Learn Polish or Russian

No, I meant there is no Polish community so it would be a useless skill. Its no fun unless you use it in everyday life to talk to people, like for part time jobs or a career. The language is really fun to speak and interesting, not like boring Spanish or German.

You have to find a way to make it a part of everyday life. The only option for most living in the US is the internet but you could meet Poles online, talk to them and maybe visit one day. They could also visit you.

Just so long as you remember that with such an attitude, you have no right to call yourself anything but American.

lol...we missed you delph....;)

Your comments remind of why it is so fitting that an internationally recognized American icon is a clown that has a quintessentially Scottish surname: McDonald.

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Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?

Spanish, boring??
:-)

Not if you live in the Southwest USA. ;o)

Precisely my point! Southwest, Northwest, anywhere, it seems:-)

Polish was once as useful in Chicago as Spanish is today in New York and elsewhere. Don't forget Upton Sinclair's turn of the last century classic "The Jungle", about Chicago's meat packing district, then almost a Polish mafia:-)

My relatives who came around 1913 worked in the meat packing and grocery biz. One of my uincles ended up having a chain of large super markets that he sold to Ralphs (if I'm not mistaken).

Interesting. There's an old movie "Northside 777" with James Stewart, Helen Walker and Lee. J. Cobb about a young reporter played by Stewart who tries to infiltrate the meat packing mob. At one point in fact, Stewart's editor boss, played by Cobb, asks Stewart when the latter says he's going on this assignment no matter what, whether he speaks Polish:-) The movies also stars an aging Polish stage actress Kasia Orzeszkowska (???) as the cleaning lady whose son is involved in some sort of dirty deal.

Her name is Kasia Orszewski, sorry!

Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" is about Lithuanian immigrants working at "Brown's Slaughterhouse" in Chicago's meat packing industry. The fictional slaughterhouse is not run by Polish-Americans in the novel, and it is based on the Amour & Company meat packing concern which was owned by Scottish-Americans. The only significant Polish character in "The Jungle" is the socialist Ostrinski.

Sorry about that!

You're correct that the Balts too were part of the meatpacking scene. The Polish connection though in "Northside" is right on the money, and it WAS about the Polish 'mafia' operating in contemporary Chicago (1947):-)

This question is not ridiculous. What is ridiculous is your claim that Russian far less useful than French, Spanish or German. It's not.

That's right, Allofon! There are probably more speakers of Russian or Arabic (not to mention Chinese!!) than there are of French, German or even Spanish nowadays. Also, Russia's the largest single landmass, i.e. country on earth with a growing economy, most of whose citizens DON'T speak any other language then Russian, so it's tremendously useful. I couldn't wait to learn it after Polish.

It withered away because the Poles who came to America wanted to become American. Why PERMANENTLY move to another country and don't assimilate? Hello? If people wanted to stay Polish they never would have left Poland.

Why not learn both at the start, then stick with the one you like most or both of them if you really want.

I am not very keen to know Polish. But Russian is my favorite and still I am learning this language. I have learn more than 500 Russian names from babynology.com. I love to communicate with my friends in Russian.

Both are practical, only Russian has a greater speaker percentage:-)

Poles are more numerous in the Western European service sector, however, e.g. in Britain still, as well as Germany since forever and a day!

There is no future in Russia, the population is shrinking and its an economic disaster.

It's language remains nonetheless one of the two or three most widely spoken on the planet:-) Most native Russian speakers (and not necessarily only ethnic Russians either, but Armenians, Azerbadzhanis etc.) don't really know English. A number know German or French, yet Russian itself remains IMMENSELY practical, make no mistake!

Russian is only the world's eighth most spoken language and shrinking. French and Spanish are showing the most growth.

Yet along with each of the above, including Arabic and Mandarin, you have the whole planet:-)

Russian always was practical, from the Sputnik Era onward!

Nope, is a useless language unless you want to visit a impoverished dictatorship.

And its a disappearing language, the population who speak it is shrinking by 10million per decade.

Hate to disagree, but owing to her sheer size and geopolitical importance, learning Russian will continue to be of TREMENDOUS importance.

What other language does one use to communicate with which to communicate? Polish???! Hah!, German?? Double hah! English?? Not enough hahs to make a booLOL

:-)

Poland shares a border with Russia, yet its trade ties are tiny and falling all the time. Russia is not important or geopolitically relevant outside its small mind..

Scholars and international political scientists would heartily beg to differ with the last part of your statement, perterweg:-)

For the above reasons stated, I adamantly disagree as well.

The Russian bear will inevitably wake up one day!

Russian would be one of the least useful languages to learn on the planet. As if you would waste time learning this?

Wrong, Marsupial!

As languages go, Russian is even more "practical" than Polish, perhaps as much as German, Chinese or Arabic, and FAR MORE useful than either Spanish or French nowadays:-)

Why such prejudice against Russian?