Meryl Streep: The Inspiration For Her Polish Accent In "Sophie's Choice" - UMass Lowell (

"A Conversation with Meryl Streep" - Meryl Streep discusses the inspiration behind her Polish accent in "Sophie's Choice" with best-selling author and UMass Lowell Professor, Andre Dubus III as part of the Chancellor's Speaker Series at UMass Lowell on 4/1/14. The event raised more than $230,000 for student scholarships.
Learn More: www.uml.edu/streep and www.uml.edu/New...
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Video edited by Alfonso Velasquez
UMass Lowell Office of University Relations

[@kchkaceha]

Thank you Meryl for reminding us such great names like Andrew Wajda or Elzbieta Czyzewska.

[@bartolomeobartolomeo7005]

Correct spelling: Andrzej Wajda , Elżbieta Czyżewska.

[@lillie.3]

Correct spelling: Meryl, not Maryl

[@foxledbyheart7752]

@@lillie.3 No no! Correct spelling- Evil Bitch!

[@lillie.3]

@@foxledbyheart7752 what? Is that at me? What have I done?

[@Mizmaaa]

No, I think it's a referece to a character she played in Devil Wears Prada.

[@rachelarubin1026]

i am polish and i genuinely think her Polish accent in sophie's choice was the best Polish accent by a non-Pole I've ever heard in any movie. So much in a style of 30's, 40's, 50's Polish movies. She truly is an amazing actress.

[@lanvin1982]

accent- maybe. But the line when she says Polish is so limited because you can describe, I believe, water in English better... Please...

[@TheFleurianna]

im also polish and i share this opinion. However i think she speaks more with Lituanian accent and not german. However better than Patrick Wilson in Jack Strong - ans he's very good!

[@cloudyskiees]

@@lanvin1982 yeaa she just hasn't discovered polish enough it's quite the opposite when it comes to limited languages😂

[@anka_szklanka]

Lol what. Her accent was not even close to Polish. You can like her, but don't say her accent was good when it clearly wasn't.

[@gandziaragandziara5425]

Żydzi znają polski od kołyski xD

[@celestineissharkeishano8048]

Meryl is such an eloquent speaker.

[@filipzawistowski8552]

Okay, Meryl is amazing and her Polish was not bad. I understood basically everything. But there is no way in HELL she was speaking Polish with a German accent. I don't know where this interviewer got that from. If anything she spoke it with a Russian accent. But still being able to speak Polish (which is ferociously difficult) without an American accent is a HUGE achievement for an American actress, so all my hats off to her. I LOVE MERYL. Na zawsze :D

[@missthenorth]

Her character was Polish and spoke German; I think he meant to say she was speaking German with a Polish accent, as Meryl has mentioned in other interviews.

[@melisanda7]

I agree

[@anka_szklanka]

@@missthenorth She didn't have a Polish accent even when she spoke Polish xD

[@EvaSofie]

As someone who has grown up around Russians she did not sound Russian, she sounded Polish. If you compare it with her accent as Topsy in Mary Poppins Returns, that’s Russian.

[@alexandrawoof1894]

meryl streep is a moron pretty horrific they cant find a polish actress to play the part if ya cant hire a straight to play a gay then ya cant hire a "Streep" to play a Pole

[@80spolishdiva24]

Elżbieta Czyżewska was the most talented actress in Poland. In US was only second-planned actress. For example : in SATC was Teacher of tantric sex... :)

[@MultiKarola]

omg was it her???

[@justalangusta260]

Ale naprawdę?

[@80spolishdiva24]

@@justalangusta260 tak! To była właśnie ona.

[@trifai]

Mind blown!!!

[@CorpoHawkWasabi]

@@80spolishdiva24 czym jest SATC?

[@El-vi6lg]

What a marvelous actress! A very difficult language for foreigners.❤Love from Poland

[@jodysheken2549]

Hello

[@pam0626]

I love how she uses her body at the end to explain her point.

[@biauooka]

Hi. I am from Poland and I am a big fan of Meryl, and unfortunetly I must say that when I've seen "Sophies choice" for the first time I couldn't understand Meryl when she spoke polish. Moreover, she hasn't polish accent but more russian or ukrainian.

[@MultiKarola]

yes it is between polish and russian , still good and in the film she looked very polish so while watching a film u forget about perfection; actors are supposed to give u essence of the accent or the character

[@nateg6142]

It's because she was trying to do with a German flair.

