As part of my escapades around Warsaw I spend a fair bit of time making a fool of myself on Polskie Radio Bis, better known as Biska. Part of my ’stuff’ is a weekly Friday slot known as Strefa Rafa where I throw odd Polish cultural phrases at listeners who have a week to come up with interesting translations into English. Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the Polish phrases with you together with audio clips of the translations the listeners gave:
“bo to zła kobieta była”
“mieć plecy”
“wykręcić komuś numer”
“kupa roboty”
“na dwoje babka wróżyła”
“skrót myślowy”
“świntuszyć”
“Polak potrafi”
It really is amazing the ideas people come up with when they put their minds to it. It also makes the life of the translator so much more fulfilling.
Life is a wonderful journey, full of pitholes, mishaps, but at the same time full of surprises, which can be both rewarding and heartening. I spent the weekend in Berlin working for the European Film Academy during the European Film Awards 2007 which took place in Germany’s wonderful capital.
I had the honour of being invited back to work at the European Film Awards after spreading my form of organised chaos at the previous Award Ceremony in Warsaw last year. Yet again, I had the pleasure of working with the same fine crew of genuine professionals. I kneel in shame before their superior intellect and organisation as the President once knelt before General Zod.
My job was to be the mysterious voice behind the credits and in between the clips recording things like “Cinematographer 2007…”, “European Actress 2007…” “European Short Film 2007…”. In other words, I was the voice behind the graphics. It sounds very glamourous, but trust me, it wasn’t. I sat in a cold, dark recording truck with the pre-production team grasping a bottle of water in one hand and the script in the other trying to get my tongue round a variety of languages including Hebrew, Turkish, French (!), Spanish and Romanian.
When that was done, several hours later, I was able to enjoy a few glasses of wine at the Award Ceremony watching the directors, actors, and the whole merry lot of Europe’s finest getting hideously drunk dancing their glitzy socks off to the Leningrad Cowboys who were on top form with their odd brand of cover-bandesque mélange. Between getting introduced to various actors, actresses and producers, I managed to sneek in a few canapés and then sneek out. Post-production awaited me in the morning.
Bummer. I had to get up at six o’ clock in the morning which meant little sleep and a hoarse voice. Not good when your voice is your job. After a gallon of coffee interspersed with tea and OJ, the driver took us to Eurovision where I had to dub over various Frenchies, whilst adjusting the script to the rigours of time and grammar.
We were done by midday but what really topped off the weekend was meeting someone while walking lazily down Friedrichstrasse. I bumped into an old friend from university who I had last seen twelve years ago in Lancaster. Life really is wonderful.
I honestly believe that in order to know yourself you have to know your history and everything that it entails. A recent scan of the internet looking for the name Uzar gave amusing results as some of you may recall (–> here).
On a more serious note, however, I think it’s useful for people to know a little bit about their family history and, for example, where their surname comes from. This has proved quite problematic for me and has resulted in conflicting results but they all – surprisingly – seem to lead to the same source.
I was given a few ideas by my grandmother whose knowledge of history and geopolitics was poor to say the least but she was convinced that the family was given the surname by King Jan Sobieski III in honour of their heroics in battle. Perhaps.
This, however, doesn’t explain why the form of the name is ‘Uzar’ and not ‘Hussar‘ which of course would be more appropriate for Sobieski’s soldiers. As is known, the Hussars, or more appropriately, the Polish Hussars were a mighty and feared set of warriors.
Yup, this I like. I wouldn’t mind being one of those. My own little theory is that the name Hussar changed over time to Uzar. Not at all improbable seeing that the family’s origins are somewhere in western Ukraine – the dropping of the ‘h’ sound and hardening of the ’ss’ into ‘z’ would not be out of the question.
Another theory that also seems to gravitate towards Ukraine is the myth of the Khazars which I find particulary alluring and romantic. ‘Khazar’, also, is not far off ‘Uzar’ and the shift is quite smooth:
Khazar –> Azar –> Uzar. Hey, presto! What I love about the myth of the Khazars is that the whole civilisation/culture is shrouded in mystery. By some they are seen as one of the lost tribes of Israel, by others a people whose king was petitioned by Muslims, Christians and Jews to convert to their religion and this choice ultimately sealed their doom. There is so much mystery surrounding these people that it’s difficult to pinpoint who they were or where they came from and why they disappeared - a kind of Eurasian equivalent of the Mayas/Incas who allegedly disappeared off the face of the earth.
