okres próbny
“okres próbny” — probation period in Polish. Noun, level B1. Literally "a trying period", from the familiar trying verb. In Poland it is built into the contract for the first three months — and dismissal is easier then. The sample-word is its diminutive cousin. In a live sentence: “Okres próbny jest tylko trzy miesiące” — The probation period is only three months. A word from the everyday Polish course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Polish | okres próbny |
| Translation | probation period |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "a trying period", from the familiar trying verb. In Poland it is built into the contract for the first three months — and dismissal is easier then. The sample-word is its diminutive cousin.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Okres próbny jest tylko trzy miesiąceThe probation period is only three months
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “probation period” in Polish?
«okres próbny». In a live sentence: “Okres próbny jest tylko trzy miesiące” — The probation period is only three months. Noun, level B1.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "a trying period", from the familiar trying verb. In Poland it is built into the contract for the first three months — and dismissal is easier then. The sample-word is its diminutive cousin. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.