This is for a tattoo by the way. Both my grandparents who were fluent in Polish have long passed. They were the only people I knew personally who could help me with this. Would someone please help me figure out if this translation is accurate? Or is there an alternative that holds the same meaning?

They raised me through childhood and unfortunately I was too young to appreciate. I recently signed up for private Polish language lessons locally, however I’m unable to start until next month. Planning on going through multiple courses before booking my trip to Poland and reaching out because it’s important to me to respect the culture and make and effort before traveling there. I have family there who I really want to connect with & it’s been extremely easy to locate them due to how unique my last name is even in Poland. It is like the most Polish name possible. I just want to impress them by learning Polish before I make contact.

by JizzyGiIIespie

5 comments

  1. It “means” the same in the literal sense but doesn’t *actually* mean the same in the sense you’re looking for.

    > it’s important to me to respect the culture and make and effort before traveling there

    Don’t get a tatto. Here, they have a long history of being associated with convicts and criminal element.

  2. Wewnętrzny spokój is a straight translation. Poetic translation (what you’re aiming for) would probably be “spokój ducha”, which is something like “tranquility of the spitit”

  3. In my opinion and contrary to the other comment here. Inner peace does indeed translate to wewnętrzny spokój. It is just that phrase is not used a lot but I think it does mean what You want. Tatoos used to be regarded as something bad but barely anyone other than old generations see it that way nowadays, maybe in some rural places but generaly in bigger cities tatooed people are normal sight (though if they have lots of patriotic tatoos… there is a non 0 chance those are “Narodowcy” who are known to be a bit xenophobic, watch out for them. Of course do not judge the book by its cover either)

    I think if You want to tatoo “Wewnętrzny Spokój” You can go ahead and it will be a nice tatoo

  5. The correct text to put on your tattoo is “bulion wołowy” /s

    Honestly, what you are considering is the opposite of the _inner pace_. Displaying your connection to grandparents / Polish culture / Polish language os unlikely to make you feel better is it’s fake. It will make you feel obliged to learn the language, which is not easy – and which you should do before the tattoo. Investigate the actual contents of your memories about them – what do you recall? Their names, faces, birthday dates, other personal symbols? Anything that is actually present in your thoughts would be so much better to tattoo than a poorly translated buzzwords.

Comments are closed.