Foreigners Trying to Pronounce the Names of Polish Football Players

[@RobReacts1]

If you are enjoying my reactions to all things Poland, make sure you go and watch out trips to Poland on our vlog chabnel and subscribe! kzbin.info/aero/PLw4JaWCFm7FeHG7Ad5PtaZzoYd1Vq5EXW

[@albertalbiala1053]

Czy ty jestes jakims trollem? Nie mam ciebie zasubskrybowanego, w ogole nie wchodze na twoje kanaly, a caly czas co kazdy twoj odcinek pojawiasz mi sie i jeszcze na dodatek jak chcialem dodac wczesniejszy komentarz to windows stwierdzil, ze nie bedzie odpowiadal na moje zyczenie i zamknie program. Co jest z toba nie tak chlopie?

[@Weronika_24_]

Rz/Ż - Same pronunciation. Like G in mirage Sz - Sh like in shell Cz - Tch like in itch Dż/Drz - Same pronunciation. Like J in Jazz Ch - H like in hell I - E like in easter W - V like in vector Ł - W like in winner Ą - Ow like in lower Ę - Eu hard E like in elephant and hard u like ruler Ó/U - Same pronunciation. Either like hard u in ruler or double o in book In general most letters are pronounced the same but in hard way like G is still G but like in glue, not like in gene. Y is like in name Lynn not like in yeti. A is like in Anna not Amy

[@VoidCosmonaut]

Pronounciation in Polish is actually very simple when you know the rules and sounds. Polish grammar (and what we call ortography) is what is hard to anglophones. Other way around pronounciation in English is a nightmare because You cannot predict it in written language.

[@krzysztofd9164]

" Ę " to chyba tylko polskie i najtrudniejsze do znalezienia odpowiednika w innym języku😂

[@JRTP-Bart77PL]

Exacly :)

[@andrzejawramienko2609]

"rz" after voiceless consonant (k, p, ch) is pronounced the same way as "sz". So we pronounce K-sz-ysztof (Kshyshtof), not K-rz-ysztof.

[@krzysztofd9164]

@@andrzejawramienko2609 I agree😁👍

[@Neji641212]

Many foreigners don't understand that the combinations of consonants behave as 1 sound. That's the main issue here.

[@X3ABnew]

With the exception that "ck" is not pronouced like "k" ;-)

[@artursiudak3411]

​@@X3ABnew Also, "ch" is definitely not pronounced like "c/k" :) German "ch" is a very good analogy here. "H like in hell" as Weronika said also sounds prety accurate

[@zibby-man]

The funniest thing was when Bob pronounced a given name in a wrong way and when finally it was pronouced correctly by the Polish lector he still declared victory not able to recognize the difference between his and the proper pronounciation. E.g. Klich: it ends with an 'h' not a 'k'. Milik: 'i' in Polish is pronounced similarly to English 'ee' like in words: 'meal' or 'leak', but not like in words 'mill' or 'lick'. Thus Milik sounds like: 'Mealeak' instead of 'Millick'.

[@piotrektiger8633]

Exactly

[@Lola_in_the_Black]

And same with Krzysztof that isn't the same as Kristof :D

[@zadafcb]

You are saying that Polish pronouncation is completeley different to the written language. That couldn't be further from the truth. Actually it is very consistent. While English is probably the least consistent when it comes to pronouncation and writing

[@Diveyl]

The least consistent is probably French, if we are talking about europe and roman alphabet. They have a lot of letters that only function as decorations. So confusing.

[@TheMourningBlade]

​@@DiveylFrench is very consistent. There is no rival to English in chaos.

[@noelxlk]

​@@Diveyl French writing is Consistent Nonsense English is outright Nonsense

[@tamastasi428]

​@@DiveylAt least french has consistent rules to follow. While little to no rules or weak rules to follow in english.

[@Diveyl]

@@tamastasi428 rules are always consistent... But then there are those little exceptions to the rules, one here another there... And then an exception to an exception to another exception...

[@jonajnk5796]

Actually Polish is almost fully phonetic language, so it's written exactly how it's pronounced, except some palatalizations, assimilations and those digraphs, which scare English speakers with so many zeds. English pronounciation after the great vowel shift is a mess. You even got y, which sometimes serves as a consonants and sometimes as a vowel.

[@GieLukas]

Funny fact about Blaszczykowski when he started playing for BvB, his last name was so hard to pronounce that he had Kuba on his shirt (Kuba is a diminutive of Jakub) also the German commentators called him Kuba

[@MrHades37]

I think the must important thing to remember for English speakers is that POLISH LETERS DON'T CHANGE THEIRS SOUND WHEN IS IN DIFFERENT WORDS always the same, no mater what.

