Why is the Polish language so difficult?

Trusting people die first.

My, my. If all of us were such cynics, nothing would ever have gotten done.
Better to die innocent than live forever in a perpetual state of rancor.

Nature gave us and every other living creature the Instinct of self-preservation for a reason.
Trusting is the last resort when nothing else is available. Google "ER" if you need help.

Can I borrow 10 grand from you, Lyzko? I promise to pay it back in a year plus 20% interest.

No? What the fvck is the matter with you? Did you just turn into a cynic like that disgusting Novi? You should stop reading his posts...He is a nogoodnik...

:-) Nice one.

Polish "są" and French "sont" come from the same source (in ProtoIndoEuropean)

Along with German sind and Spanish son, Portuguese sao and probably others.

fun fact: the very weird present tense of być in Polish (with the combinations of jest and personal endings which are reduced forms of an older version of the verb być) was unsettled and forms like sąśmy used to occur. Personally I rather like sąśmy and sąście and wish they had taken hold....

Silesians and Highlanders still say "my som" instead of "jesteśmy"

There was an album by Piersi called "My już są Amerykany" I've also heard 'my byli' sometimes while I've never heard 'wy byli' that I remember.... I've read that might happen because -śmy contains 'my'

Goral language and Polish seems nearly as different from the other
as Sicilian and Standard Italian.

It was only in the 60s that even half of the Italians spoke in 'standard' Italian (basically Tuscan dialect) at home.

It's refreshing that Górale has remained strong rather than morphed into the rather bland standard Polish. Local dialects and accents aren't cherished in PL.

Górale dialect is very much cherished in Poland since the earliest times I'm aware of (late Gierek)

You're right about that, jon.
Recently finished a lengthy piece about modern Italy post-'45
and apparently even by the mid-'60's, in major cities, except for
the professional classes, the majority of Italians, especially
Southern Italian men, couldn't read or write.

How much of that is tourism driven? Funny mountain talk is part of the local tourist experience and no one wants to go there and hear them talking like anyone else (though many of them can when they want to).

To me the paralingujistic features (intonantion esp) sound very much like Slovak though I'm told the vocabulary isn't really close...

"Jesteśmy" is easier to pronounce and "sąśmy" sounds a bit funny/outdated, imho.


What do you mean?

"my som" is even easier to pronounce ;)


Górale are a stubborn folk and they like sticking to their traditions including their speech - if it was just for a financial incentive I doubt they would retain it

Just what I wrote... if you go on vacation to the Tatras do you want to hear mountain people talking funny or hear them speaking standard Polish? What fun is that?

It's local color. Maybe not the main reason but.... a contributing factor.

Górale speak their dialect every day just like many Silesians do - it's not just for the show

Well, I'm trying to understand what you mean... Do you seriously think that Poles cherish highlander culture and dialect only because they want to have a nice experience as tourists in the mountains? lol


Honestly? Personally I don't care... They don't have to use their dialect when talking to me. And it would be easier for me to understand standard Polish anyway.

I'd like them to retain their culture and dialect, but not for "touristy reasons". I'd like them to preserve it, because it's cool and beautiful and part of Polish heritage and what makes Poland more interesting.


I'm sure the fact that Poles like the culture of Polish highlanders helps them preserve it at least to some extent. Maybe it would be different if people looked down on it.

Yup, just like their weddings aren't meant for tourists :):





"Hej piykne dziywcyny i śfarne chłopoki" :D

It's the same with Irish :) Welcome back Roz, you haven't been here for ages. Hope you're keeping well 🥰

so you claim they speak literary Polish when no tourists are around? if so please somehow back up this claim

@gumishu, um... no... My comment was actually conveying the opposite... (= I actually agreed with you) o_O Drink some coffee, maybe you didn't wake up yet :P

If your first language is a dialect you keep it but use it to different degrees with different people and according to contexts.

I don't know much about górale, however Ślązacy certainly code switch just as I do in English according to circumstances.

...or Arabic...

Sometimes

@jon357
Allahu akbar?

No more or less than the same sort of thing in Polish or English.

Polish is no more difficult than English as difficulty's relative anyhow!
For Poles, English is a nightmare as is Polish for the average Anglophone:-)

You really are very funny and very stupid sometimes.....
Yes, English is not straight forward because it breaks the rules all the time and is a mixture of several languages.
Polish has 18 declensions, English has 3.
Go figure!

Difficulty's relative, as I said.
English orthography and pronunciation are nightmarishly
chaotic, whereas Polish is relatively transparent in that regard.

Poles might not admit it, but English looks easy at first glance
yet grows ever more "difficult" by the tense.

Anglophones struggle with Polish verbal aspects, while
Polonaphones have to contend with English idioms and
spoken vs. written register.

It all evens out in the long run, Milo, like it or not.

English doesn't have declensions, at least Modern English doesn't.