Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

I'm only 17 and I've just moved to Poland a couple of weeks ago. I'm half Polish so I know some Polish from growing up, enough to hold conversation, but sometimes I find I don't know the right word/phrase for what I want to say, in which case I'll ask in English if they could tell me the Polish for the word/phrase.

I quite like the Polish language, but I never learnt to read/write in Polish, so this is something I'm now trying to learn. Hopefully GaduGadu will help there :P

As for whether people should speak the language if they are living here? Of course, at least try to learn. Even if you find it hard and don't learn much, people will really respect that you've made the effort to learn. I find it nice to see how many Polish people have a good grasp of English, so I'm sure Polish people like it just as much when they see someone who can speak some Polish, even if it's basic.

Our whole perception of the world is shaped by language. Without language our view of the world would be much more linear. It is vital to at least attempt to learn the language for the area in which you live if you truly wish to understand the people there for who they are :)

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

Thanks :)

While we're on the subject, does anyone have any tips for some good ways to learn the written language? Spoken language is easier to learn for me as I can pick it up by talking, watching TV, listening to music, etc. Written language seems a lot harder as with other languages that I learnt (French and German) I was taught them at school, now I have no tutors so I'm having to teach myself :P

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

Haha that's a really obvious idea that I didn't think of, thanks for the tip :)

So an interesting question, those of you who moved to Poland a while ago and have a pretty good grasp of the language now, how long did it take you?

I already know the language well enough for most every day conversations thanks to spending a lot of time in Poland when I was younger, but as for the written language, I'm starting from scratch :P

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

Moje rodzice nie uczyli mi tego :P

I guess I must have just picked it up by listening as I was very young at the time.

I have some friends here that I've known for years, and soon I'll have a lot more, so we'll be talking on GG and by email in Polish when we need to.

The hardest bit for me is getting the grammar/spelling right, as I never really learnt grammar when listening to people speak :P

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

Dzięki :)

Ah I only just saw the language forums, I'll check them out :)

Feedback / Ads in posts and wrong page quantity of most threads [30]

I use AdBlock Plus for Firefox and I haven't seen an Ad on any site for years :P