An argument about the price in Polish
A small firm, two people disagree about the price in Polish. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Proponuję podnieść cenę o dziesięć procent.» — I propose raising the price by ten per cent; «Nie jestem przekonany. Jaki jest twój argument?» — I am not convinced. What is your argument?
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a small firm, two people disagree about the price. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- Proponuję podnieść cenę o dziesięć procent.I propose raising the price by ten per cent.
- Nie jestem przekonany. Jaki jest twój argument?I am not convinced. What is your argument?
- Koszty są wyższe, to fakt, nie pogląd.The costs are higher — that is a fact, not an opinion.
- Jestem przeciwko. Kontrahenci będą narzekać.I am against it. The clients will complain.
- Upieram się przy tym.I insist on it.
- To zróbmy sondaż w naszym sklepie.Then let us run a survey in our shop.
- Dobrze, uwzględnijmy też zdanie kontrahentów.All right, we will take the clients' opinion into account too.
- Decyzję podejmiemy w przyszłym tygodniu.We will make the decision next week.
Lines one by one
| Polish | Translation |
|---|---|
| Proponuję podnieść cenę o dziesięć procent. | I propose raising the price by ten per cent. |
| Nie jestem przekonany. Jaki jest twój argument? | I am not convinced. What is your argument? |
| Koszty są wyższe, to fakt, nie pogląd. | The costs are higher — that is a fact, not an opinion. |
| Jestem przeciwko. Kontrahenci będą narzekać. | I am against it. The clients will complain. |
| Upieram się przy tym. | I insist on it. |
| To zróbmy sondaż w naszym sklepie. | Then let us run a survey in our shop. |
| Dobrze, uwzględnijmy też zdanie kontrahentów. | All right, we will take the clients' opinion into account too. |
| Decyzję podejmiemy w przyszłym tygodniu. | We will make the decision next week. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Polish in this situation?
“Proponuję podnieść cenę o dziesięć procent.” — I propose raising the price by ten per cent. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.