POLES' ENGLISH COMPARED TO EUROPE AS A WHOLE?

He always has a fair point!

The people I keep company with is just fine and I know some Polish people with very good English, my main point was that you would never find a Spaniard or Greek person with such bad (or even no English) English after 3 years in the UK, maybe it's because of the jobs the Greeks and Spanish take, means they have to use English - who knows.

kilkline:
I didnt have problems speaking english in Germany, I think Japanese people know it as well. So it's not economy IMHO.

Rather - "I speak english well, f* other languages" laziness ;)

I imagine that unlike many people on the forum I speak and write to communicate and not because i like the look of my words or the sound of my voice.

It seems that for many, learning a foreign language warrents a badge of some sorts - a selfcongratulatory pat on the back at the very least. I speak 2 of the 3 most commonly used langauges - I can communicate with a lot of people in a lot of places. Great. Job done

When I move countries I learn the local language I need for basic survival and niceties - everything else is largely done in English. Its easier. It's not worth my time or effort to bother learning the local lingo. Not being rude or anything like

Why, as a native English speaker, should I have some sort of shame thrust upon my because I cant speak half a dozen langauges to perfection? Is this about communication or some sort of competition. Englighten me. Please

If people know languages other than English, well done. However knowing English is not proof of a love and gift for languages, its proof of economic and sometimes cultural necessity.

Why? I think we are in agreement. All I said was if there was a need we would learn languages. Perhaps motivation was the wrong word.

:)

I think you are right. People with the worst English are those that weren't forced to learn it properly. One of the reasons I wanted to relocated to England was to improve my English. Unfortunately, I ended up on a construction site in an all polish team with little contact with English native speakers. :(

Shelleys the Greeks and the Spaniards have been bombared by the British presence for many many years, whether it be by media or merely our holiday making on their beautiful islands.

The polish have not had the pleasure of our company in such great numbers until recently. I think that maybe the difference. Plus the fact the voice box is developed differently,from other Europeans. Polish is a very difficult language to pronounce, and it is not so easy for them to adapt or soften the voice box, once it has been trained. I tend to think that this leads to the difficulties.

I do however think that the polish are very well-educated, but sometimes lack alot of confidence, which in our society counts for such a lot, its a shame.

Surely it's neither feasible nor practical to learn EVERY language in all corners of the globe in order to get along with reasonable ease elsewhere.

The eternal problem comes about when the SUB-standard of this mish-mash known variously as "Globish" or "Global English" starts slowly (or in this case rapidly) becoming the unquestioned international standard, sworn by among an increasingly Americanized, and hence dumbed down, world society!

Should, for example, an American software engineer from Iowa sent over to Poland, Lithuania or Timbuktu, feel the slightest hesitation to travel on money-making business, simply because he/she doesn't know a syllable of Polish, Lithuanian or Hausa???!! Of course not.

However, should the presumably monolingual engineer feel naively satisfied that he or she has successfully communicated the cultural nuances of English to the Polish, Lithuanian or Hausa native speaker, no matter how 'fluent' the latter may seem? Hardly.

At best, international communication in English is an approximation, not a conversation.

Still, it is the best we can hope for at present. Let's though keep in the back of our minds that there's almost always something lost forever in translation-:)

Sorry Sz - comment wasnt directed at you - I just used your quote to start my ramble... Yes, we are in agreement