# Trafić swój na swego



## jacquesvd

I am puzzled by the different translations I find for this sentence:

The Kosciusko Polish-english gives: birds of a feather flock together
The big Pons Polish-German gives: die Beiden sind sich wert
The wielki słownik Polsko-niemiecko(PWN) gives: er hat seinen Meister gefunden

These are three very different meanings and I don't know now what is really meant.
Thanks for helping to understand


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## Thomas1

Hello Jasques,

My Kosciusko Polish-English dictionary gives the following in the "swój" entry:
_
swój swego zawsze znajdzie birds of a feather flock together_



The phrase 'die Beiden sind sich wert' might translate into Polish as 'jeden drugiego wart' or 'oni są siebie warci' (which could be translated into English as 'one is as bad as another').


The phrase 'trafił swój na swego' means 'he (has) met his match', which I think matches your third translation (into German) 'er hat seinen Muster gefunden'.


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## jacquesvd

Thomas1 said:


> Hello Jasques,
> 
> My Kosciusko Polish-English dictionary gives the following in the "swój" entry:
> _
> swój swego zawsze znajdzie birds of a feather flock together_
> 
> 
> 
> The phrase 'die Beiden sind sich wert' might translate into Polish as 'jeden drugiego wart' or 'oni są siebie warci' (which could be translated into English as 'one is as bad as another').
> 
> 
> The phrase 'trafił swój na swego' means 'he (has) met his match', which I think matches your third translation (into German) 'er hat seinen Muster gefunden'.




I don't feel these translations to be the same:
1) birds of a feather flock together means that people with the same interests and likes seek each others company, but this does not necessarily mean that they are equally intelligent or strong, etc.
2) Die Beiden sind sich wert: does exactly mean that they are of the same value, strength, intelligence, whatever and to me is different from 1)
3) Er hat seinen Meister gefunden means that he met somebody who was stronger, more intelligent, better at something: ex. he was an unbeatable darts champion and then one day, he met somebody who beat him at the game. Again, this is is not the same meaning as the two other translations.

So, the question remains: does a majority of Poles understand these three different meanings to have this one and same Polish translation, or can it mean the three things at different moments, depending on context?


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## Thomas1

If you're looking for a translation of each of these phrases, I believe the suggestions in my previous post might be worth considering.

All three phrases overlap in meaning to some extent.

The first association of the average Polish native speaker hearing 'trafił swój na swego' is either that someone has faced an opponent who's more or less the same level they are or that, when two people or more have met, one person is similar in vices to the other one(s). So, yes, the exact interpretation of 'trafił swój na swego' does depend on context, but I'd still recommend 'he met his match' as the closest equivalent of 'trafił swój na swego'.


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## Ben Jamin

jacquesvd said:


> I am puzzled by the different translations I find for this sentence:
> 
> The Kosciusko Polish-english gives: birds of a feather flock together
> The big Pons Polish-German gives: die Beiden sind sich wert
> The wielki słownik Polsko-niemiecko(PWN) gives: er hat seinen Meister gefunden
> 
> These are three very different meanings and I don't know now what is really meant.
> Thanks for helping to understand


The expression used to mean in Polish: "he (has) met his match', or 'he has met a worthy opponent'.
Taking this into consideration:
'birds of a feather flock together' is obviously quite wrong and based on misunderstanding
'die Beiden sind sich wert' is not wrong, but does not render the meaning exactly 
'er hat seinen Meister gefunden' is closer to the right meaning, but still misses the point
All this proves two things: it is difficult to translate idioms and proverbs, and dictionaries are often wrong.


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## Ben Jamin

Thomas1 said:


> ... or that, when two people or more have met, one person is similar in vices to the other one(s).


I think that the meaning of confrontation is always there in this idiom, so the explanation above does not add a new meaning, only elaborates the background.


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## Ben Jamin

jacquesvd said:


> 2) Die Beiden sind sich wert: does exactly mean that they are of the same value, strength, intelligence, whatever


This German translation lacks the meaning of a confrontation or competion between the protagonists. Just imagine two persons approaching each other with an aim of winning over physically, outwitting or cheating each other, but none of them appears to be weaker or less smart than the other.


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## Thomas1

Ben Jamin said:


> I think that the meaning of confrontation is always there in this idiom, so the explanation above does not add a new meaning, only elaborates the background.


The idea of confronatation, i.e. a meeting face to face, need not be present:
Po powrocie do pokoju Wojciech W. natychmiast zawiadomił policję. Okazało się, że zarówno sprawca, jak i obrabowany, znani są policji z kradzieży hotelowych. Trafił więc swój na swego.

*źródło:* NKJP: (gram): Kronika policyjna, Tygodnik Podhalański nr 10, 1998

WSJP, Trafił swój na swego​
To some extent also:

Trafił swój na swego Dramatyczne spotkanie na szosie W Bogumiłowicach, w pow. tarnowskim, kobieta kierująca małym fiatem potrąciła pieszego. Nie byłoby w tym nic nadzwyczajnego, gdyby nie fakt, że oboje byli pijani. To był rzadki wypadek, co przyznają nawet sami policjanci.

*źródło:* NKJP: Trafił swój na swego, Dziennik Polski, 2001-11-16

WSJP, Trafił swój na swego​


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## Ben Jamin

Thomas1 said:


> The idea of confronatation, i.e. a meeting face to face, need not be present:
> Po powrocie do pokoju Wojciech W. natychmiast zawiadomił policję. Okazało się, że zarówno sprawca, jak i obrabowany, znani są policji z kradzieży hotelowych. Trafił więc swój na swego.
> 
> *źródło:* NKJP: (gram): Kronika policyjna, Tygodnik Podhalański nr 10, 1998
> 
> WSJP, Trafił swój na swego​



The confrontation does not need to be physical.



Thomas1 said:


> To some extent also:
> 
> Trafił swój na swego Dramatyczne spotkanie na szosie W Bogumiłowicach, w pow. tarnowskim, kobieta kierująca małym fiatem potrąciła pieszego. Nie byłoby w tym nic nadzwyczajnego, gdyby nie fakt, że oboje byli pijani. To był rzadki wypadek, co przyznają nawet sami policjanci.
> 
> *źródło:* NKJP: Trafił swój na swego, Dziennik Polski, 2001-11-16
> 
> WSJP, Trafił swój na swego​


I would not use the expression in such context. For me it is a wrong usage.


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