[@Radekuroshi]

I'm from Poland as well, but I disagree about her polish accent - it was remarkably good, watching her was like listening to some of my friends trying to speak english back in school.

[@JohnEbirp]

Her Polish was great, but the accent was Russian unfortuneley.

[@nirvalone]

as someone who doesn't speak any slav language, I can't tell the difference between polish/russian/ukranian/eastern european accents in general. To me they all sound similar, so I think she did a good job with the accent. However, when I heard her speaking polish I was wondering how it would sound to an actual polish person, and this clears it up :)

[@DogOfHades]

While studying in Austria, I was living with an elderly Polish lady for a time. We spoke in German. Her German accent was 100% the same as Meryl Streep's in this movie. Meryl Streep is truly a magnificent actress.

[@izabellakaliszka4804]

Yeah, but you lived with Polish lady Lady spiking German, so you heard German language with Polish accent, completely different, than speaking polish with german accent

[@DogOfHades]

@@izabellakaliszka4804 Sophie spoke German with Polish accent in the movie, so what is your point?

[@dumbalek6001]

I am genuinely interested in accents and phonetics and have a pretty good ear for it. I'm also Polish, so I feel like it's safe for me to say thay Meryl genuinely did the first and only accurate Polish accent portrayal I've ever seen in media. I feel like a Polish accent in English is hard to grasp but she did a PERFECT job. Sounded very authentic.

[@philbecker4676]

I've watched Sophie's Choice with Polish friends and they all said that she sounded okay when speaking English but her spoken Polish went from okay to completely incomprehensible. Like the scene when she's reading the Polish poem in bed with Nathan, my friends said that sounded like gibberish.

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

@@philbecker4676 yup, I'm Polish and I confirm that. English with Polish accent - pretty good. Polish - ridiculously bad.

[@bajkabajeczka560]

Thank you to brought Elżbieta Czyzewska- she was an amazing person and true star!!!

[@mireklalas]

Her Polish accent is as good as her pronunciation of Andrzej Wajda (Polish film director) in this clip: she says Andrei Vayda instead of Andzhey Vayda. All Poles hear the difference distinctly and the real Polish accent is based on dry fricative consonants like sh, dzh, tch and isolated vowels, unlike the fluid and melodious Russian. But to Streep it is all Eastern European babushka talk.

[@laliday]

Maybe, she pronounced his name how he had pronounced it to English speakers at the school. I live in the States and I dont pronounce my last name the same way in Poland and in the States. My husband pronounces his first name slightly diffetently to his American coworkers as well. So we maintain our heritage, but we want to be approachable. If it makes sense

[@mireklalas]

@@laliday Perhaps, but her accent throughout 'Sophie's Choice" is distinctly Russian: soft, fluid, with a shifting stress on different syllables in words, like the English stress (or 'accent'). In contrast to Russian, Polish has a fixed stress on the second-last syllable, which gives the language a distinct rhythm. Polish is harsher in the pronunciation of consonants and the vowels lack fluidity -- instead of flowing throughout words, each sound, especially vowels, are produced in an open, separate way as distinct sounds. Hence, Polish has a Western Slavic choppiness that Russian, an Eastern Slavic language, does not have. By the sound of it, Streep needed a better linguist to coach her. Or, she palatalized her voice with a North American ear towards sounding Russian, due to North American stereotypes about Slavic languages all sounding about the same, Russian-like. With historical and cultural differences, such stereotypes irritate the Poles.

[@laliday]

@@mireklalas I get it. It's not easy to learn anew language and proper pronunciation. Supposedly those who have an ear for music have more capability to mimic proper pronunciation snd accent.

[@da96103]

I think Meryl was channeling Tracey Ullman at 1:50-2:00

[@elkag2476]

You are great actress ,because you respect people who you play and learn about them 👏 Make up its not everything .....All my best for the future!!!!!

[@jujajj6226]

Love this! Greetings from Poland!

[@ibs11]

I love Czyżewska

[@HershelBloom]

I love Meryl♥️. She is a classy woman and an extraordinarily talented actress. Awesome Polish accent in that movie ( I'm Polish btw).

