Polish vs British vs American - Clash of cultures

agreed, often a test is skewed by it's choice of terms and the perceptions of the reader..or their personal prior knowledge.
US makes a second language a MUST in secondary schools, most are opting for Spanish or French. Latin is still a strong choice in Catholic schools and Chinese is growing in popularity.

Why don't the Brits expect a knowledge of a second language? Because they are an island?

I wasn't aware that we don't!
It's a MUST in the UK to learn a second language in Comprehensive school as well (usually French).

Exactly. Some of us learnt German as well as French. And Brits living abroad do usually learn the language of th eplace they're living, contrary to myth.

One issue though is that so many people round the world speak English to some extent and often want to practise it. Sometimes they've spent a lot of time and money learning and want to use what they've learnt.

I will be the third person to point out that you are wrong.

Can anyone tell me at what age a second language is taught in Polish schools?
I know Russian/German languages are commonly taught, but is this from primary age or, as in the UK, when you start secondary education?
For the life of me i have never understood why a foreign language isn't taught in the UK from the age of 5, seeing as though it's compulsory to learn one.

Far easier to pick up when you start learning as a child, and there is a good chance you might end up actually being able to converse in the language by the age of 16!

Anybody know or can point to a link showing the No. or % of Polish schools offering English, German, French, Russian and other (Italian, Spanish, Swedish?) foreign languages to pupils?

English is now obligatory from the age of 6, throughout the elementary and secondary education, and there are optional classes in many preschools too. In secondary schools (both gimnazjum and liceum) it's two languages - English plus another one, most often it's German, French or Spanish. Russian is not so popular nowadays although some schools still have it. So it's English from the age of 6 and then English + another language from the age of 12.

Some elementary schools have another language classes, besides the compulsory English, but it's optional and depends on the school.


prohumanum.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/raport-men-jezyki.pdf
this one is from 2005, and here you have 2010:
test.ore.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&download=387:powszechno-nauczania-jzykw-obcych-w-roku-szkolnym-2009-2010&id=33:raporty

Many thanks!

Great ;) and thanks to all = wasn't aware ...interesting that so many folks are exposed to various languages and English still factors as most common usage.

Have students from all over the world...every one of them has had exposure to English...mostly the British style; so in America it can get rather confusing for them.

Yes i am very gentle with them, helpful and understanding...the experience of sitting in a classroom where your listening to another language even if you 'know' it can be daunting!

;) sorry folks my experience with England is airport layovers/refueling only...i'm not real comfortable on islands ;)

so why are you making sweeping statements about the education system here then?
btw England is not an island, time to brush up on geography perhaps?

French? That doesn`t count as a second language, as it is another variant of English. :):):):)

Did the Romans need to learn Goth or Gaulish?
When *everyone* speaks English why is it a *must* for an English person to bother with a second language if they dont want to?
Lets also point out that lots of *Brits* are bi lingual. The Welsh are Brits and speak Welsh and English, the local shop keeper speaks English,Punjabi, Hindi and Gujarati......

Provocative ;)

Everyone doesn't speak English - I got quite a shock in Berlin after realising that many people working in customer-facing positions didn't speak a word of English - especially young people.

oh hell yeh Berlin, they didn't even understand my marvellous German at the ticket office there when I was attempting to buy a ticket to Kustrin

And Polish soon too.... :):):):)

I had this problem too!

I was trying to buy a ticket to Kostrzyn, and the woman just wouldn't accept it as a place. I had no idea of the German name, but even on the timetables, it says Kostrzyn rather than Kustrin. And really - is the pronouncation that different between Kostrzyn and Kustrin?

exactly Delph!! Sounds the same to me!

Yes, it is. :):):) [kostshin] vs [kustrin]

anyway I said it both ways, and she still looked at me as though I was bonkers....where the hell did she think I meant....? Timbuktoo?

I suppose it didn`t help when you started to make faces at her.....