I was thinking about Christopher Walken today. Apparently, when the guy gets a script he takes his part and re-reads the entire thing. He scribbles all over the script inserting pauses, changing intonation so that he’s left with a script that intonation-wise is completely alien to the first version. He’s fascinated with changing phrases, sentences, so that the audience looks at language differently. The famous Shakespearean line might be rendered:
“To… be or… not to be, that IS the… question.”
He’s forever making the audience hear language, and therefore the world, a little bit differently. Interesting, really. If you don’t believe me, have a listen: http://www.walkenclips.com/
Yes, it is the first of September today and I have absolutely nothing at all to write about. I should really go and make myself some breakie coz I’m starving, but I want to ’scribble’ something down first, and regurgitate on the screen (as I always do with this blog). That’s what they’re all about, aren’t they?
Anyway, time for my thought of the day. It’s funny how we all, everyone of us, has a variety of names (and therefore personas). I mean, I am officially ‘Rafal’ yet in Poland I am ‘Rafał’, all my friends call me ‘Raf’, some call me ‘Uzii;, others still call me ‘Rafcio’, ‘Raffy’. I have been known to some as ‘The Rafster’, ‘Muchacho’, ‘Darling’, ‘Dzióbek’. The list could go on for a lot longer. Yes, you’re given a name at birth, but we also do so much to mould these names or take on the names that others give us. Wierd that.
I went jogging this morning – I try and go every day but it doesn’t always work out – and I could have sworn I caught a whiff of Autumn in the air. It was that cool, musky smell that makes me think of my school days and days gone by, of yellowing leaves on the trees and the topsoil of fields blowing about. There was a distinct autumnul hint to the breeze as I closed my eyes and felt it on my face. I smiled. Because I love Autumn most. I’m a natural melancholic kinda guy and for me Autumn is a time of change, a time when we feel for the days that have past, a nostalgic yearning and at the same time Autumn is a beautiful colourful month – reds, yellows, browns, greens and golden boughs. Poland, for all its myths, problems and complexes of petty power, is the most beautiful country when Autumn gently glides through the countryside.
As Arnie announced. And so, here I am a married man with a wife – Mrs Uzar. Wonderful. We got married in England – a small civil service with a few family members and then went back to the folks’ place where mama – as always – laid on the biggest spread imaginable. Huge it was, but everyone was in good spirits and we had an enjoyable time. After that, we went off to Croatia – a wonderfully beautiful country of small islands dotted around a turquoise coastline, rich fruity wine, strong coffee, Roman ruins and a sleepy atmosphere. We spent the bulk of the holiday lying on our backs admiring our suntans and I read two fascinating books, which I’ll be discussing in the next few weeks…
I’ve just had a manicure and a pedicure. Camp-tastic or what? Well actually, I’m getting married on Saturday, so I thought that it might be a good time to see to those funny things at the end of my legs and deal with those thick bananas hanging off my arms. And? I suppose it was OK, although I have to admit the best bit was the foot massages and hand massage. Mmm… lovely. If only that was what life was about… Foot massages are probably the best thing in the world. No exaggeration. If I had enough cash, I’d have massages every single week. They’re really very healthy allegedly, sort out muscle problems, neurological problems and even dietary problems. By the way, if anyone out there wishes to comment on these senseless ramblings then please let me know who you are, what you do. It’s good to share (as the Coke advert goes)…
Christic rather than Christian. Today I hit the magic (and slightly supernatural) age of 33, which I hear is the age at which Jesus Christ died. I suppose that means it’s important. Well, in the bounds of Christendom it’s a momentous point in one’s life. How do I feel? Fine. I was greeted in the morning with a momentous massage and then received some truly fine presents – perfumes, books and a momentous collection of Johnny Cash CDs. Superb. I’m sure it’s gonna be a great year. In three days’ time I tie the knot of connection and two become one (as the Spice Girls sang). Here goes nothing…
As part of my escapades around Warsaw I spend a fair bit of time making a fool of myself on Polskie Radio Bis, better known as Biska. Part of my ’stuff’ is a weekly Friday slot known as Strefa Rafa where I throw odd Polish cultural phrases at listeners who have a week to come up with interesting translations into English. Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the Polish phrases with you together with audio clips of the translations the listeners gave:
Posted by Raf Uzar 
Life is a wonderful journey, full of pitholes, mishaps, but at the same time full of surprises, which can be both rewarding and heartening. I spent the weekend in Berlin working for the European Film Academy during the European Film Awards 2007 which took place in Germany’s wonderful capital.
Posted by Raf Uzar 
Posted by Raf Uzar 
