Chrząszcz

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Chrząszcz (a beetle, chafer) by Jan Brzechwa is a poem famous for being one of the hardest to pronounce texts in Polish literature, and may cause problems even for adult, native Polish speakers.

Polish original W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie I Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie. Wół go pyta: „Panie chrząszczu, Po cóż pan tak brzęczy w gąszczu?"

Phonetic transcription [fʂʧε.bʐε.ʂɨ.ɲε xʂɔɰ̃ʂʧ bʐmi ft.ʂtɕi.ɲε] [i.ʂʧε.bʐε.ʂɨn stε.gɔ swɨɲε] [vuw gɔ pɨ.ta pa.ɲε xʂɔɰ̃ʂʧu] [pɔ ʦuʂ pan tak bʐɛɰ̃.ʧɨ vgɔɰ̃.ʃʧu]

English translation In the town of Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed And that is why Szczebrzeszyn is famous. An ox asks him: “Mister beetle, What for are you buzzling in the bushes?”

Listen to those lines pronounced in Polish (help·info)

People learning Polish as a foreign language should consider it a great success if they can pronounce the title correctly. The first line “W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie” (In [the town of] Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed) functions in Polish as a universally recognizable tongue-twister, which everyone knows and finds humorous, though most of people don’t know the entire poem.

Thanks to the poem the town of Szczebrzeszyn is widely-known in Poland. A monument to the beetle was erected there in 2002 and a yearly sculpture festival has been held there ever since.

Pszczyna and Szczebrzeszyn are real names of Polish cities. Chrząszcz was translated into English by Walter Whipple as Cricket.

[edit] See also

• Polish literature
• Szczebrzeszyn

[edit] External links

• Monument to beetle in Szczebrzeszyn