Your perception of the Polish accent

I actully know what they are:) what about glides;)

Depends a bit. I like the accent of my lady (of course:) ) and she laughs a bit about my Dutch accent. You see Polish ppl make typical little errors that give them away: "I take bus", "I'll have apple" plus some others like "I liked" instead of "I like it" or -and this is really a common error- "I thing" instead of "I think". They seem to have the biggest problems with the subject in a sentense: I hardly hear them say a, an, the and if they do, it's a lot of times: "I take this bus', when they mean to say "I take the bus". But like said, it depends; if a hot blonde speaks with a Polish accent it's of course much sexier than when a neanderthalic construction worker does so :) Also, I find that if guys speak with a Polish accent, it somehow sounds more like a Russian accent to me, but that could be me.

M-G

I think Polish accents are hottt...so do most people I know
When I spoke Polish with my accent, the Poles told me it was cute=P and I would use English phrases but translate them into Polish haha

I teach students from around the world who are using English as a language in addition to their native language. They all have an accent based on their native language. I think I and many others don't think a thing about accents. And what indeed is an American accent? People in one part of the country have an accent quite different than others.

8 (and that's not counting diphthongs)

People are naturally hard-wired to find differences attractive to some degree (to facilitate gene flow), so accents (especially unfamiliar or uncommon ones) will almost always be a plus on the dating side. How it works in other areas of life is a different question. The accent that makes a Polish girl popular at a party might keep her from getting a job where accent is important (like a receptionist).

Also, people are fundamentally irrational about accents. There's no objective reason why particular accents (whether native or foreign) arouse particular feelings. It's all stereotypes and custom. I'd rather rinse my ears out with battery acid than listen to a Manchester accent for long periods of time but I recognize that that's just prejudice and I'd try to not let my asthetic judgement cloud how I treated a person with such an accent. But that's easier said than done.

I hardly hear Polish accents anymore unless it's really extreme.

For most people in the US any Slavic sounding accent (if it's very strong) has features that combined sound a little silly in serious environments like work or politics (this is the Borat syndrome). On the other hand, the Polish accent is much less "Slavic sounding" than Russian or Czech accents.

OMG,not just me then,its that whiny non noise made between real words,sometimes you would swear it could shatter a wine glass :)

Hehehe, they seem immune to it here but I must've missed the booster deadline. I got my windows insured against their squawking. Seriously tho, it cuts right through me sometimes. I have to ignore it as best I can.

The accent generally is fine, no big problems with it

Poles should not teach English to anyone above beginner level.
I occasionally teach people who have been taught by Poles and their accent is woeful (as is the teacher's knowledge of English way too often).

I really cant agree with that. I have met and worked with many polish teachers of english whose language abilities were fantastic. More often than not, their teaching abilities were a dammed sight better than the average CELTA grad too

I agree with yah......;), I just hope you are not teaching them sshpelling:)

Agreed mate.
Re accents though, Dont worry about it,thats what makes the world interesting,as long as your words are understandable who cares.
One thing I find as a native english speaker is that generaly when it comes to accents,or,pining down someones countyry of origin rather, with blokes I can tell the difference between a Pole and a Russian speaking English but with women its much more subtle.

I like the Polish accent aswell as the Russian. They both sound very nice.
They have some kind of magic.

The really disturbing thing is when someone says "Eastern European accent" (or "Central European accent"). There is no such thing. I have a so-called "Eastern European" accent as well, but for my ear, the Polish accent sounds funny when they say things like "mornying", "trainying", "finyish".

Also, the error MareGaea mentioned (the omission of definite/indefinite articles, e.g. "I go to bank") is a "feature" of Slavonian English-speakers only. :)

There is a perception that there is - this guy for example is based on the actor Béla Lugosi who was Hungarian.
There is a Latvian guy at my work who sounds just like him !

youtube.com/watch?v=kQC82okzTXI

i like polish accents, well most slavic accents sound pretty good, but im kinda scared of them because im an ice skater & there is a bulgarian coach at my rink,i dont even understand a word he says most of the time, & i take this class that he teaches & he makes up skate as fast as we can & the at the end of the class he makes us run suisides, in the ice skating world a slavic accent means you will run untill you wanna throw up, then you will run 10 more miles!

i dont really notice italian or french accents because one of my dads friend is from italy & has a thick accent so im used to it & dont hear it when people from there talk

the accent i cant stand at all is the english accent i just want to strangle all the english people because they sound so annoying, sorry english people that just how i feel about your accent, scottish & irish accents sound ok its just the english accent i dont like, i just hate when people cant tell aussies & kiwis apart from english people they sound completly diffrent!

I did watch ur video but most on this forum are to lazy to watch the videos people put on here.

The Polish accent lacks variety. Poland is more than 2 times bigger than the the UK. I have asked people here to do a Gdańsk accent, or a Poznań accent etc etc. They look at me like I've lost my mind. In the UK, I could copy any number of accents. Liverpudlian, Mancunian, Brummy, Belfast, Cardiff or Glaswegian, you name it. I can't pinpoint where Poles are from from their accent. Maybe if they use some dialectal words that I recognise but the sound of their voice is the same.

Come on Poles, prove me wrong! The UK has a much more diverse and richer range of sounds.

you must get out more often from your Silesia...

My fiancee even admits that there is no real variety. I have heard students from different areas and they just sound, well, Polish.

There is a definite difference between Polish accent on the boarder of Lithunia, with Belarus, with Ukraine, in southern Carpathian, in Silesia, and in the interior of Poland. Sometimes not pronounced enough to be albe to tell right away where they are from.

I've heard someone from near the border and there was a slight change. Still, it's not as pronounced as in the UK. I mean, it's not a contest here but some regionally identifiable accents are nice. Variety is the spice of life :)

yeah Seanus you should have heard me speak Podlasie accent - the most beautiful one in Poland to my ears (and their quasi English sounds) - this is the most melodic one in Poland

Podlasie, I've heard of it but couldn't pinpoint it on a map of Poland.

Think Bialystok area.

Aha, now I know where it is, thanks!

Hi,
I live in UK 3 years now and before I came here I was learning English from Sesame Street - the original one - this was great :), later in Uni Teacher has hmmm not UK or us accent - something between... Anyway - when I came to The UK I worked more with non polish so this was helpful and now everyone say that my accent is nothing like Polish - good.

I'm sorry but I really don't like Polish English Accent - Its so Hard. English is very soft language. I'm not saying that my English is good cause is not and my accent is not perfect and never will be, however - Its not difficult to learn to speak correctly.

and "What" is not "Wat" when you speak...

I was actually talking of Kurpie group of dialectc around £omża (Ostrołęka, and in southern East Prussia before the Mazurs left for Germany in the 50's) it is different from Białystok area dialect. And has some distinct features, among them quite unique sounds of speech (one is similar to th in that). My grandparents from my mother's side came from there.

I asked about this and was told that there is not much difference in accents with a few obvious exceptions. I find it hard to believe as within my city there are differences in accents. In other countries there are distinct regional accents.

Is it true that someone from Poznan is indistinguishable from someone from Warsaw?

yes there is little difference
the more people are educated the smaller difference there is