Słownik Motherlode

Posted by: Anna Ikeda

An important message from our favorite guest blogger – Barb from Canada:

Attention all learners of Polish! I have hit the słownik motherlode. Mr. Oscar Swan has created simply the greatest słownik ever for learners of the Polish language!! It is everything I have ever hoped for, wished for, longed for…

As we all know, Polish is a highly inflected language. Declension tables for nouns (rzeczowniki), adjectives (przymiotniki) and pronouns (zaimki) overflow my Polish learning file. Conjugation (koniugacja) tables for verbs (czasowniki) come in a close second. When using a traditional polish słownik, you are required to enter the “root” form of the word you are looking up. There are MANY times when I have absolutely no idea what the root form is. I also struggle to use all the correct diacritic marks. Is that spelled with a ż or a ź … you know what I mean, we’ve all been there.

Well, Mr. Swan (or is it Professor Swan?) has answered all my prayers. He has created a dictionary which will recognize ANY form of a noun, verb, adjective and diacritic marks can be suppressed. Amazing, right??

It gets better. A simple click on “View Tables” and the entire inflection table will be revealed. The first time I experimented with the site, my heart started racing and I thought I would have a heart attack (zawał) from all the excitement. This is simply the best słownik in the world. You can thank me and Anna later.

Here it is: The Most Amazing Słownik Ever

There’s more. Click on “biblioteka” or “gazeta” and prepare to be amazed. Prof. Swan has assembled a collection of Polish literature, short stories, daily newspapers and created an interactive Polish library. Every word is linked to the dictionary. If, during your on-line reading you stumble on a word you don’t know, simply click on it and the dictionary will reveal its meaning. No typing required!

In my opinion, a great place to start your reading adventure would be with “Opowieści mojej żony” by Mirosław Żuławski. It’s a collection of short stories which Prof. Swan has ranked as “intermediate” in difficulty.

I “heart” this man.

PS. Message from Anna – if this is not just the best way ever to start the New Year, I don’t know what is!
Barb, thank you so much for this. We “heart” you!!!

Post from: Polish Blog

Posted by: Anna Ikeda

Tags: dictionary, Oscar Swan, Polish Language