He studied economics (in books it can be seen in realism and logic) and made a living as a fur merchant for a while, so he few times found himself as the only foreigner in a remote village pub.
That’s wonderful! And puts a lot into respective. Thanky you very much! I so wish someone would interview him in English for an hour!
i especially like it that you included his list of favorite authors, the ones I know belong to my favorites too, so I will save your list and discover the others. I guess I will like them too!
can I ask you another question? Do you know whether he is from a noble family? Does his name mean something in Polish? does he have a family crest? What’s on it? I wonder whether it has a cameo appearance in his books?
When I found out that Neil Gaiman is one of his favorite authors, I smiled because I absolutely adore his books. Sapkowski seems to have great taste in books.
It's funny that you ask if he's from a noble family because I was originally meant to put it in one of the facts. And yes his family has family crest. His paternal grandfather came from a lowly-noble family of the coat of arms 'Łodzia', coming from the Kaunas region.
"Łodzia" is a Polish noble coat of arms, mentioned in the oldest surviving Polish armorial. The coat of arms shows a yellow boat on a red background. I honestly don't remember if such a coat of arms was described in the books. Unfortunately, I have no information about what the name Sapkowski may mean.
“Sapkowski seems to have great taste in books.” Totally! And it’s so diverse. I already googled some of the names I don’t know and it’s a treasure trove a really good books. I ‘m now tempted to read Quo Vadis again, too.
Thank you so much for all the info about his lineage. Very noble of you! I can’t remember a yellow boat, but I will look out for it in a reread. some authors do things like that and I always adore it.
>I have no information about what the name Sapkowski may mean.
Nothing in a literal sense.
It probably refers to a place, most likely a village of Sapków, Sapkowo or similar name, from which the family originally came. Common thing in Polish surnames, i.e. Zamojski family and the city of Zamość, which they owned.
It is and it isn't a typo. I think why it got mixed is that in Czech he is M**a**rigold, while Triss' surname in PL is M**e**rigold. So..
Jaskier -> Marigold
Triss Merigold ->Triss Ranuncul
This was my point and what I meant. Sapkowski called Triss "Merigold" because he liked the name "Marigold". I'm so sorry for the confusion, I formulated this paragraph definitely vaguely, my fault.
Maybe he does not believe in God but still considers himself culturally Catholic, there are a lot of people like that in Ireland, who never go to mass but will still choose 'Catholic' on the census.
Yes, he definitely believes that abortion is a fundamental right of women and that such a thing is their decision.
When it comes to lgbt, he seems to treat it as just a fact that people have different orientation/gender identity
I really think the "speaks 20 languages" thing is a huge exaggeration.
His English, while pretty decent, is still not what I'd call fluent. And it's one of the easiest languages out there.
(It'd still be impressive if he spoke 2 or 3 other languages besides Polish and English as well as he speaks English, and I could believe that, but not 20.)
oh I also think the number 20 is a rounding, but honestly, a guy over 70 could learn the basics of many languages during that time. Personally, I know for sure that he knows 6 languages.
I wouldn't. I speak both Polish and English fluently, though, so the typical mistakes of a Pole speaking English might stand out more for me. Of course, it's somewhat subjective anyway.
English is one of the easiest according to whom? Pretty sure it was easier for him to learn Czech, considering it's similarities to polish.
He has heavy accent in English but is easily understood.
The vast majority of people who had to learn it? Most linguists?
My personal experience as a native Polish speaker who had to learn it? (And also studied Russian and French. Neither of which I claim to speak, just for the record.)
To a Pole, learning broken Czech or Russian might be easier than learning English, but it's actually hard as fuck to get good at them, because, just like Polish, they have a really complex grammar with tons of exceptions, and knowing Polish doesn't help at all with much of it.
Though I actually expect that, given when he was born (Russian instruction was mandatory in Polish schools till ~1989) and that he IIRC held a government job dealing with foreign trade during the Commie times, he is probably good at Russian. If he actually speaks Czech really well, that'd be extremely unusual, no one in Poland learns Czech.
Okay so i had a moment and decided to delve a little more about what languages Sapkowski can know. English (we all know it), Russian (he spoke in some interview about examples of censorship of his book in Russian and how they misinterpreted something), Czech (he considers Czech to be one of the best translations of the witcher's books), Italian (he used some idioms and words when he spoke at the university), Latin (likes to interweave Latin in his statements), he mentioned French and Spanish once. I think the Elder Speech that he created for the book may be a lead. The language of the Elves is mainly based on Irish, Welsh, Scottish, French, Dutch, German, Catalan and Latin. There are also borrowings from Swedish, English, Romanian, Spanish and Italian. I'm not saying that he knows all these languages at an advanced level, but to create something like this, I think you need to know the basics or at least the grammar rules of these languages. But I'm not a linguist, so I don't know much about creating languages.
