pernumba
17 Dec 2017
Life / Pretending you don't speak Polish - Poles have a strong preference and love for English [18]
So the title of this thread is a little misleading, but here's the gist of it:
I've been here in Warsaw for about 6 months, I'm from the US, and I speak Polish pretty decently. I can talk about basically anything but I mess up the przypadki and grammatical stuff a lot if I'm not paying attention. One thing I've noticed is that people DO NOT want me to speak to them in Polish. Especially young people. As soon as people hear me speak, even if I say something quickly and fluently with no mistakes, they switch to English immediately. I don't even have an "american accent" I roll my 'R's perfectly and have been told I sound italian or spanish when I speak Polish>
expats in other countries say how important it is to learn the local language; in Poland it is reversed. I know a guy who speaks Polish perfectly, and English extremely well (considering it's not his first language.) and he talks to everyone in English even when they don't speak English 1/10th of how he speaks Polish.
maybe poles have this love for the English language or something, I'm not really sure.
Like I've said, I've only been here 6 months, but this is the strangest thing to me. I've been to over 20 countries and speak 6 languages not counting Polish and I have never experienced such a strong preference and love for English anywhere in the world. At least in northern europe they are literally just speaking to you in English because it is the most effective means of communication, but here people's eyes light up at the chance to speak English, you can literally feel someone waiting to say something to you in English with such strong anticipation.
It's convenient for me in terms of quality of life, but inconvenient cuz sometimes I think to myself while studying Polish, "why am I doing this, even if I hit C2, people are just going to be disappointed that their English speaking machine is no longer available, and it won't make my life better socially, or logistically."
So the title of this thread is a little misleading, but here's the gist of it:
I've been here in Warsaw for about 6 months, I'm from the US, and I speak Polish pretty decently. I can talk about basically anything but I mess up the przypadki and grammatical stuff a lot if I'm not paying attention. One thing I've noticed is that people DO NOT want me to speak to them in Polish. Especially young people. As soon as people hear me speak, even if I say something quickly and fluently with no mistakes, they switch to English immediately. I don't even have an "american accent" I roll my 'R's perfectly and have been told I sound italian or spanish when I speak Polish>
expats in other countries say how important it is to learn the local language; in Poland it is reversed. I know a guy who speaks Polish perfectly, and English extremely well (considering it's not his first language.) and he talks to everyone in English even when they don't speak English 1/10th of how he speaks Polish.
maybe poles have this love for the English language or something, I'm not really sure.
Like I've said, I've only been here 6 months, but this is the strangest thing to me. I've been to over 20 countries and speak 6 languages not counting Polish and I have never experienced such a strong preference and love for English anywhere in the world. At least in northern europe they are literally just speaking to you in English because it is the most effective means of communication, but here people's eyes light up at the chance to speak English, you can literally feel someone waiting to say something to you in English with such strong anticipation.
It's convenient for me in terms of quality of life, but inconvenient cuz sometimes I think to myself while studying Polish, "why am I doing this, even if I hit C2, people are just going to be disappointed that their English speaking machine is no longer available, and it won't make my life better socially, or logistically."