Give me some reasons to learn Polish

I just started to learn Polish 2 months ago. It's quite an interesting language and I've handled some basic stuff...

But yesterday my mum suddenly asked me why I learnt Polish. She said it's not common in our state and also the U.S (I live in Los Angeles). Then she asked me to tell her some good reasons for me to learn this language, such as what benefits I get when I become fluent? There ain't many Polish people here, so who would I communicate/use this language with? how would the language help me in my career (I'm gonna be a nurse)? bla bla bla....I couldn't give her any good idea. so please help me think of some reasons to study Polish. My mum seems like gonna force me to stop getting into Polish, what a pity !_!.

Thanks a lot...

It won't help you at all considering you live in Los Angeles. You're much better off learning Spanish.

So you can read Poland's superb literature and poetry in the original.

Don't waste your time.

Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic to name a few.

unless you want to connect your life with Poland in some wya there is no real value added in learning the Polish language - and I say it as a Polish person

ok - after a moment I thought that after learning (some) Polish you are going to be very well prepared to learn Russian which can be very practical even in the US but isn't just learning Russian first a more sensible idea

eventually Polish language is a very good entry point to the kingdom of all Slavic languages (I would think)

It will definitely broaden your intellectual horizons.

It will help you develop mental discipline.

It's interesting on its own.

You like it.

Any foreign language will help with the first two but the last is subjective and needs no outside justification. You'll get more out of learning a language you're genuinely interested in than a 'practical' language that doesn't interest you (for whatever reason).

btw you can always get back to Polish when you are self-reliant

dont waste your time! learn turkish :))))

Its a total waste of time, unless you want to try to hook up with a Polish cleaning lady, or if you want to communicate with the Polish construction worker fixing your house, but you're better off just talking to the boss, which most likely will be an American.

I think that mafketis is right, obviously you like it and have an interest in it so you should keep doing it.

In my opinion there are many things that people do that aren't a means to an end(they are an end in themselves) but people do them anyway, sometimes it is socially acceptable and sometimes not, depending on who your parents are, what country you live in etc. For some people learning langauages is a pastime like going to the pub or hillclimbing etc. You could be doing a lot worse, taking drugs, drinking, playing video games, watching too much televison etc.

I am sure that your mother spends her free time doing stuff that she likes also but that isn't necessarily productive.

Reasons??? To communicate with Poles, particularly in business, what other language are they going to use?? English, to prove a point that they're "competitive", or their native tongue so as they can understand as well as be understood by others??

Fairly silly thread, I think.

which are all equally useless in the USA, especially CA. let's try and stay on topic here.

In order to SUCCESSFULY communicate (not merely approximate meaning for politeness' sakeLOL) with US citizens in the US, no-brainer, ENGLISH ALL THE WAY!! However, the same cookie-cutter mentality should never be extended to the non-English native speaking majority of our planet! Ditto this model " " " with the Chinese, use Mandarin, " " "with the Germans, use German, " " " the Poles, use Polish straight on down the line.

This is what interpreters are paid for (and damned well, I might add. I ought to know, I am one)::-))

How old are you, are you going to let your mother run your life?

Right on catsoldier. Learning Polish in order to be able to appreciate the beauty of Polish prose and poetry in the original, as I suggested above, is a good enough reason to learn it.


Fuzzywickets, don't drag this thread down in to mere considerations of practicality. Let us remember the immortal words of Oscar Wilde in his preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray:

Haven't we forgot the sheer practicality of communication I just alluded to?? Sure, poetry in English's great as well, yet scarcely of any palpable use if a Lithuanian estimating engineer comes to Montana to measure a mine shaft, right? Vice versa, quoting "Pan Tadeusz" ain't gonna help a rat's ass when some Yank comes to, say, £ódź in order to market a mail-order business, is it?

Tell her that you are learning Polish so that when you come to Poland to spend a year working to help Poland, you will understand the people where you are. That is the best reason to learn it.

The only one I can think of is maybe it will help you in meeting a Polish guy.

if you like it keep at it. i have been learning for about 2 years. no way am i fluent, and i dont need to learn it, but i am too stubborn to give up now. so what if you might never need to use the language, its still a string to your bow. try and mx with polish people if you can(this is how i learned) good luck!!