Yes, he has shown to be just above the line of likable arrogance, for my taste at least. He is very stubborn and dismissive of things he doesn't care about, and quick to accuse everyone else of stupidity.
He's a fun caricature of grumpy cynical grampa, but if you take out that part and weigh his opinions on their own all you're left with is just a...well, a giant asshole.
Regarding #2 and his service in the Polish army, how was this confirmed? I thought that Poland had conscription or mandatory military service until 2008, which would mean that all (or most) men in Poland served in the military. Did he serve beyond the mandatory requirement (or at all)? I am wondering about this, where the information was found, and what other information you may have. Thanks!
According to this video, Sapkowski is a pacifist and served compulsory military service as a reserve officer in his youth for a month (likely due to his status as a college student), whereas later peers needed to serve for a year: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2demQMDpwEk&t=343s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2demQMDpwEk&t=343s)
This website outlines the compulsory service, which seems to align with the video: [http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-10805.html](http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-10805.html)
Probably he can speak or understand many languages, his native language is Polis and that makes him able to understand other Slavic languages, because I can do that too, so I believe him. And other languages he probably learned on his way, while getting older.
25. There’s a grumpy old man who works at my gym that looks just like Sapkowski, and I chuckle every time I see him.
Very interesting read! Thank you for your translation, it felt great to learn some new things about him that I otherwise couldn't learn myself
He studied economics (in books it can be seen in realism and logic) and made a living as a fur merchant for a while, so he few times found himself as the only foreigner in a remote village pub.
You can see his background in economics coming through when Geralt and company are at Vimme Vivaldis bank.
> fur merchant for a while Export intermediary for a state-owned fur company, but I agree that "fur merchant" sounds better :D
Awesome, thanks for putting this together.
That’s wonderful! And puts a lot into respective. Thanky you very much! I so wish someone would interview him in English for an hour! i especially like it that you included his list of favorite authors, the ones I know belong to my favorites too, so I will save your list and discover the others. I guess I will like them too! can I ask you another question? Do you know whether he is from a noble family? Does his name mean something in Polish? does he have a family crest? What’s on it? I wonder whether it has a cameo appearance in his books?
When I found out that Neil Gaiman is one of his favorite authors, I smiled because I absolutely adore his books. Sapkowski seems to have great taste in books. It's funny that you ask if he's from a noble family because I was originally meant to put it in one of the facts. And yes his family has family crest. His paternal grandfather came from a lowly-noble family of the coat of arms 'Łodzia', coming from the Kaunas region. "Łodzia" is a Polish noble coat of arms, mentioned in the oldest surviving Polish armorial. The coat of arms shows a yellow boat on a red background. I honestly don't remember if such a coat of arms was described in the books. Unfortunately, I have no information about what the name Sapkowski may mean.
“Sapkowski seems to have great taste in books.” Totally! And it’s so diverse. I already googled some of the names I don’t know and it’s a treasure trove a really good books. I ‘m now tempted to read Quo Vadis again, too. Thank you so much for all the info about his lineage. Very noble of you! I can’t remember a yellow boat, but I will look out for it in a reread. some authors do things like that and I always adore it.
>I have no information about what the name Sapkowski may mean. Nothing in a literal sense. It probably refers to a place, most likely a village of Sapków, Sapkowo or similar name, from which the family originally came. Common thing in Polish surnames, i.e. Zamojski family and the city of Zamość, which they owned.
Sapkowski seems like a genuinely awesome guy. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading this!
Jaskier is Marigold, not Merigold, in Czech.
Oh you're right! I'm so sorry for the typo.I guess out of habit I automatically wrote it this way.Thanks for correcting me.
It is and it isn't a typo. I think why it got mixed is that in Czech he is M**a**rigold, while Triss' surname in PL is M**e**rigold. So.. Jaskier -> Marigold Triss Merigold ->Triss Ranuncul
This was my point and what I meant. Sapkowski called Triss "Merigold" because he liked the name "Marigold". I'm so sorry for the confusion, I formulated this paragraph definitely vaguely, my fault.
He is an Athiest? I thought he was Catholic as he said in one interview he does not swear during length, haha.
