Learn how to introduce yourself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Betsey:Hello everyone and welcome to PolishPod101.com. This is Beginner series, season 1, lesson 2, Easy Self-Introductions in Polish, Part Two. I’m Betsey. |
| Joanna:And I’m Joanna. |
| Betsey:In this lesson you’ll learn how to introduce yourself in a formal situation. |
| Joanna:This conversation takes place at the office. |
| Betsey:The conversation is between Ewa and Jan |
| Joanna:They are not friends and they’re meeting for the first time, so they’ll be using formal Polish. |
| Betsey:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Ewa:Dzień dobry. |
| Jan:Dzień dobry. |
| Ewa:Jak się pan nazywa? |
| Jan:Nazywam się Jan Kowalski. A pani? |
| Ewa:Nazywam się Ewa Nowak. |
| Jan:Jak się pani dziś ma? |
| Ewa:Dobrze, dziękuję. |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ewa:Dzień dobry. |
| Jan:Dzień dobry. |
| Ewa:Jak się pan nazywa? |
| Jan:Nazywam się Jan Kowalski. A pani? |
| Ewa:Nazywam się Ewa Nowak. |
| Jan:Jak się pani dziś ma? |
| Ewa:Dobrze, dziękuję. |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ewa:Dzień dobry. |
| :Good morning. |
| Jan:Dzień dobry. |
| :Good morning. |
| Ewa:Jak się pan nazywa? |
| :What is your name, sir? |
| Jan:Nazywam się Jan Kowalski. A pani? |
| :My name is Jan Kowalski. And you, ma'am? |
| Ewa:Nazywam się Ewa Nowak. |
| :My name is Ewa Nowak. |
| Jan:Jak się pani dziś ma? |
| :How are you today, ma’am? |
| Ewa:Dobrze, dziękuję. |
| :I’m fine, thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Betsey:Do Poles use any gestures while greeting each other? |
| Joanna:Yes, of course! We’re very friendly, which sometimes may scare foreigners away. |
| Betsey:Let’s stick to formal situations, what do you do then? |
| Joanna:Most common will definitely be a handshake, between both men and women. If you ever do it, you should remember to make it quite firm, because if your grip is too loose it might not make a good impression. Also we have a saying that when this happens it feels like having a dead fish in your hand! |
| Betsey:So as long as your hand doesn’t feel like a dead fish you’re going to be ok? |
| Joanna:Exactly! |
| Betsey:Ok, are there any other forms of greetings? |
| Joanna:Yes, if we are talking about a formal situation, then some men kiss a woman’s hand, but I must admit that it’s popular only among the older generation. |
| Betsey:How about informal gestures? |
| Joanna:If it’s the first meeting then definitely a handshake. |
| Betsey:But not dead fish-like. |
| Joanna:YES! But if we meet up with friends, we usually kiss eachothers’ cheeks, or hug lightly, and men also do that, but it’s a different kind of hug than the one among girls. |
| Betsey:Ok, now we’ve learned all about how to greet and what gestures to use while we’re in Poland. Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| :Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| :The first word we shall see is: |
| :dzień [natural native speed] |
| :day |
| :dzień [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :dzień [natural native speed] |
| :Next: |
| :pan [natural native speed] |
| :sir, mr. |
| :pan [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :pan [natural native speed] |
| :Next: |
| :pani [natural native speed] |
| :ma’am, ms. mrs |
| :pani [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :pani [natural native speed] |
| :Next: |
| :dzisiaj [natural native speed] |
| :today |
| :dzisiaj [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :dzisiaj [natural native speed] |
| :Next: |
| :dobry [natural native speed] |
| :good |
| :dobry [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :dobry [natural native speed] |
| :Next: |
| :jak [natural native speed] |
| :how |
| :jak [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :jak [natural native speed] |
| :Next: |
| :nazywać się [natural native speed] |
| :to be called |
| :nazywać się [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :nazywać się [natural native speed] |
| :And Last: |
| :świetnie [natural native speed] |
| :great |
| :świetnie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| :świetnie [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Betsey:Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first one we’ll look at is.... |
| Joanna:‘dzień dobry’ |
| Betsey:“good morning” |
| Joanna:‘dzień dobry’ is an extremely useful greeting which can be used throughout the whole day |
| Betsey:Does that mean there’s no separate greetings for morning, afternoon and evening? |
| Joanna:Well, almost. In the Polish language we don’t really distinguish the morning and afternoon when greeting each other, we just say ‘dzień dobry’ – it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is. |
| Betsey:Again our listeners probably feel lucky, since they can learn only one expression and use it any time |