Again, learning the language of ANY country with which you have either professional or personal relations is useful, period. Perhaps on just a touristic level, no, but other than that, I can't imagine a valid opposing reason.

If you cannot see the reason in learning a national language in order to better enjoy that nation's art then you are hopelessly mired in a lowly drudge's mindset. Vive l'art pour l'art!

There were protests in Britain when the tuition fees were increased



That placard made a serious point in a humorous way.

Study for personal reasons is a valid enough reason otherwise everyone would be studying how to sell hamburgers and insurance, remember everyone has a hobby.

Agreed, Des Essientes:-) I've always said so.

You learn it because you want to, that's what matters. It doesn't matter if it's the most useful language. Studies have shown that learning one language helps make it much easier to learn another. I started learning German in school when everyone else learned French or Spanish. Now I know Polish and am a translator, so it worked out. (Also, I earn on average more than those with Spanish or French as their language ;))

Absolutely.

I used to think Polish was a pretty useless language when I was in my early teens, and I even stopped speaking it for a while.

How wrong I was! Not only did it eventually help me to learn French, Italian and Czech, but it's been increasingly useful at work - and long before 2004, may I add.

I also learned some Cantonese, when clearly Mandarin would appear to be far more "useful"; but I'm far more interested in HK than in mainland China, and there are more Cantonese than Mandarin speakers over here anyway, so it made sense to me.

You should not learn Polish you need to learn Mandarin so you know the language of your enemy in case you need to interrogate them someday, the same reason I know Russian and English.

Thanks for your comments, they're quite helpful.
So far, I decided to keep learning Polish even though it'd take me a long time to become fluent.
About my mum ...:( I'll try my best on my exams to get her trust.
I hope to be able to speak Polish well someday. It'd be fantastic!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


yep...Spanish is very common in LA, that's why I'm learning it.


thankyou


Mandarin: my mom's mom is Vietnamese-Chinese, I can speak some (but can't handle all of Chinese characters)
Arabic: I'm nearsighted!


exactly! thanks for this


K :)


I did! I have some Turkish friends. I also enjoy Turkish cuisine...but I haven't touched it for a long time.


in this case...my family doctor ^___^


yeep...somehow I feel like I shounda shut up and just play with some new Polish vocabulary.


lol ...


I'm seventeen . of course I can do my own stuffs but I cant work for now, I really don't have time. I have to deal with SAT 2 stuffs plus Spanish and Japanese lessons


Good idea! I started thinking about being a travel nurse.


I met some...they almost speak English :(


thanks!!!


yes, you're bloody right...I also found the same thing with Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. they're quite relative.


woew...that's great! I can speak a little Cantonese cuz some of my distant relatives speak it.


haha...one of my friends learnt German just with the same reason

German's actually the language which once bound Eastern with Western Europe. Poles, Croats, particularly Czechs, used to pride themselves on their German knowledge, and the once proud Prager Deutsch was considered even superior to the written High German of the former Reich itself.

Gone are the days, my friends(:- Today, excellent German's been replaced by largely broken English, except for those few ex-pat Poles, ofr instance, lucky and wealthy enough to have gone to California!

The pre-ww2 polish movies, old polish tangos, many many polish songs both old and new, children's poetry, polish grammars (the declension of different cases), solidarity, patriotism, history, I have been learning polish on my own since 2009. Happy study. Keep going.

Cześć! Hi!
Polish is one of the difficult language on this planet. Let me just say that J.R.R Tolkien knew 30 languages but he capitulated when started learning Polish. I admire you for your courage but must say that you're wasting your time. I know many foreigners that live in my country for years, they talk to Poles every day and still can't pronounce words properly. And all these declines and grammar exeptions... Better try something easier and more popular like Spanish.

Greetings from Poland! Pozdrowienia z Polski!:)
Paulina

P.S. but boys should know at least few sentences in Polish because polish girls are amazing! We are well-known as slim and pretty blondes:) Haha

*the most difficult (sorry, I've been in a hurry)