Calques from Polish 1

Most Polish learners of English have heard of and laughed at Polish-English mistranslations written by amateurs or created on purpose. The former include Denmark from chicken (dania z kurczaka - chicken dishes), follow in oil (śledź w oleju - herring in oil) and cervical cancer (szyjki rakowe - crayfish), all found on menus across Poland. The latter are e.g. Thank you from the mountain (Dziękuję z góry - Thank you in advance) and Don't make a village (Nie rób wiochy - Don't embarrass yourself). Most calques of Polish phrases, idioms and collocations, however, may look and sound 'English enough' for the Polish learner and yet be absent from native English. Many of the following errors recur in my students' essays and test answers. The exercise also contains some instances of grammatical interference.

N.B. Sometimes a word or phrase that resembles a Polish one exists in English but is rare.

Polish - rare in English - more common in English
zrobić karierę - make a career (out of something) - succeed, go up in the world etc.
być analfabetą (noun) - be analphabetic (adj.) - be illiterate
gazeta - gazette (old-fashioned) - newspaper
boazeria - boiserie (narrower meaning) - (wood) panelling

The same works in the opposite direction: you can translate surprise as siurpryza but the present-day Polish word is niespodzianka.


Correct the following sentences.
0. My wife is very expensive to me. dear

1. Please apologise Henry for what you said about him.
2. Studying English grammar is not big philosophy.
3. What can you see on the picture?
4. He underlined the importance of helping the poor.
5. They told me to wait for Pam Jones, but I don't know how does she look like.
6. I can't stay up late - I've never been night Mark.
7. I don't care if they're getting divorced: not my circus, not my monkeys.
8. The teacher checked all the essays last night.
9. I went to my doctor on a control.
10. My dachshund is as stubborn as a donkey.
11. Don't lie me here - tell me the truth!
12. I was on Lithuania last summer, and my brother was on Ukraine.
13. The IC train to Poznań, through Gdańsk and Bydgoszcz, departs from Platform 3 at 11.45.
14. I love dogs. In contrast, my wife dislikes dogs and loves cats.
15. The reason of his absence is unknown.
16. If I wouldn't like you, I wouldn't have bought you flowers.
17. George looked at the clock on his wrist and realised he was late.
18. Now when we know why she resigned we can draw some conclusions.
19. Lem's novels have been translated onto many languages.
20. She presented X on the example of Y.

KEY
1. apologise to, 2. is not rocket science / brain surgery, 3. in the picture, 4. He emphasised, 5. what she looks like, 6. a night owl, 7. it's none of my business, 8. The teacher corrected, 9. to have a ckeck-up / for a check-up, 10. as a mule, 11. Don't lie to me (now), 12. in Lithuania, in Ukraine (also in Hungary, Belarus, Latvia, unlike in Polish, which uses the preposition na), 13. calling at (instead of through or via), 14. By contrast, 15. reason for, 16. If I didn't like you, 17. his watch and, 18. Now that, 19. translated into, 20. She exemplified X by means of Y.