Happy Birthday Cake Quotes Pictures Meme Sister Funny Brother Mom to you to me Pictures: Happy Birthday In Polish Happy Birthday Cake Quotes Pictures Meme Sister Funny Brother Mom to you to me Pictures

Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Happy Birthday In Polish Happy Birthday Cake Quotes Pictures Meme Sister Funny Brother Mom to you to me Pictures

Happy Birthday In Polish Biography

Source link(Google.com.pk)

Birthdays can be a great barometer of cultural difference. Surrounded by tradition and often accompanied by standard etiquette, they can be a potential minefield for a foreigner.

In Poland most people celebrate birthdays however they may not be celebrated with as much enthusiasm as is reserved for “name days”. Name days are not unique to Poland, but aren’t known in most other countries either, and a post on them will follow shortly.

Perhaps one of the biggest cultural differences is the idea of “wishes”. In Poland it is common to give quite formal wishes to people and this can be seen on many occasions including Easter and weddings. Basically you reel off a string of things -for example, health, happiness etc – that are actually largely within the person’s own control if anyone’s, but certainly not yours. Whether you know the person particularly well, or genuinely wish any of these things for them, appears to be irrelevant. It is one of those cultural traditions that makes me feel like a fish out of water. Even repeating word for word what I am told to say by a Polish person, and knowing that it is the appropriate and expected thing to do, I still feel like I’m a walking, talking Hallmark card, or whatever the closest Polish equivalent of Hallmark is.

So – what exactly do you say to your Polish Birthday Girl or Boy?

Well, if you are pretty new at Polish and still finding words with far too few vowels a challenge, stick with “Sto Lat” This literally means 100 years, and is the name of a reasonably famous Polish song that you are bound to hear if you spend any length of time in Poland.

The words of the song are below. If you’re actually going to a party then learn them. Nothing screams “foreigner” or “my, what a sour unfestive guest” than a silent mouth during Sto Lat.

Sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje zyje nam.
Sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje zyje nam.
Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, niech zyje, zyje nam.
Niech zyje nam!

And the English version, so you have a vague idea of what you’re saying….

Good luck, good cheer, may you live a hundred years.
Good luck, good cheer, may you live a hundred years.
Good luck, good cheer, may you live a hundred years.
One hundred years!
The closest saying to the English "Happy Birthday" is "Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin" as people have been saying. It literally means "(I wish you-understood)all the best from the occasion of (your-understood) birthday. This is not sung like happy birthday is- instead Poles sing "Sto Lat" (One Hundred Years). It is sung at all occasions of a specific person- such as name days, anniverseries, etc.