"Nie jestem w gimnazjum, jestem w liceum."
Translation:I am not in a junior high school, I am in a high school.
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I have read the comments, and it seems to me unnecessary to translate the words gimnazjum and lyceum at all. The speaker's comments concern specific stages of the Polish educational system which do not directly correspond to the UK, US or other English-speaking systems.
'I am not in gimnazjum, I am in liceum' seems the most precise answer.
When a translation obscures meaning rather than illuminates meaning, then perhaps it is is better to stick with the words in the original language? One of the pleasures of learning a language is to discover these differences.
Another good example is Matura. I have heard Poles talking about their qualifications in English (in the UK) and they use the word Matura, They do not talk of having A levels because they specifically sat the Matura not A levels. This seems correct to me.
If I had to translate it I'd use baccalaureate, but it would depend on the context.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/baccalaureate
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Can anyone explain junior high school, intermediate school and grammar school to me? I got lost at high school. I feel like this is becoming an english course (I'd totally have written gymnasium if I could, considering that's what i already say on a daily basis in two languages haha)
I can explain "gimnazjum" and "liceum" if you want.
In Poland (right now, that is discussed to change again) Szkoła podstawowa starts when kids are six or seven (used to be seven, let's count from there) It lasts 6 years, so kids are 13 when they finish Gimnazjum is obligarory and starts after szkoła podstawowa. It is years 7-9 of education but nobody calls them that, Teenagers end "gimnazjum" at 16 Liceum is not obligatory , it is for general education , and takes 3 years (you finish at 19). It gives you "średnie wykształcenie"- secondery education , and ends with matura, but does not give you any proffesion You can choose "technikum" or "liceum zawodowe" which is for secondary education. It lasts 4 years and gives you less general education and more professional one, It ends with Matura and profession exams You can choose "szkała zawodowa" (commonly "zawodówka" ) mostly vocation related education, you can't go to university)
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So going by ages podstawowa is 7-13 and roughly matches primary school 5-12 Then Gimnazjum is ~13-16(almost thought it said 7-9 years of this level! Oops!) and liceum is 17-19 which together roughly match secondary school 12-18+ sixthform (1 year, 19). I'm going to need to chart up the Polish to american systems and then again to reach scottish system :p
So English (and Welsh?) closest approximations would be primary school (ages 3 or 4 to 11), secondary school (11-16) and sixth form or college (16-18) (some sixth forms are part of a secondary school, others aren't, most of the ones that aren't are called colleges, and some of both kinds offer vocational qualifications but most are academic, and as of this decade it's compulsory to do one or the other but previously you could finish education at 16, which is why most secondary schools don't have a sixth form) (sixth form or 'further education' college for ages 16-19 not to be confused with the concept of a 'college' as a sub-institution of a university, or with the US informal name for a university - if you say 'when I was at college' in England it can only mean sixth form, not university) (also some secondary schools have 'High School' in their name, but it's not a separate type of school any more in England).
The answer here is 'the wrong way round' for British and British style education systems. A 'Grammar School' or 'Sixth form School' is the equivalent of the Liceum ending with 'A' levels (Matura) at 18 - 19. The 'gimnazjum' is closer to a 'Secondary School'. . . . .British 'Comprehensives' combine both systems in the one school.
Although different the systems in Scotland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand approximate the British system. 'The Sixth Form' is post 16 education. . . . 'Secondary School' is generally pre 16 education.
A grammar school is a secondary school for which you have to pass an entrance exam (the Eleven Plus or whatever it's called now); they usually include a sixth form, and pupils who attended a comprehensive (a non-grammar school secondary school) until their GCSEs (age 16) (comprehensives often don't include sixth form, though some do) can attend sixth form at a grammar school if they do well enough in their GCSEs, but to say that a grammar school is the same as sixth form in the UK is incorrect.
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Here in California, I went to junior high school in 7th and 8th grade in the 1980s, but my son is in 7th grade now, and it's called middle school.
Sure, I can give it to you, right now it's:
I am not [in/at] [a/the/] [junior high school/grammar school/gymnasium/middle school/gimnazjum/junior high/junior school], I am [in/at] [a/the/] [high school/secondary school/lyceum/liceum/sixth form]. - plus also intermediate school for gimnazjum.
But I really advice to just use 'middle school' and 'high school', I do not see much sense in comparing the Polish schools to other education systems. And just remember that gimnazjum is years 7-9 and liceum 10-12 of education.
Also, 'gimnazjum' will be liquidated soon, most probably.
According to Wiktionary, both words are invariant in the singular.....
See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/liceum#Declension and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gimnazjum#Declension .
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In Russian gimnazium, and in English "gymnasium," is a gymnasium, a place for athletics, not school
There's a lot about educational nomenclature and organisation, but little about 'w'. Idiomatically,this would translate as 'at' perfectly well. The problem here is one of context. Where is the speaker and is the discussion about generalities or actualities? For example, "I am at school"can mean "I am of school age/receiving education but not necessarily physically on the school's premises at that moment. Or it can answer the question "Where are you right now?" As if often the case, the preposition rather than the nouns create unforeseen possibilities.
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This exercise accepted gymnasium as a correct translation for gimnazjum, is this a mistake or can they mean the same. In England Gymnasium is where you go to exercise, school is where you go to learn. So two very different meanings, if I hadn't read the comments on this I would have thought that the person in the sentence was not in the gym exercising, they were in school learning.
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"at" usually refers to the physical location. "I'm at the school."
"I am in junior high school," however, means that I am enrolled in and attend the institution on a daily basis.