;) it's an island to me ;) shorelines are too close-
i like the thousands of miles between the Atlantic and Pacific
;) makes me a 'landlubber'
Not into large bodies of water....couldn't have made it in the Navy like pawian!!! :0
a good sweeping statement always gets some accurrate responses...when you want the truth it ALWAYS works ! ;)
So basically if you are part of the Modern world, connected to internet just about every place that educates it's children requires a second language , at least one to be taught in school.

strzyga
great stats posted on Poland that report was nice. Thanks for sharing.

No, its not................FFS.
Englands borders are not surrounded by water,ergo,it is NOT an island.............

really? i hope this is a joke?
I speak both i don't see the variance
very different grammatical structures
french is probably a lot easier to learn and is clearly more closely related to italian and spanish than english.

Different grammar is a piece of cake.

Didn`t they teach you at the university that one/third of modern basic English vocabulary is of French origin?

scribd.com/doc/28613683/The-Origins-of-the-English-Language-FAQs

Yesterday I looked at the blackboard dribbled all over by the French teacher and I understood everything. :):):):)


Are you sure you speak French?

it's my first language ... pretty sure i speak it yup.
when i read spanish or italian i can understand most of it.
I don't dispute there are a lot of english words and phrases that come from french which ultimatley dont come from french but from latin.

When learning english though i don't think it was any easier or would be any easier for any other native french speakers than learning any other language.

people who speak German may have an easier time with english i see a lot of relationship there.

Pawian: What is this BS???? I'm in same situation as Imcl, que je salue :) (speaking both languages with French as native language I aso happen to be a teacher thereof).

English is a mixture of Germanic language and of Latin via French and that's why there are numerous (around 40%) English words coming from French and it was a time when they spoke French in Britain. For instance, table, chair, beef, veal, pork, mutton, to demand, mercy,.. and thousands more come from French.

I bet you have never taken French ;). French is more complicated than English since more complexed structures (among others, masculine and feminine, agreements of nouns and adjectives of all kinds, numerous endings to verbs, irregular verbs found in all tenses (in English only in preterit), adjectives placed either before or after the nouns and sometimes the meaning is different because of it (cf. "un grand homme" vs. "un homme grand", or "un brave homme" vs. "un homme brave" and a lot others. French spelling is also non phonetic contrary to other Latin languages).

French is a latin language and is very similar to Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Italian, Catalan, Romanche and a few other dialects

Please learn it to a high level and then you'll talk.;)

I

ilmc lol but close enough
salut!
French is a beautiful language... english is slop... yah i know i will get a lot of flack for saying that but had i had my choice i would have stuck with french, however my mother being a native english speaker who though god bless he she tries cannot make a french word sound anything like french would have struggled to understand me. I learned both languages young french i picked up on first must have loved it as a baby lol becasue my first word was in french. My father is a native Acadian french speaker from new brunswick Canada whose family originated from brittany france. So if french and english are so closely related pawian explain my mothers struggles when married to a french speaking man hearing french every day and having two french speaking daughters who both speak the language beautifully. the day my mother learns to properly roll an r is the day i may agree with you... poor woman, she can speak german though and learned it as an adult quite easily hmmm must be the relationship english and german have to each other. Polish now that is a hard language to learn makes my head hurt but i will get it.

Coucou lmc! I've just sent you a mp en français ;).
Yes, French is a beautiful language and I'm proud to speak and also teach it. I lived many years in the US and a lot of people there call it the "language of love".

In Poland (like in most countries) it is a language spoken and learnt by the elite.
I suppose only the rednecks are against and also unable to learn it.
Je dois partir et au plaisir de te parler à nouveau, Ilmc !

lol in Canada anyone can learn it you don't have to be elite just opt to take it in school :)
hmmm i have often heard italian called the language of love but then paris is called the city of love .. so i suppose. I still think polish is a cool sounding language to me it sounds much more regimented less musical more hmmm i don't know how to explain it more... powerful i think is the word im looking for. When i listen to Mike and his parents talk they all sound very powerfull and a little harsh haha i can't wait to actually understand and be able to carry a coversation with them, perhaps it will sound different to me when i can actually speak it.

Ilmc, I'm talking about learners in Poland since 99% of them belong to the upper crust and since 2004 because of Poland's joining the UE, all high officials have to learn it.

Comme dit dans mon mp, là, je dois éteindre. Bien à toi!