[@DanielDaniel-ok3tk]

Ta Niemka zaskakująco dobrze wymawia i to z akcentem.

[@RobReacts1]

Maybe as they are neighbors

[@lothariobazaroff3333]

She has a Polish husband/partner called Janusz.

[@adamlubieniecki9074]

ona ma kolege czy tam faceta polaka

[@Plavzo]

Bo to na pewno Niemka... ;)

[@KARO4FOREVER]

In Polish you read every letter and cz, sz, ch, rz, ż, dż, dź, dz, ą, ę, ć, ś, ź have their own unique sounds. As you spell the word, you will see that they pronounce each letter exactly.

[@supreme3376]

ch sh tchy Hy rzy rz Jri Ji

[@Adam-ig5um]

Where is " ę " 😂

[@sylwiaflanczewska2711]

You read every letter, unless they are in those pairs - these are one sound only, quite different from the single originals. They are read the same way, or as close to the base sound, but sometime softened a little, depending whether they after flat/dull sound consonant (t or p or k) or more buzzing sound consonant (d or b or g). Hence RZ in ''brzeg' is RZ (as in j-aundice), but in 'przy' more like SZ (as in sh-orts)

[@rener.1031]

To pronounce Zieliński right you have to know that when you have an,, i "after c, s or z and after the,, i" comes a vocal like (a, e, o, u, ą or ę ) the both Letters become a softer Version of c, s or z. They turn to ć, ś or ź. So the "i" will not more spoken. Just the vocal after the zi, ci or zi. If you have a consonant after "i" you have to pronounce ať first the softer Version of c, s or z (ć, ś or ź) + i.

[@paweskrodzki248]

Kownacki certainly does not have an "S", but there is a "C". KownaCki. You read that "C" as a separate letter, not as "K". In turn, "RZ" and "SZ" are similar in pronunciation. "RZ" is pronounced harder than "SZ". However, when you pronounce it as part of a whole word, it's hard for foreigners to pick it up. In Przemysław it is not P + R + Z but P + RZ, and it there is "P before "RZ" it makes "RZ" sound softer and more like "SZ" (Of there was "B" before, then "RZ" would sound harder.

[@Radonatorr]

Polish spelling still makes much much more sense and is much more regular than the English one

[@aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghasvdghvsjh]

a guide for english ppl how to say them: 1. Kshishtof Pyongtek 2. Dahveed Kovnahtskee 3. Gzhegosh Krihovyahk 4. Pyotr Zhyeleeñskee 5. Ahrkahdyoosh Meeleek 6. Voychyeh(u pronounce the h at the end) Shchengsni 7. Mahteoosh Kleeh(u pronounce the h at the end) 8. Yahkoob Bwahshchikofskee 9. Pshemiswahf Frahnkofskee 10. Robert Levahndofskee

[@jankowalski6338]

You don't own the Latin letters. In some languages letters correspond to different sounds than in your language.

[@joannabenisz574]

You did pretty well. It's funny when you state that the names are wiritten completely different to how they're prononunced. No, in fact, they are pronounced just how they are written - if you're Polish you know which letters correspond to which sounds. In English a word "bow" can have different pronounciations, while in Polish once you learn the rules of reading certain letters there is no problem afterwards. That's why we do not organise spelling bees - it only makes sense when children learn to write, but once they learn the letters, there is no need, they just know the spelling (sometimes they make spelling mistakes regarding "ó" and "u", "ch" and "h" or "rz" and "ż" as they sound pretty the same). Szczęsny is difficult beacuse it starts with sz cz cluster. Just think of word "SHoe" or "Shell" - it''s similar to Polish "sz", while first sound of "CHarm" is similar to Polish "cz".

[@maciejjablkowski3159]

Fully agree. You did pretty well especially that you don’t live in Poland. One thing I would add to Joanna’s guide is that the scary “szcz” combination is pronounced almost identically to English (pu)sh ch(air). In Szczecin and in Szczęsny.

[@lukaszjaskiewicz9461]

Hey Rob. Polish "C" sounds like "TS". Therefore Kownacki sounds like Kovnatsky😅

[@X3ABnew]

The problem was that in English "ck" is always "k" - latin heritage ;-)

[@barbarafigua3564]

​@@X3ABnew but there,s no "k" in Latin. There is only "c" and no something like "ck"

[@X3ABnew]

@@barbarafigua3564 OK, my fault. I mentioned about languages with latin roots: French, Italian, ... where "ck" is pronounced like "k"

[@tamastasi428]

​@@X3ABnewclassic latin alphabet doesnt have the letter K

[@danonb8666]

Its so much fun to watch your videos as a Polish guy, good job Rob!

