Language / When is speaking Polish showing off and when is it ok? [46]

FUZZYWICKETS

I think in this context it means, Do Polish people think that non-Polish people speaking Polish outside of Poland is showing off?

I certainly think it is when Polish people speak English to each other in Poland, or reply to foreigners who know their language well in English.

Language / When is speaking Polish showing off and when is it ok? [46]

Interesting topic, and something that sometimes confuses me. I've lived in Poland a few years now and speak the language quite well (I hope), however whenever a Pole finds out I'm from England, they will nearly always try and slip in English words for the sake of it (showing off, I have no idea). Sometimes I just let it slip, other times it starts to get really tiresome and I end up asking why they are doing it. Especially when the only vocab some people know is "f**k, s**t", etc..

A really crazy example was when I was in the airport the other week speaking Polish on the phone to a friend, and then immediately after taking another phone call in English. Immediately the guy next to me switched to speaking English to his girlfriend for no apparent reason apart from proving that he can also do it (I don't know :/). I see this strange mentality everywhere in Poland, like everyone needs to prove theirselves or something.

Also, there are some people in Poland (and other countries), who no matter how well you speak Polish, will continue to try and talk back in broken English. In this case I either continue talking Polish, or simply ask them why they don't want to speak Polish with me. Normally it turns out they want to do it to practice their English or simply to show off.

If I'm in the UK and I meet Poles, I'll speak English unless they want to speak Polish (some people don't seem to like it when a Brit can speak their language), I won't show off, slip in Polish words, however in Poland, I will always speak Polish, even if the other person insists on English. It's just common-sense to me :-)

UK, Ireland / Polish is the 5th best languages to study for Brits [11]


Can't say I have had much experience with France, I have lived in Andalucia in Spain though, and the place was overrun with British, and in Britain nobody I knew would want to live in France and hated the place. There was never a need amongst the Brits there to speak Spanish, and many who had lived there many years barely speak a word. The ones that owned businesses though, did speak Spanish, as they had to (and were more successful there because of it)

I'm learning Polish because it's something I actually use (family, etc..), I doubt however it would ever improve my career prospects, unless I had a some sort of low-paying government job dealing with Polish who don't want to learn English.

UK, Ireland / Polish is the 5th best languages to study for Brits [11]

I'd certainly question this list, especially German which was forced upon us in school along with French. As for being the most useful, I'd bump Spanish to the top of the list. Lots of Brits own homes or holiday to Spain, many settle there and try and find work, start businesses, etc. The same can't be said about German or French. Also, unlike in Germany and France, lots of Spanish don't actually speak English to a high level.

As in terms of usefulness for a career, most of our German customers have such a high-level of English, that it has never been necessary to have translators or even documentation written in German (Although I'm sure it would earn us some points if we did so).

Language / Collection of learning resources for learning the Polish language [129]

TBH I've found most books are dull, and all have that boring element of learning lists of words. I've tried many different books, and I get bored of them very quickly. The conversations are so plastic and unreal in most cases, and the exercises have you write about things you'd probably never write about in real-life, like "What is your opinion on women's fashion?".

I've learnt more by just reading and watching real language content, and making notes of things I don't understand and then getting a grammar book and dictionary out and learning things I think I will find useful. You'd be surprised how much you can just pick up by reading stuff you are interested in (even if you initially you don't understand much of what you are reading).