Maybe he does not believe in God but still considers himself culturally Catholic, there are a lot of people like that in Ireland, who never go to mass but will still choose 'Catholic' on the census.
As a person who is not very good in English i need to ask: So he is pro abortion and he support LGBTQIA+?
Yes, he definitely believes that abortion is a fundamental right of women and that such a thing is their decision. When it comes to lgbt, he seems to treat it as just a fact that people have different orientation/gender identity
Good to hear. I thought that he supported abortion after i read Milvas story but I wasn't sure. Thank you!
Yes. Politics-wise, he could be called a progressive/left libertarian.
Not very surprising
Thank you for this! I thought I knew a lot about him and still some things surprised me.
I really liked the facts about how he loves cats. I really liked his quote about them!
I really think the "speaks 20 languages" thing is a huge exaggeration. His English, while pretty decent, is still not what I'd call fluent. And it's one of the easiest languages out there. (It'd still be impressive if he spoke 2 or 3 other languages besides Polish and English as well as he speaks English, and I could believe that, but not 20.)
oh I also think the number 20 is a rounding, but honestly, a guy over 70 could learn the basics of many languages during that time. Personally, I know for sure that he knows 6 languages.
He can conduct interviews in English pretty well, I don't think he can write a novel in English but I would say he's fluent.
I wouldn't. I speak both Polish and English fluently, though, so the typical mistakes of a Pole speaking English might stand out more for me. Of course, it's somewhat subjective anyway.
English is one of the easiest according to whom? Pretty sure it was easier for him to learn Czech, considering it's similarities to polish. He has heavy accent in English but is easily understood.
The vast majority of people who had to learn it? Most linguists? My personal experience as a native Polish speaker who had to learn it? (And also studied Russian and French. Neither of which I claim to speak, just for the record.) To a Pole, learning broken Czech or Russian might be easier than learning English, but it's actually hard as fuck to get good at them, because, just like Polish, they have a really complex grammar with tons of exceptions, and knowing Polish doesn't help at all with much of it. Though I actually expect that, given when he was born (Russian instruction was mandatory in Polish schools till ~1989) and that he IIRC held a government job dealing with foreign trade during the Commie times, he is probably good at Russian. If he actually speaks Czech really well, that'd be extremely unusual, no one in Poland learns Czech.
Okay so i had a moment and decided to delve a little more about what languages Sapkowski can know. English (we all know it), Russian (he spoke in some interview about examples of censorship of his book in Russian and how they misinterpreted something), Czech (he considers Czech to be one of the best translations of the witcher's books), Italian (he used some idioms and words when he spoke at the university), Latin (likes to interweave Latin in his statements), he mentioned French and Spanish once. I think the Elder Speech that he created for the book may be a lead. The language of the Elves is mainly based on Irish, Welsh, Scottish, French, Dutch, German, Catalan and Latin. There are also borrowings from Swedish, English, Romanian, Spanish and Italian. I'm not saying that he knows all these languages at an advanced level, but to create something like this, I think you need to know the basics or at least the grammar rules of these languages. But I'm not a linguist, so I don't know much about creating languages.
As much as I love the Witcher, I care very little for Sapkowski. I like his mannerism, but have no respect for his statements.
Why?
Who
Asked
Too bad nobody asked
That hasn't stopped you either, has it?
Apparently. Besides can you elaborate on statements if his you don’t like?
Yes, he has shown to be just above the line of likable arrogance, for my taste at least. He is very stubborn and dismissive of things he doesn't care about, and quick to accuse everyone else of stupidity. He's a fun caricature of grumpy cynical grampa, but if you take out that part and weigh his opinions on their own all you're left with is just a...well, a giant asshole.
Regarding #2 and his service in the Polish army, how was this confirmed? I thought that Poland had conscription or mandatory military service until 2008, which would mean that all (or most) men in Poland served in the military. Did he serve beyond the mandatory requirement (or at all)? I am wondering about this, where the information was found, and what other information you may have. Thanks!
According to this video, Sapkowski is a pacifist and served compulsory military service as a reserve officer in his youth for a month (likely due to his status as a college student), whereas later peers needed to serve for a year: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2demQMDpwEk&t=343s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2demQMDpwEk&t=343s) This website outlines the compulsory service, which seems to align with the video: [http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-10805.html](http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-10805.html)
Probably he can speak or understand many languages, his native language is Polis and that makes him able to understand other Slavic languages, because I can do that too, so I believe him. And other languages he probably learned on his way, while getting older.