[@RobReacts1]

haha thanks man

[@X3ABnew]

100% 👍

[@SebastianSeijeen-un4pl]

@@RobReacts1 Szczęsny means Lucky

[@SebastianSeijeen-un4pl]

@@RobReacts1 SHCHĘSNY

[@SebastianSeijeen-un4pl]

@@RobReacts1 Błaszczykowski = Buoaschykovski

[@WKogut]

You got this wrong: English is written different than it's pronounced, Polish is written EXACTLY as it's pronounced.

[@arturnienartowicz7213]

C is pronounced {ts}, like in Botswana, but without prolonged friction on the {s} part, it's more a plosive than a fricative.

[@lutyIISidiot]

Rob, it is not Polish language that lacks vowels (English has 5 and Polish has 9 vowels :D), only some polish words are super-consonanty.

[@RobReacts1]

haha thats it... you may have more, but you have to actually use them in words :D

[@lothariobazaroff3333]

They keep saying something similar about Welsh which has 13 vowels (in all dialects combined). Fantastic language. Dw i'n dysgu Cymraeg a dw i'n hoffi yr hen Iaith hon, mor brydferth.

[@X3ABnew]

@@RobReacts1 But we use them! If you condensed some consonants to single sounds it looks better (as a statistics of vowels and consonant in words) 🙂

[@pawel198812]

Where did you get the 9 vowels? I only count 6 vowels. And English has like... 20ish vowels and diphthongs

[@lutyIISidiot]

@@pawel198812 Vowel (samogłoska) - english AEIOU, polish AĄEĘIOUÓY

[@Mkninja002]

Whenever I see a foreigner attempting to pronounce a Polish word, I recall the Star Wars scene when Obi Wan says “Donʼt try it” to Anakin... but your attempts actually werenʼt bad, chapeau bas, Rob

[@marcinoo7]

English: Why PRZ is spelled like PSH it doesnt make any sense Also English: Yea Read and Read are pronounced differently

[@RobReacts1]

haha

[@_r4x4]

Also English: i know how to say "have", so "behave" would be just adding "be" to "have"... Or not, because someone decided to screw any logic...

[@piotrprzerwa3317]

The lady from Germany and the lady from the Czech went best in my Polish opinion ;)

[@X3ABnew]

"Ch" in German is similar to Polish, same with the Czech. And Czech and German are our neighbourghs and possibly Polish language was present in their towns. About 20 years ago I was on vacation in Aquitaine - some people were asking me what is a language we (i.e. my wife, doughter and me) are speaking - they never heard Polish! Is's almost impossible that people from Germany or Czech have never heard Polish.

[@MrTehrat]

Francuzkom szło na prawdę nieźle (pomijając czeszki, wiodomo :D )

[@X3ABnew]

Francuzkom nawet lepiej! 🙂

[@_r4x4]

Czechy to Czechy, w końcu to sąsiedzi i również słowianie, wiele imion ma w języku czeskim bardzo podobną wersję do tej polskiej, więc absolutnie nic dziwnego.

[@mikeivanmusic]

In polish language we have some special signs on some letters like: - Ą, which you pronounce like on/om - Ę, which you pronounce like en (you read it like "an") /e (you read it like "a" in English) - (when it's on the end of the word, like "cię" (it means "you")) - Ó which sounds normally like u, but it's like only written letter - Ż - it is like "zh" (I've taken this pronouncing from Russian words written in latin alphabet but you should hear it to understand it) - DŻ, which is pronounced like "G" in english - DŹ (a softer version of "dż") - Ł - spelt like "wh" in English words like "why" or "what" - Ń - like "knee" in English language -SZ - it's easy, it's like "sh" - CZ - like "ch" in "cheese" - Ś - softer version of "SZ" - Ć - softer version of "CZ". When you also see "ci", it's like the same, but with "ee" (pronounced like English) As much as you hear polish language daily and read the texts in polish, you probably see it. The biggest problem is with letters like: ch/h, rz, etc. It's more like orthographic problem, but in spelling there is no difference. - CH/H - like you spelled in the video - RZ is like Ż Good like in learning polish language

[@Veyren55]

Actually those signs used to have a meaning in the past. Back in time peaple used to speek more slowly. For example God was spelled with a longer sound of ,,U" (Ó" and more in the,, hard"way (,With more tension on accent)

[@yarzyn_5699]

Pronouncing ą (nasal o) like on/om and ę (nasal e) like en is a clear give away that a person is not really well educated... :)

[@mikeivanmusic]

@@yarzyn_5699 I know, but for foreigners these forms are easier to adapt at the beginning of learning our language. Later, if they learn the accent, we can try to teach them to pronounce ą and ę correctly

[@yarzyn_5699]

@@mikeivanmusic Nasal vowels exist in other lanuages as well, most notably in French. So I would say its easier and less confusing to call them what they are - nasal vowels, like in French.

