Main Performance:

• “Jak cię widzą tak cię piszą”
  • Transliterated Proverb
    • Jak = How
    • cię = you
    • widzą = they
    • tak = see
    • piszą = they write
  • Full Translation: How they see you is how they write [perceive] you
    • Explanation: The proverb refers to how one presents themselves outwardly are what people will think of them as a whole. One should endeavor to try and make themselves presentable not in a way to impress others but to more accurately reflect who they really are on the outside lest they give off a negative impression of themselves.

Background:

The informant, JK, is one of my close friends from my Catholic high school who I maintain contact with after graduation. He hails from a devoutly Catholic Polish family. Among most of the families that I knew of while attending, most of my classmates did not speak their family lineage’s mother tongue except for most of the my Polish and Hispanic classmates. No German and definitely not any Irish being spoken there.

Context:

My informant is currently attending medical school in Poland and I reached out to him through social media to ask if he had any traditional/folk-things he could share with me given his actively apparent and practiced Polish heritage, doubly so now that he is back in Poland.

My Thoughts:

How one outwardly appears is what people will consider him on the inside. The proverb tells me that it was said for people to act more honestly with themselves to other people instead of putting on fronts to pretend to be who they are not. It comes off as sound advice but has a judgmental tinge to it by how it seems to suggest that “what you see is what you get” sort of denotations from it as well. I think the quote is another that can be used on the youth to promote honest growths in personality and accepting others, to present the best version of themselves so that the good person that an individual knows that they are inside can shine forth without any misrepresentation or misinterpretation. It is rather beautiful in a way despite being simple suggestion to present oneself as best as they can be as to not have any wrongful slander made against them.