Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D

and you shouldn't because Americans' grammar is pretty bad... :)

"...irritatingly patronising.", eh?

Hmmm. Have to puzzle over that one. Anyway, let's keep things civilized 'round here. Regarding my being annoyingly smug, a colleague of mine once mused, "Ya know, Mark, you always have a slick explanation for everything!"

So, whaddya want me to do, learn to stutter??

I like czech because it is very phonetic language.For example the word ptacek for the bird,you can guess by the sound it refers to a bird.Or prsti,for raining,polibek for kiss,vitr fouka(it is windy) etc.

I'm settling for a low standard, it's just that practicing the standard English or the standard American accent (if such exist) would take me years probably and would turn out to be a useless skill as I have no immediate plans to travel to UK or the US. I'd rather commit that time to improve my German or French.:)

...or how about German Schmetterling for butterfly? Can't you practically hear the flapping of wings??

LOL

The problem is: If one wants to learn English from a native speaker, ask yourself a question from what country/region ;-) I once was trained by a Scouser who admitted himself English was his second language. I was getting maximum 40% of what he was saying ;-)

My spoken English quality varies with the weather and depends what country/region was the person with whom I spoke lately. My curse is adaptiveness... At the top form my English is totally accent-less. If this happens, I'm so glad...


Strè prst skrz krk, I like the language very much, too.

Koala, as you also appear reasonably dedicated, I trust your level of French or German will therefore be 'higher' than you English!

The problem too is compounded by the sad fact that English as a first language is usually taken even less seriously than English as a second, to be sure in the States!

As I've said on this forum, perhaps to the point of repetition, I never blame foreigners for an incorrigably poor English level, when the junk that comes out of the US entertainment industry is so submental these days, one wonders how Hollywood is still able to maintain its cutting edge when competing with your 'Hollyłódź' or India's 'Baliwood'!!

I'm afraid that's not possible. :( I just don't have the patience anymore for that. When I was a teenager, I was reading English novels, playing video games, watching movies etc. and translating every single word, so that my vocabulary is rather extensive (and on the university I was studying exclusively from English textbooks), so even if my grammar is far from perfect, I'll never be able to match that knowledge and fluency in any other foreign language, maybe only if I moved there...

Well, I'm happy at least to hear you admit it! I for instance freely and gladly admit I'll NEVER master Polish like an educated native speaker or on the level of my German, yet I'm cool with that and will always continue to use it for practical purposes. I console myself in the knowledge that whereas a Pole will be able to talk rings around my Polish, with English (or German), I'll still be the one to whom others will come!

That'a a lot healthier on your part than in Denmark or Sweden, also the Netherlands, where people are so convinced their English is perfect (or near perfect), they feel they have nothing left to learn and so reject correction.

I must say that people in the Netherlands overall have extremely good English.

I know plenty of Dutch people, and they don't seem arrogant at all. We always talk in English and the conversations are very smooth usually, I'd say they're statistically much better in English than other mainland European nations. In fact, I worked in Northern Belgium for 3 months and only learned a handful of words in Flamish/Dutch (they're almost the same language) as I could always speak in English! (I was a student at the time and my job was helping in organizing beach parties during Summer - one of the best times of my life :)) In Germany or in France there's much lower probability of meeting people speaking English.

In terms of day-to-day fluency, I can only agree. Zupęłnie zgadzam się, Madźiu. Holundercy płynnie umią po angielsku, często bez akcentu, tylko nie czysto umią-:) While their fluency in general cannot be debated, their accuracy on the other hand is frequently marred by overuse of vulgar slanguage, derived in large part from one too many Chuck Norris action thrillers, so that many a young Hollander (male or female) sound more like a cursing caveman rather than a civilized human.

The older generation of Dutch? That's another story. Many speak both a high-grade German, albeit unwillingly, as well as a top-notch English, almost like an educated professor from the States!

I cannot hide my smirk listening the Dutch "v" pronounced as "f" when English is spoken. Oh, a "fessel" sounds so funny! ;)

That's my problem, too, as I learn a lot from watching movies or reading message boards and it's hard to determine for a non-native what is colloquial and what is considered more formal.