[@X3ABnew]

In Silesia region in Poland, around the Cieszyn town people make the distinction between: "rz" and "ż" "ó" and "u" "ch" and "h" 😁For the rest of Polish people these differences do not exits! My boss was born in this region so I hear it.

[@cbgg1585]

Love this! As an aside and as a tennis fan, it is always fascinating seeing the various pronounciation of the women's world number 1 player- Iga Swiatek. Despite being pronounced 'shvee-awn-teck', confirmed by the player herself, it always drives me crazy hearing even commentators butchering her name!

[@radekkaczynski9527]

Imię?

[@klaudiaczarnecka5251]

It's Świątek, Polish letter make the difference

[@fox570808]

Hi, about different pronouncing of "rz" with other consonatnts. We make it as easy as possible. So, if the neighbouring consonant is a voiced one like G, B or D we pronounce "rz" like zh, if there is a voiceless one like p or t, we say "sh". So Grzegorz is Gzhegozh and Przemysław is Pshemysuav.

[@Ktosik]

Zabawne było widzieć, jak z innych krajów łamią sobie języki przy próbie wymawiania nazw tych piłkarzy 🙂

[@Suixkoks]

Love your videos. I love watching foreign people who watch something about Poland

[@Warthread]

Piotr is Peter in Polish :)

[@Byczsek]

Kownacki -> you need to say the "C"! Krychowiak -> don't say "C"! very easy :D

[@mateusio33]

The C sounds like an ts

[@krewetkashrimp]

Ą and Ę is nosal, like in french. That's why PiĄtek not PiAtek. This ą and ę are there not to look nice but because it's different sounds than a and e.

[@Tomchtmo]

Rob, you're actually completely wrong. The Polish pronunciation is exactly the same as in writing. We all know that pronunciation in English sometimes doesn't make sense, but in Polish you really just need to learn how to pronounce a few of these sounds and read exactly what is written.

[@TomikoPL]

Ą is like French "-on" in "bon" and "ę" is similar to French "-in" in e.g. "fin", often they sound (and are pronounced) like "on/ en". "C" sounds like "ts". "SZ" similar to English "SH" and "CZ" like "CH" in "check", while "CH" sounds exactly the same as "H", "Ż/RZ" is like French "J" in "Jean", "DŻ" like English "J" in "John". Vowels are always pronounced the same clear way: a- like in "Pamela", e- like in Betty, o- like in "pot", i- like the first "e" in Peter. "Y" is more difficult, similar to "i" in "film" but more back, deeper in the throat. Anyway, you did well. Cluster of "szcz" /sh-tch/ is extremely difficult for anyone especially with germanic mothertongue. As it gets to "PRZ-", "rz" sounds here like "sz"/sh/ because it follows voiceless consonant "p"- it's impossible to produce voiced consonant right after voiceless one.

[@czarekp3552]

23:00 Well..... don't wanna be rude Rob, but you're completely wrong about the differences of written and pronounced Polish..... once you know how to properly pronounce w, ł, ch, sz, cz and bunch of other Polish hieroglyphs like ą, ę and ć you could pass as a Pole every way you go in Poland..... and not because we're drunk most of the time, which is true, but because of you've learned pronałseeyeyszyon.... easy, no? fun fact.... actually it's English that's so much different from written and spoken one, hence so many dyslexic kids in the UK...... but please, don't quote me on that

[@evelyn4898]

After watching this episode I see how Polish language is so tricky 🙈

[@Pawlo370]

Ch - h like hover Cz - ch like check Sz - sh like shower When you have p before rz you say p + sh like shower

[@jarosawklejnocki6633]

You tried :) Polish phonetics is quite tricky, and we have some sounds in the language that, for example, are not present in English - so to pronounce them correctly, you just have to learn and practice. The second bane of foreigners are exceptions to the rules in the language. Once I substituted for a friend at the University of Warsaw and taught Polish to foreigners for a semester. It was very nice, mixed group, but everyone managed to speak English somehow, so I could explain something in English if needed. And when we were saying goodbye at the end, I asked - what do you remember best from our classes? And then one Italian with a smile on his lips replied: "You saying: we have a rule for this in the language, but..." :)

[@RobReacts1]

"You tried"... haha Basically you are saying I did rubbish!

