Pan Tadeusz

Aside from manuals and grammars, I haven't really read anything so far this year. So, it's about time I changed that. My friends keep asking me what I'm doing to improve my Polish, so I've decided to tackle the big one: to read Pan Tadeusz in Polish.

My Polish isn't really up to that, so essentially, I have to read it first in English, then in Polish, and see what sticks.

Despite the fact that Pan Tadeusz is a poem, the English translation is quite readable, and relatively true to the original:

Przypadkiem oczy podniósł, i tuż na parkanie
Stała młoda dziewczyna--białe jéj ubranie
Wysmukłą postać tylko aż do piersi kryje,
Odsłaniając ramiona i łabędzią szyję.

By chance he raised his eyes, and there on the wall
stood a young girl--her white garment
hid her slender form only to the breast,
leaving bare her shoulders and her swan's neck.

The Polish text is not really representative of modern Polish: jéj in the text above is now written jej, the preposition 'z', although pronounced as 's' where appropriate is never in modern Polish written 's' - but these are small differences, and the English translation I'm working with contains similar archaisms, such as 'to-day' instead of 'today'.

Anyway; in linguistic processing, the moans of the lack of parallel text are frequently heard: I think it's more productive to try to do something about it, so I'll be posting book 1 of Pan Tadeusz in both English and Polish. It'll probably be more suitable for language learners than for NLP, but it's worth a try.

Until I'm finished, here are a few selections:

Rumienił się, serce mu biło nadzwyczajnie;
Więc rozwiązane widział swych domysłów tajnie!
Więc było przeznaczono, by przy jego boku
Usiadła owa piękność widziana w pomroku.

He blushed, and his heart beat faster than its wont.
So he now beheld the solution of the mystery upon which he had pondered.
So it had been ordained that by his side
should sit that beauty whom he had seen in the twilight

Lecz młodzież o piękności metrykę nie pyta,
Bo młodzieńcowi młodą jest każda kobiéta,

But youth never asks beauty for its baptismal certificate;
to a young man every woman is young

I w twarz spójrzała, z której wytryskał rumieniec,
Ilekroć z jej oczyma spotkał się młodzieniec:

and she looked into his face, on which a blush rose
as often as the young man met her eyes.

Podróżny zląkł się, spójrzał, lecz już jéj niebyło,
Wyszedł zmieszany i czuł że serce mu biło
Głośno, i sam niewiedział czy go miało śmieszyć
To dziwaczne spotkanie, czy wstydzić, czy cieszyć.

the traveller looked up in alarm, but she was there no longer;
he departed in confusion and felt the loud beating of his
heart; he knew not whether this strange meeting should
cause him amusement or shame or joy.