon: “Female cook.” |
| Marzena: Yes, this word describes a female whose job is cooking. If a man is doing this job, we’ll call him kucharz. There’s an interesting saying that uses the noun kucharka. |
| Brandon: What’s that? |
| Marzena: Gdzie kucharek sześć, tam nie ma co jeść. |
| Brandon: Literally meaning, “Where six cooks are, there’s nothing to eat.” |
| Marzena: We often use it to talk about a situation in which too many people are assigned to the same task. Very often you’ll find that the more people, the more difficult or even impossible the task becomes. And that’s when we use this saying. |
| Brandon: So it’s like the English saying, “Too many cooks in the kitchen.” |
| Marzena: Exactly! |
| Brandon: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your profession. |
| Marzena: There are quite a few ways of telling others about your profession or the job you’re doing. The simplest is by using the verb być. |
| Brandon: Meaning “to be.” |
| Marzena: Then you can simply say, Jestem lekarzem. |
| Brandon: “I’m a doctor.” |
| Marzena: Or, Moja mama jest kucharką. |
| Brandon: “My mom is a cook.” |
| Marzena: You can also use the verb pracować. |
| Brandon: Which means “to work.” |
| Marzena: We heard such a sentence in the dialogue: Mój tata pracuje jako mechanik samochodowy. |
| Brandon: “My dad works as a car mechanic.” |
| Marzena: Here, adding the word jako, or “as,” is very important. If you don’t, then the sentence won’t make sense. |
| Brandon: Another way of saying your profession is... |
| Marzena: ...by using the phrase z zawodu. |
| Brandon: Literally this means, “by profession.” |
| Marzena: For example, Z zawodu jestem księgowym. |
| Brandon: “I’m an accountant by profession.” |
| Marzena: Or, Z zawodu jestem historykiem, ale pracuję jako sprzedawca. |
| Brandon: “I’m a historian by profession, but I work as a sales assistant.” |
| Marzena: Can you see the difference between these two phrases? If you use the phrase z zawodu, it refers to something you are educated to do. On the other hand, using the verb pracować doesn’t indicate that you were educated in that field. |
| Brandon: Here are a few ways to ask about a person’s profession. |
| Marzena: The first makes use of the verb zajmować się. So if we want to ask a question, it sounds like this, Czym się zajmujesz? |
| Brandon: In English, that’s “What do you do?” |
| Marzena: Another way to ask is, Kim jesteś z zawodu? |
| Brandon: Literally, this is “Who are you by profession?” |
| Marzena: And finally, the simplest way, Gdzie pracujesz? |
| Brandon: “Where do you work?”: In the lesson notes, you’ll find more details and more sample sentences. Don’t forget to check them out, listeners! |
Outro |
| Brandon: And that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, bye! |
| Marzena: We hope you enjoyed this lesson, and we’ll see you in the next one. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
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