[@mateuszmichaek6988]

So basically: Szczęsny is Sh-Tsh-En-Snyh (not entirely it's En because you don't read N fully). Kownacki is Ko-V-Nat-Skyh, Krychowiak is Kryh-kho-viakh, Zieliński is Zye-Lin-Skih and the hardest one, Błaszczykowski is something like Bua-Sh-Tshy-Kov-Skih. Well maybe it's not entirely how a Pole would pronounce that but it's as close as it can be. By the way I had no idea that Rob is a football coach. I am too! 👊

[@elealion1469]

Fun fact. Some time ago my friend saw a part of Polish language book for foreigners. According to it, only native Poles are able to hear the difference between "SZ" and "RZ" or "Ż". Well, no, the difference is quite obvious, especially when you hear those sounds separately. It's just that sometimes, especially when talking fast, the difference becomes less apparent, I guess.

[@Randomnoob7892]

23:11 no in Polish alfabet is just pronounced diffrently

[@lamerekeklerek]

Polish may have some weird prenounciations but i have one suggestion: whenever you are in Polish restaurant, even if you have English menu but you see that there is Polish original name, then while you order just try to say "Polish version" and ask if that was correct, it might be nothing or maybe a little embarassing for you but for us you will always be this nice foreigner that at least tried ^^

[@sanayuki6630]

Actually, in polish C is pronounced kinda like TS. So you'd read Kownacki like KOVNATSKI 😅

[@krzh7180]

Klich it's not sounds like click. That is not your victory 😂

[@Veawel]

In Polish, you speak the word simply as you see it. You pronounce every letter, you don't cut anything, you don't add anything. And these letters like: ń, ą, ę are enough to emphasise to sound correct. Of course its hard to say letters as Poland people say, but it is a good start.

[@X3ABnew]

The problem is, I think, in the frequences spectrum we (i.e. Poles) use in our language. This spectrum is larger than in English, French or German languages. We easily can pronouce sounds which are impossible to pronounce for major part of people living in west of Poland. Many years ago I worked as a tutor of Russian in France. My pupil said: Russian sounds like falling leaves in autumn, there is many sounds lik "s", "sh", "shch" etc. The Polish is similar but the spectrum is narrower than in Russian, some Russian sound do not exist in Polish. It all makes that we can easily learn English pronounciation but we have the problems with Russian pronounciation (like ypu have wit Polish).

[@pathfinderpolska]

If a Hogwarts student had spoken Polish in the girls' bathroom on the second floor where Martha's ghost was, he would have accidentally opened the passage to the Chamber of Secrets. There are so many "sz" "cz" "rz" "ch" "prz" "brz" that it sounds like the speech of snakes.

[@piotrrozynek7975]

Przemysław is the one of the oldest Polish names. In UK a lot of Brits use a very short and very easy version of this name - Prim.

[@kingpin2257]

The funniest thing is that many people in the world had polish ancestors so they own polish surnames and they pronounce it wrong :D

[@anowiogr]

Wojciech Szczęsny - his last name is very hard but you try speak this syllabes Sz | cz | ę | s | ny - if you try this way i guarantee, you speak this corretly. Ę is very soft letter so, initially you can try pronounce this like "en"

[@Suixkoks]

5:26 you have Dawid Kowna C K I we produce it as c (c) ki (I is and softening ) and we say Cki c k i (you can say I same as I (and in English) it's same letter but with softening to K)

[@Suixkoks]

8:26 Ń is like you would say Ni (say Ni loudly now and compare) you have word "Nie" = "No" and you can hear on the start Ń when you say "Ni" e

[@edwardkaras1776]

Piotr Zielinski comes from same town I was born in 1962 I and currently live in US.

[@Yoanka]

Man, with all the love, "you didn't need the R in Piotr" is such a British thing to say. :D Oh these poor Rs. Though we ate the second E because we don't believe in vowels, so I certainly can't judge!

[@czarekp3552]

It's easy.... once you know the pronunciation of the letters obviously.... Kshyshtof Pyontek, David Kovnatzky and as for Błaszczykowski..... we Poles are still learning how to pronounce his name

[@dragonex282]

Buashchykovski or Buashchykoski I guess

[@MarcinZajacFlight]

Woycieh shcheusny (but when you say sz and cz (en sh and ch with tounge moved to the back of your throat- you'll sound like proper pole) Bwashchykovski Ś - en sh Ć - en ch Sz - en sh with tounge moved back Cz - en cz with tounge back Ł - en W Ch - en h

[@NoonVia]

big thing in polish language is that you say stuff in quick syllables more then you say the entire word at once Wojciech Szczęsny "Woj-ciech, Szczę-sny"

[@nightspicer]

the "ą"and "ę" can be a bit tricky to pronounce and even more so to explain, but they are often simplified to "on"/"om" and "en"/"em"

[@a4kata40]

Im from Bulgaria and this slavic names end with SLAV or SLAW is pronounce with V.

