Court punishment Poland - work for punishment instead of jail

Really Ironside - when a great many Poles don't decline their language properly, you are expecting me to employ more than 3 or 4 cases? No chance.


It's just mafeketis on some "clever clogs" trip....

Some have more natural ability than others, but.... no one ever hears about Norwegians who just don't have a knack for foreign languages...

Again, failure to learn a local language after 5 or more years = stupidity and/or laziness.

So who here doesn't speak the language of the place where they live? And what level do you need to be able to communicate at? You are suggesting that all people want to be able to take long turns, or pontificate at the bar about the state of the nation.

Me - I exchange pleasantries with the neighbours, complain about the state of the roads, apologise to the policeman for speeding, grovel at the town hall about the filling in of the form for a replacement driving licence, negotiate the work on my little house - but - when I am discussing the health of my lab - if the vet wants to talk to me in English, that is his prerogative, and I am very pleased to enter into that contract.

You sound like one of those skinheads who offer to smash the foreigners' face in for speaking in their mother tongue.

Whatever language people speak privately is their business.
The need to become fluent in the local language is a very separate issue. I have no problem with those who speak only as well they need to (maybe a bit of pity for lack of intellectual curiosity) and I have problems with those who want everything translated for them (in government offices) and who expect everyone around them to accommodate their refusal to learn...

Absolutely. Now we can agree. I have zero interest in intellectual pursuits, outside of studying how on earth Hendrix moved, within the space of three years, from twanging a line nailed onto a broom handle in his father's living room, to forming a 3 piece combo at Army barracks in the 101st Airborne regiment.

natural talent and interest... I remember reading about how some famous blues guitarist (forget which one) grew up so poor that his first instrument was a discarded tobacco can - by practice he was able to get different sounds (basically chord progressions while he sang melody) from it.

also, look at the gypsy kids playing violin on the street, as small children they just produce random notes (or just random squawking), but after a few years their playing is surprisingly good without a single music lesson just constant practice and mimicry and by adults many become brilliant musicians... without a single formal lesson or without knowing how to read music