Fixed :)

Koala


I completely agree with you. I took a drinking walk to several pubs in Cambridge and was fraternizing with the locals, most of them being English teachers. Once I wanted to be witty and addressed one of the ladies with "Oi!" This was really a blunder...

thanx.-:)

That's my problem as well, being as I learn a lot by watching movies or reading message boards. For a non-native speaker, it's hard to determine what is considered more formal versus what constitutes more colloquial usage.

Fixed :) tit for tat (he-he!) Proszę nie bądź mi zły! Inaczej jest Twój angielski nieźleLOL

Well there, Koala, pleased to see one of you admit it. And here lies the heart of the problem; few will admit to NOT knowing/hearing the difference between different spoken registers vis-a-vis written language. Everything's just lumped together into a sort of tossed salad of world English and sooner or later the collender's gonna start to get stale.... pardon my mixed metaphors)))

this is true - however I have once met a fairly young till-operator in Holland who either knew little English or had problems with English numerals (I had to practice my wee-bit Dutch - and beware if you can speak just a couple of phrases in Dutch don't go looking for a job with 'Ik/we zoeke(n) arbeid' - it will be confronted with fast swishing sentences you won't understand untill the person to speak them realizes that you gape ;)

Gumishu, we would say "ik zoek werk". "Arbeid" is old-fashioned and reminds us a little too much of the Second World War ... ;).

But the result will be the same: the partner in your conversation will start blabbering away leaving you completely speechless ... ;)

That's the point many so called "native speakers" of English cannot understand.

A funny example:
..

One of my favorite examples is the movie "Trainspotting", a Scottish-made film from around the late '80's, early '90's, which required English subtitles for English-speaking audiences, including for urban, educated Scots, for whom the thick dialect of the working class actors proved a bit too thick, even for them-:)

Or Swiss-German dubbed/subtitled in High German for non-Swiss majority German-speaking audiences!

The British Council in Bucharest ran a screening of Trainspotting when it was new. They gave the audience a questionnaire afterwards with multiple choice questions. Almost all of them though it was set in England rather than Scotland, and that the characters were middle-class!

Nie jestem na Ciebie zły, ale poprawię:P "Proszę nie bądź na mnie zły! Ogólnie Twój angielski jest niezły" <- "Inaczej" jest poprawnie, ale w tym przypadku nie pasuje :) We say in such cases "in general", not "otherwise".

I think everybody saw Trainspotting, at least everyone who met at least one Scott in his life as every Scott asks if you saw that movie.

Good!

I'm sure you know this one already?
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dABo_DCIdpM

Dziękuję! Prawdopodobnie przetłumaczyłem z niemieckiego 'Ansonsten', bo w tym przypadku 'Ogólnie' (Im allgemeinen, generell) również nie pasuje-:)

Languages are indeed fascinating, aren't they!

być może 'Ale tak poza tym' would fit here better (in place of otherwise)'

Now that's a perfect sentence. :)

@Dzięki, Koala!

@Gumishu, tak! 'Ausserdem' (= Poza tym) także pasuje w samym kontekcie-:))

Closure, finally!

"pasuje w tym samym kontekście"
ten sam = the same
sam = alone

No, teraz rozumiem. Tym samym = tak samo
Tego samego = takiego samego

I'm not sure what do you mean here...

Oni wyglądają tak samo - they look alike

Oni używają takiego samego sprzętu - they use the same devices (the same = alike, similar devices, almost the same)

Oni używają tego samego sprzętu - they use the same devices (exactly the same! the same brand and kind. In some context it might mean also a one object used by two people. Compare:

- Używamy takiej samej szczoteczki do zębów. Nie pomyl się. (there are two teethbrushes which look alike)
- Używamy tej samej szczoteczki do zębów! O boże, umyłam zęby twoją szczoteczką! (there is one teethbrush used by two people)

In this sentence there is similar situation:
Oni myją się tym samym mydłem - they use the same soap (two people share one soap or a soap of the same brand)

So you see there is significant difference! ;)