[@faoiltiarn2279]

Typical British person, you are reading C as K and arguing there is not S. 😂😂

[@krzysztofszew]

I'm Pole and l've just pissed my pants. 😆🤣😂🤣🤣🤣😂🤣🤣 You all guys are sooo sweet! SUBSCRIBED

[@RobReacts1]

haha thanks mate!

[@adamk.837]

In Polish you don't have to learn any rules just read one letter after another and you will be close enough and learn how specific leters combine

[@hkwinto4082]

Rob : "Polish language is not helping itself"😂😂🤣🤣🤣😁😅 Spot On !!! 👍🏻🙂 (I'm Polish)

[@RobReacts1]

Its not though is it! haha

[@Draxxor]

main problem is that english speaking people read -ck as k. So Galecki for example. insted of Galetsky they read Galecki. In polish we pronouns every letter theres no silent letters. Exeptions are Kashubian names like Paschke when sch is pronouns as sz (sh in english) Names whith dt ant the end we read like english speakers.

[@lothariobazaroff3333]

Paschke is a German name. Both English "sh" and German "sch" (and French "ch") are here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative Polish "sz" is different: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_retroflex_fricative

[@she-wolf3229]

No, you dont have Krzysztof or Grzegorz right, because you say 'r' inted of 'rz'

[@romariusz]

In Southampton there was also a legendary Polish player called Grzegorz Rasiak🙌

[@RobReacts1]

I don't know if I would use the term legendary for him haha

[@romariusz]

@@RobReacts1 I should've written "legendary" like this, because Rasiak was a meme in Poland

[@RobReacts1]

@@romariusz haha yea he was useless

[@inferius3389]

Czech girls got everything perfect

[@cjaypl4660]

So true, the more You hear the commentators pronounce the name the more You believe it's the right one. I must say You got most of them right or at least acceptable right. Learn the name Przemysław, it's quite a popular name in Poland.

[@KemytAsceta16]

The letter "ą" before "t" and some other letters is pronounced "on". In other combinations it's pronounced in different ways.

[@Piechu19]

Try to read them like that Krzysztof Piątek - Kshishtof Pyontek Dawid Kownacki - Daaveed Kovnatski Grzegorz Krychowiak Gzhegosh Krihowyak Piotr Zieliński - Pyotr Zyelinski (there's no similar sound to Polish zi or ź in English) Arkadiusz Milik - Arkaadyush Meeleek Wojciech Szczęsny - Woytsieh Shchensny Mateusz Klich - Mateush Kleeh Jakub Błaszczykowski - Yakub Bwashchikofski Przemysław Frankowski - Pshemiswaf Frankofski (look at my name, it shortens to Przemek /pshemek/) And of course, you pronounced Lewandowski correctly :) They're not pronounced completely different from spelling. In fact, Polish pronunciation is really simple if you know the sounds. For example, E is always E like in English 'back'. English pronunciation, on the other hand, is hilarious. First example, Mercedes. Each E is pronounced differently 😂😂 Polish sounds, just like English, become voiced or voiceless depending on the letter surrounding them. For example 'rz' is voiced in the word 'rzecz' /jech/ (j like in jargon) which means 'a thing' and voiceless in the word 'krzesło' /ksheswo/ which means 'a chair'. The same situation with a letter W. Look at Polish surnames. All of them which end with -wski are pronounced /fski/ cause it's easier to soften V into F. And then there's a very popular surname like Kowalski /Kovalski/ in which it's easy to pronounce voiced sound. I can give you thousands of examples :)

[@ivankamagnani]

Przecież nazwiska Błaszczykowskiego nie wymawia się tylko przez "cz", ale "szcz". Nie wprowadzaj człowieka w błąd. A swoją drogą, prowadzący nawet po wskazówkach fonetycznych źle wymawia każde polskie imię i nazwisko. Nie słyszy niuansów polskiej fonetyki, przekręca zarówno samogłoski, jak i zbitki spółgłoskowe, wzorując się na głoskach angielskich. Do tego młoda dziewczyna (Polka) ucząca obcokrajowców, jak mówić po polsku, ma wadę wymowy... Ech...

[@Piechu19]

@@ivankamagnani właśnie dlatego napisałem 'shch', a nie samo 'sh'. Warto przeczytać dokładnie 😜 Moje zapisy fonetyczne wzorowane są właśnie na angielskich głoskach. Nie wiem czy ma wadę wymowy, ale wypowiadała nazwiska poprawnie.

[@ivankamagnani]

Ok, nie zauważyłam tego "sh". Wspomniana dziewczyna ma problemy z prawidłową wymową - jest to być może niesłyszalne dla większości, bo wielu Polaków mówi w ojczystym języku niechlujnie albo - odwrotnie - hiperpoprawnie, np. doliterowo, co również jest błędem. Zajmuję się tym zawodowo, ale z różnych względów nie będę tu robić wykładu:) Pozdrawiam.