[@maciekk3894]

Elżbieta Czyżewska, a great and unhappy actress, she died in 2010

[@SomethingUnholy]

I rly love Meryl ❤ she's my favorite actresses, sending love and hugs from Poland and wishing u to be healthy 😍 we want to see you in more movies 💖

[@Sonia-xe3eb]

Jesteśmy dumni

[@arielkelly7665]

I’m polish and I love that lady...worked with her on a movie once! But never saw Sophie’s Choice...hmmm need to check it out especially if she is speaking polish in it ♥️

[@rickknight3823]

Hi, what movie did you work on with Meryl Streep?

[@arielkelly7665]

@@rickknight3823 hi Rick. Movie was called Florence Foster Jenking. Have a good weekend!

[@stanleypraszkowicz390]

Ever since seeing The Deer Hunter and Sophie's choice Meryl Streep has been my favorite actress forever. I have followed her in other films as well. Bardzo dobrze, Meryl!

[@robbierempley]

End this nonsense....she did not learn Polish she is not fluent in Polish....stop this....her polish in the movie is unintelligible....and her english with the supposed Polish accent is fake and completely not genuine....her British accent in the iron lady was also fake and not convincing.... stop giving her credit for stuff she doesn't deserve recognition for based on her name....

[@melanie851]

The movie was great , calm down 😂

[@robbierempley]

@@melanie851 that's your opinion and your entitled to it....

[@Maximus-gp7td]

I just love you. Best greetings from Poland.

[@brzozik19]

I've never felt much empathy for her yet now I do.. Never stop learning 😊

[@cadophe2465]

Meryl Streep is always a great choice, even as a Badman she would be the right choice!

[@katiakatia2380]

Greetings from beautifull Poland🤗💓

[@jokerjokejro5753]

Dobrze mówi polać jej!

[@henning439]

Meryl Streep might be the greatest thespian of all times.

[@thehobbster6367]

Would love to see Hollywood do follow up movie on the German Nazzis, Ukranian SS and how they lived with their choices.

[@Vero_la_fea]

Auto captions for Elżbieta Czyżewska: LGBTQ Jeff Scott.

[@abe7221]

I noticed this too and laughed so hard

[@DupczacyBawol]

Elżbieta Czyżewska, wow. I have always considered on the other hand Meryl Streep the most talented american actress ever.

[@karolinat4157]

What an amazing woman & artist

[@wuf1979]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El%C5%BCbieta_Czy%C5%BCewska

[@dasboot5903]

Polish actress .... Ms. Elzbieta Czyzewska, she was a kinda very nice woman, and fantastic actress, as well. Yo !!!!

[@majahelena6923]

it was actually the other way around, she was polish in the movie and spoke GERMAN with a POLISH accent. i am polish and her accent was not bad at all, but her few polish lines were not really understandable. you can’t blame her for polish being one of the hardest languages on earth, though.

[@stxa2594]

Her performance in Sophie's Choice was breathtaking, and her talent for authentic accents in her portrayals of non-US characters is remarkable. (The interviewer was an embarrassing blabbermouth, all the same.)

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

Her accent in Sophie's Choice was anything but authentic. When she spoke Polish, it didn't sound like Polish at all. But when she spoke English with Polish accent, it was quite good.

[@jaguarking2892]

Well gee, you try speaking a language you picked up a few months ago ​@@rafadydkiemmacha7543

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

@@jaguarking2892 she wasn't "speaking a language", but reading a couple of lines she's had months to prepare. Given the time, her performance on these lines was just terrible.

[@pawelpap9]

It took me awhile while watching the movie to realize she was trying to sound Polish. It ruined the movie for me as I had to really focus to understand was she was saying. The only consolation is that she had strong competition, say Gene Hackman playing general Sosabowski. The list is endless, particularly if we throw into the pan make believe Russian accent we are often subjected to while watching movies.

[@EvaSofie]

As someone who has grown up around Russians she did not sound Russian, she sounded Polish. If you compare it with her accent as Topsy in Mary Poppins Returns, that’s Russian.

[@kevyhot]

Love her for the whole time

[@jackins2000]

There's something perfect in Meryl.

[@annajones9586]

Awesome Lady

[@CasinoMan2005]

A great actress

[@akillateef1012]

Amazing actress

[@ellaknebelwesterdahl2443]

I love Meryl❤️❤️

[@rickknight3823]

My ex gf just sent this to shame me for not learning her Polish language whilst we were living in London UK together.... The only reason I would have to learn was because of her stirring brother who lived at her place... Her English was already at a high level & he was learning English for his job. So the motivation to learn such a tricky language like Polish simply wasn't there for me. I need to be in the country itself for a new language to stick and become immersed in the culture. As I think we all know, polish pronunciation is a real bugger.. I can speak Thai & Macedonian to a reasonable level.. but Polish... 🙏

[@aurorealie560]

Beautiful I love it ❤️

[@MrRakan.]