| Joanna:Yes, but there’s one more option when it comes to greeting someone in the evening. |
| Betsey:So English “good evening” will be... |
| Joanna:‘dobry wieczór’ |
| Betsey:Does it have the same meaning as English? |
| Joanna:Yes, exactly the same. ‘dobry’ means “good” and ‘wieczór’ means “evening” |
| Betsey:Let’s hear that again |
| Joanna:‘dobry wieczór’ |
| Betsey:How about saying Goodbyes? I bet the listeners are wondering now if it’s as easy as greetings |
| Joanna:One option for saying Goodbye is ‘do widzenia’, which stands for English.. |
| Betsey:“Goodbye” |
| Joanna:The other option is one you can use when you know that you will see the person you’re saying Goodbye to again in the near future. For example, when you’ve already set the time of the next meeting. |
| Betsey:Ok, and what’s this one? |
| Joanna:‘do zobaczenia’ |
| Betsey:“see you later” |
| Joanna:Lastly, what do you say to family members right before going to sleep? |
| Betsey:“goodnight” |
| Joanna:In Polish ‘dobranoc’ |
| Betsey:It’s ok to use it towards family members or friends who are staying for the night at the same place as the speaker. |
| Joanna:Yes, but also in the case that you’re meeting someone late in the evening, it’s a good idea to say ‘dobranoc’ as a way to farewell them. |
| Betsey:Now that we know how to greet and say farewells, we can move on to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
| Betsey:In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to ask names in daily conversation. In the dialog Ewa asked Jan about his name using the question “What’s your name, sir?” What was this in Polish? |
| Joanna:‘Jak się pan nazywa?’ |
| Betsey:The way of asking for someone’s name changed in this lesson, since now we’re in a formal setting. |
| Joanna:That’s right. This time we are focusing on formal situations where you need to obtain someone’s name and introduce yourself. |
| Betsey:Let’s not waste more time and get into details. First let’s break down the question Ewa asked Jan. |
| Joanna:We started with the pronoun ‘jak’, which means “how”, and the other words used to form that question were - ‘nazywa’ , which is the conjugated form of the verb ‘nazywać się ’... |
| Betsey:..which literally means “to be called” |
| Joanna:and lastly the word ‘pan’ |
| Betsey:which means “sir” or “mister” in English. |
| Joanna:Let’s stop and talk about the verb ‘nazywać się’. It’s a reflexive verb because of the reflexive pronoun się, which in English translates to... |
| Betsey:..."myself," "yourself," "himself," etc. |
| Joanna:So when using the verb ‘nazywać się’, be sure to remember the ‘się’ part, because without it, the verb ‘nazywać’ by itself will mean something completely different |
| Betsey:So let’s hear the question one more time. |
| Joanna:‘jak się pan nazywa?’ |
| Betsey:“what’s your name, sir?” |
| Betsey:So if a person wants to introduce themselves they should say.. |
| Joanna:‘Nazywam się...’ and finish with the name. |
| Betsey:It’s worth mentioning that here you have to give both your first and last name. Ok, let’s practice now. Listeners, please repeat after Joanna the beginning of the sentence and put your name at the end. |
| Joanna:‘Nazywam się …..’ |
| Betsey:So in formal situation we should use the verb... |
| Joanna:‘nazywać się’ |
| Betsey:Let’s hear both questions once more. First - “What’s your name, sir?” |
| Joanna:’Jak się pan nazywa?’ |
| Betsey:“What’s your name , ma’am?” |
| Joanna:‘Jak się pani nazywa?’ |
| Betsey:In the questions, don’t forget to add “sir” |
| Joanna:In Polish ‘pan’ |
| Betsey:or “ma’am” |
| Joanna:In Polish ‘pani’ |
| Betsey:For details about conjugation of the verb “to be called” please check the notes of this lesson. |
| Joanna:In the dialogue Jan asked Ewa one more question - ‘Jak się pani dziś ma?’ |
| Betsey:which literally translates into..“How are you having yourself today, ma’am?” |
| Joanna:but of course we will stick to the English equivalent, which is |
| Betsey:“How are you today ma’am?” |
| Joanna:to build this question we need a pronoun ‘jak’ |
| Betsey:“how” |
| Joanna:the reflexive verb ‘się’ |
| Betsey:“yourself” |
| Joanna:then ‘pani’ |
| Betsey:which stands for the English “ma’am” |
| Joanna:then ‘dziś’ which means |
| Betsey:“today” |
| Joanna:and lastly the verb ‘ma’ which is the conjugated form of the verb ‘mieć’ |
| Betsey:“to have” |
| Joanna:please note that if you ask a woman you’d use ‘pani’ and if you ask a man, use ‘pan’ |
| Betsey:Of course, this is the formal version of the question “How are you?” For more details and the informal version, please refer to the lesson notes. |
| Joanna:So now you know how to ask for someone’s name and introduce yourself in both formal and informal situations! |
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| Betsey:Okay, that’s it for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone. |
| Joanna:Do widzenia. |
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