[@enKageKagen]

All your confussion comes from the fact, that we use latin alphabet instead of any modification of cyrillic alphabet. That is why we need additional letters for sounds not represented in latin alphabet, as well as some sounds are written using 2 letters instead of one (as it would be in cyryllic alphabet, for example "rz", "ch", "sz" or even "szcz" can be written by one letter in eastern slavic alphabets). My surname for example shortens from 9 letters to 5 letters just by using ukrainian aplhabet. This is why written polish looks like there are too many consonants, while in fact there are far less consonants pronounced. As long as you know how prounounce every letter, you would probably be able to read every word. Th eproblem is knowing, how to pronounce sounds, which are absent in your language (especially "ę", "ą")> There is also literally one big rule changing the sound, depending on provious letter, if it is soundfull or soundless (for example: B and P are basically the same, but B is soundful and P is soundless. In the name Przemysław, soundful RZ standing after soundless P is changed to soundless SZ, so it is easier to pronounce)> And I think everyone is happy I am not a footballer. Everyone mentioned in this film is a piece of cake compering to my fullname. :D

[@betak.6936]

We r appreciated your effort to say it correctly 🤣

[@X3ABnew]

👍

[@Deyanire]

I'll tell you as a Polish native and a person with a master's degree in my language - it's freakin' hard to learn Polish. Even philologists of Polish are shocked what we've invented through the history of our language 😅😂 so don't worry about any mistakes. Just remember: practice makes perfect 😊

[@RobReacts1]

I will remember that when others say im completely wrong :D

[@freuer007]

When you mentioned Lewandowski, I remembered the sentence: "You are who people think you are". :D

[@sebastian-ic1mz]

One of most famous Polish football player was Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz, but no-one mentioned about him 🤷🏻‍♂️🤨🙄🤦🏻‍♂️😉

[@hotish1]

That "rz" is pronounced diffrend when next to it is diffrent letter and almost every special letter that we have in our alfabet they pronounce difrently when next to it is diffrent letter

[@sensei1991]

Actually, polish is simply to prounciate if you know the basic rules. At least one letter makes (almost) always the same sound, not like in english (for example in english 'Anne' and 'Amy' - the first 'A' is completely different!). The only tricky thing here are some exceptions, when one sound can be softened by the previous/following letter. Thats why "prz" is pronounciated "psh", although "rz" should be something like "j" in french "je t'aime".

[@Nouharel]

I never lived in Poland and I speak polish with no flaw. I can read polish, but I am very slow, because it is so puzzling. And no, I cannot write it. Just forget it, it is an enigma....!

[@ladycatherine1381]

Dziś Kuba Błaszczykowski po raz ostatni zagrał w naszej reprezentacji. Dziś był mecz Polska - Niemcy (Polska wygrała 😁😁😁😁) i żegnał się z reprezentacją, wzruszająca chwila.

[@przemysawdata6246]

IMO, very nice. But some tips: {ą} and {ę} are nasal; {ą} sounds like /õn/ and {ę} like /ẽn/; {rz} can be /ʒ/ as well as /ʃ/ (when follows a voiceless consonant) - like in "drzewo" - /dʒεvo/ or "trzymać" - /tʃymatɕ/. In Polish, we have also distinction between soft and hard consonants: for a "hardener" stands letter "z" (but just with "c" - /tʃ/ - , "s" - /ʃ/ - , "r" - /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ - 《explained above》) there isn't dyphtong "zz" for /ʒ/ sound (the dyphtong exists, but just in borrowings like "pizza" or in the word "zza" - being pronounced as it's written - meaning "from behind") - instead "zz" we have letter /ż/ (probabbily borrowed from Maltese language). The soft consonants are marked by an acute above like "ćma" /ɕma/ - a moth or "źrebię /ʑrεbjẽn/ - a foal, but there is a trap, when writing: according to someone's writing character, the letter "ź" (soft z /ʑ/) can be mistaken with "ż" (hard z /ʒ/), because often a dot above z is written as a short vertical line that causes some people to write "ƶ" instead "ż". But there are some linguistic doubts, if sign "ƶ" is an equivalent of "ż" or of just "z". And I know one case of combination this two signs "Ƶ̇" - used in a logo of Polish beer "Żywiec" that is brewed in a city of the same name and now it is well known worldwide (I guess, that even in UK) because it is a patron of a concerto "Męskie Granie Orkiestra" (Men's Playing Orchestra the name could be confusing, because not only men participate in it).