Meryl is a great actress but as a Polish person I couldn't even understand her most of the time in the film. She sounds like someone from Russia and definitely not from Poland. There is no need to spread silly lies like this.

[@EvaSofie]

As someone who has grown up around Russians she did not sound Russian, she sounded Polish. If you compare it with her accent as Topsy in Mary Poppins Returns, that’s Russian.

[@melanie851]

Does it matter?

[@MW-ob8jm]

@@melanie851 well to be fair She is praised for doing such an amazing job on the polish language and accent and as a pole I agree with the other guy that her accent wasn’t really that great. It was good but not amazing. For us it sounds like someone is speaking polish with an accent/ Russian accent. just saying 🤷‍♀️ That being said I love her as an actress.

[@ossa333]

Wajda directed Possesed?

[@czywieszze3477]

Elzbieta Czyzewska

[@impm1164]

Elżbieta Ćzyżewska

[@izaellard5993]

I am polish

[@01zegar]

Czyżewska thought she played Sophie, she died in 2010

[@radosawrusnak7700]

Elżbieta Czyżewska wow

[@lidiahalama2354]

Jak premierem Polski będzie pan Grzegorz Braun to wyprostujemy historię.

[@madfons]

I love how automatic subtitles hear Meryl say that "her name was LGBTQ - Jeff Scott" instead of Elżbieta Czyżewska :D

[@rickknight3823]

😂🤣👍

[@dianafly2477]

What is the name of that actress which impressed Meryl so much? Would like to google her pictures)

[@JuliaK97]

Elzbieta Czyzewska :)

[@dianafly2477]

Thank you, Julia)

[@dbaytug]

It was the same "Italian" accent in Bridges to Madison County 😂

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

Easy to build a myth of being extraordinary at something when there's so little people to verify facts, isn't it? It drives me nuts when people call her "the queen of accents" when in reality she's literally below average (for actors) at some of them.

[@siddharthnaagar7028]

I would love to hear a conversation between Meryl Streep and Brie Larson

[@grzegorzkuderski8940]

Najwięcej witaminy mają polskie dziewczyny 😊

[@tomasinacovell4293]

That's rather spotty, isn't there more to what she had to say on it?

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

As a native Polish speaker I can tell that Meryl's Polish was really bad in Sophie's Choice. Not even close, sorry. It turns out learning an accent is extremely difficult task.

[@patrickbanach8920]

Shut up...she did very well with her polish and her accent...this is an american born woman who wasn't raised around the language..yet she spoke it better then 90 percent of the first born Americans I know born into polish families who grew up with the language at home.

[@thysblimey5444]

@@patrickbanach8920 still she failed

[@cugierkoteczka]

She is a great actress but her Polish is not that great

[@EvaSofie]

As someone who has grown up around Russians she did not sound Russian, she sounded Polish. If you compare it with her accent as Topsy in Mary Poppins Returns, that’s Russian.

[@rafadydkiemmacha7543]

@@EvaSofie she doesn't sound Polish at all. Well, I guess she doesn't sound like any real language. 😆

[@AleksWizna]

Meryl Streep (jewish) talks about great director Andrzej Wajda (also jewish) and awsome actress Elżbieta Czyżewska (jewish as well). Somehow it does not surprise me.

[@waldekw9713]

Żenada (Embarrassment)

[@linajurgensen4698]

She’s not jewish, her mother is German.

[@purplepurina]

@@linajurgensen4698 >implying there are no german jews

[@AleksWizna]

@@purplepurina Sami Niemcy przecież :D Rosenkrantz, Morgenstern, Silberman, wszyscy mówili po niemiecku xD

[@bronco6]

@@AleksWizna przecież ty też, jak widzę jesteś Żydem.

[@WS-zs1ss]

She bearly spoke any Polish in this movie . Few sentenes. Boy what a show

[@evelinajonson5340]

She didn’t spoke with German accent !!!!