[@maxsz91]

Zamiast /ʒ/ powinno raczej byc /ʐ/ a zamiast /ʃ/ /ʂ/ 😛

[@Adam_04]

Rob you should do this but not just polish footballers, there would be a video somewhere.

[@MrOdrzut]

"c" in Polish = "tz" like in "Tzar". We never pronounce "c" as "k" or "s" like English does. Why does English use "c" at all by the way? It's either just "k" or just "s" - a completly pointless letter in English. "z" in Polish works like "h" in English - it's a modifier. It can by used alone as "z", but it also forms 2-letter combinations "sz", "cz", "rz", "dz" like "h" forms "sh", "ch", "th", "gh" in English. At least in Polish it's pretty consistent - "sz", "cz", "dz" have only 1 valid pronunciation each. Only "rz" can be pronounced in 2 ways. English pronunciation is way more difficult than Polish.

[@marcinz.3570]

ą - on, ę - en (Why then ą =/= an? I don’t know either). CH = H. SZ - Shhh (quiet). CZ - CHernobyl. RZ = Ż (it annoys us as well to have two of the same). U = Ó (yes, that is correct, even though Ó looks like it’s closer to O). Also don’t skip letters like in kownaCKI - all of C K and I are being pronounced.

[@mioszbudziko2]

RZ very often inside of the word is pronunced the same as SZ

[@PanKurczak2]

Aaand yea, Polish is complicated, for example standard polish word have like 5 variations of itself

[@somsiadtomasz]

At school some use pictures of how teeth and tongue have to be to make certain sound. Xd

[@arturnienartowicz7213]

Ą, Ę are nasal sounds, Ą as in french comMENT, Ę as in French pronunciation of sAINT CH/H sound like in "j" in Spanish words "marijuana" "mojito" "Javier"

[@twkolejofil]

When you see SZ or CZ in Polish, just imagine there is H instead of Z 😉 Single C is not pronounced K but like TS, so CK is like TSK. Ą and Ę are like OM/ON and EM/EN. H and CH historically were pronounced slightly differently (H harder than CH) but nowadays they are both like KH in English transcript of Slavic words. Ć, Ń, Ś, Ź are softer versions of those consonants. Ż and RZ are harder versions of Z (but the second one could change to simple R in the derived words). By analogy, DŻ, DZ and DŹ are different levels (from hard to soft) of sound spelled with J/G in English. G is pronounced as the first one in "garage" and J as Y in "York". Y is just lower I. And of course, Ł is pronounced like W and W like V. With exception of above digraphs, try to pronounce each separate letter as single sound and you'll read in Polish at least intelligibly 😊

[@TuxedoTheEldest]

Don't get offended Rob but polish language has strict rules with only a little exceptions. ;) From learning perspective it's hard but it's easier to make a mistake in english when something you heard is not exactly what you wrote (you have far more exceptions so it's hard to figure out grammar from the sound). On the opposite - we have: Morze/może - both pronounced the same way but one is a sea and another is "maybe" Szal/żal - for you it will be the same but its shal (like shall) vs gal (g like in the mirage and al like like written) Cześć - its not even translatable because of ś which I believe doesn't occure in the English. For you this sound is almost the same as SZ so SH. I get this is hard :p but yeah, at least we haven't developed 16 types of tenses (we only have past, present and future :p). From the other side we have 9 different ways to say one noun depending on the context xDDD have fun learning xD 😊

[@fabianrolewski172]

For future in polish ą is read om/on and ę is em/en

[@krzysztofd9164]

BWASHTCHYKOVSKY but first " Y " similar like Midnight not like yellow or " e " like east😉 You are Great👍

[@twkolejofil]

After CH, K, P, T the sound of RZ is like English SH (Polish SZ) instead of hard ZH (Polish Ż) 😊

[@zidane8452]

There is no ZH words in english so idk what you mean by Hard ZH

[@bennypijo1195]

you need to watch more easy polish . i recommend :)

[@piotrektiger8633]

Your level of "language sensitivity" is still way above that of a typical Brit and that says a lot about the general British population 😉

[@RobReacts1]

Haha I will take that

[@b5Bart]

Also sz rz, cz, ch, are all pronounced as one letter instead of pronouncing the s and z seperate.

[@Pawlo370]

Fun fact Krzysztof Piątek you can translate Kristoffer Friday

[@pisz5577]

powiedz Szczęsny Chrzestny - (say Happy Godfather) - phonetically as Shchensny

[@twkolejofil]

Where did you found N sound in Błaszczykowski? 😝 You could know the Slavic sounds of SZCZ from the Eurovision song "Mama ŠČ" 😉

[@RobReacts1]

I literally have no idea haha! Just always how I thought it was pronounced!

[@beatas6412]

13:27 - Wojciech Chrzestny 😂