[@III-ur2oo]

Yet she can’t even say Andrzej Wajda properly

[@marcin5690]

Andrzej Wajda to był kozak jednak

[@adaslotkowicz6446]

Weeks, months for fluent polish? She in did acted perfect polish accent but it is not possible to learn polish language in months.

[@woodyjagla328]

,,,,, dingo took my baby ! Meryl is very, very good what she does, Hollywood copy and learn from European cinema - E. Czyzewska big talent and wasted one by many events, incidents in her life ,,,,,,,

[@magdalenawiszniewska2825]

Who made these subtitles xD

[@krzysztofp7846]

does she speak our language?

[@monikapupciadupcia7607]

❤️❤️❤️

[@baltuss76]

Hi, I'm Polish. And I also admire Meryl Streep talent! But believe me, her accent was not good and it was barely recognizable what she was saying. I can understand it is difficult for American people to get it and that's a challenge indeed to speak Polish when you are English speaking person. Let's be honest the whole performance was stunning! An accent and pronunciation not so much. Don't follow Hollywood myths!

[@WitoldZegadlowicz]

Andrzej Wajda

[@akomor1]

She learned a bit of if, so what? She butchered every single word anyway. Ffs, it's not a life performance, she could have it done a LOT better, even during post-production. All you can hear is an American trying to say something in Polish. It ruins the film.

[@tomaszdudek8090]

Ładuj to czerwone tam. Twarde zeszyty i walka skromności niesiedz tam za długo pod skorupą nie wydmucha I jak się nauczysz.

[@MojitaBruu]

Elżbieta Czyżewska the greatest Polish actress at the time?? Really???

[@jimred5700]

I adore Meryl Streep. But I feel too much is made of her performance in Sophie`s Choice. Without the performances of Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol this film would be simply average.

[@saturndirect8085]

Cute

[@elkag2476]

Actually you acted in the movieike polish woman I remember....mother ,aunts etc.This is ours way seductive and shy about it.You did it just perfect 👌

[@filipzawistowski4615]

I know people love to blow smoke up celebrities asses but in no way did Meryl Streep have a German accent when she spoke Polish. STILL LOVE HER THOUGH.

[@EvaSofie]

I think he meant Polish accent when speaking German.

[@kerder8660]

As for amazingness.. Hehehe she's good but far from amazing..

[@agnieszkapiasecka4124]

With all due respect, it is nice that you remember her, but noone ever helped her to really climb...

[@kerder8660]

How much we love bs.. Hehehe specially from famous mouths..

[@daporawski]

Fluent in Polish..... ha ha ha ha ha! I think her Polish pronunciation sounds good, but it is still very soft. More "ć"s than "cz"s. :)

[@robbierempley]

She's not fluent in polish....it wasn't even a acceptable polish....she can't even say Andrzej Wajda correctly

[@harleymason9754]

Position scare dig slide desire manufacturing warn straight.

[@Sabina-qq1fp]

her polish wasn"t good unfortunately

[@luzalgarin9518]

Thank you so much for sharing with me an infamous fragment of the Hitler's Nazi horrendous regimen, via the film. It must have been a painful odyssey it is to recollect such memories and to recount them. The crimes and cruelties committed against my sons and daughters, my fathers and mothers, my brothers and sisters hurt me deeply, regardless their ethnicity and nationality. In Isaiah 2: 4, Jehovah God, the Creator and Source of life, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, promises: "He will be judge among the nations and will settle matters in relation to many peoples. They will turn their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. The nations will no longer raise their swords against each other and learn no more to wage war." My immediate neighbors are Jews and I am a Jehovah's Witness. Their hearts are superior than pure gold by far. They are extremely kind. The gentleman takes care of my trash can every Wednesday without my asking him to do so. They are lovely human beings, and they are not in need of the smallest improvement.

[@irish-medi-weed-grower5240]

Why do we put so much store by people who make a living lying ?

[@natalianat5736]

Polska gurom

[@8navarra]

Learned so hard to play an anti-Polish character in this film? What a waste.

[@melaniaziabska6715]

O kurwa jaka dobra

[@melanie851]

Idiot

[@MegaSheen15]

Mommy, no Pokish!!!!

[@Schizm1]

She's amazing but her accent was TERRIBLE.

[@gandziaragandziara5425]

LGBTQ Jeff Scott 😂

[@alexcarvalho2175]

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

[@iwonaurbaniec3216]

I dont believe her. Sorry