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What is the reaction of Poles to Russian?


Suwka - | 21
18 Jan 2013 #31
in sixties and seventies - I said, not now.
berni23 7 | 379
18 Jan 2013 #32
I know what you meant, i was pointing out that Russian is still spoken by the majority of the former Warsaw Pact countries as a second language.

Thats changing though, but it is still a lingua franca
gumishu 13 | 6,134
18 Jan 2013 #33
I know what you meant, i was pointing out that Russian is still spoken by the majority of the former Warsaw Pact countries as a second language.

you exaggerate a great deal - like Zibi said most of us never went beyond passive knowledge of Russian and this knowledge was very limited to say the least - so no Russian was not spoken by most of the Poles and neither it is true for most other Eastern Block countries

I don't say Russian is not a lingua franca - it is in the area of the former USSR - but it never was in Poland
berni23 7 | 379
18 Jan 2013 #34
Well, from my experiance i have to disagree.
I visited those countries in the 90ties and still do my round trips today.
Russian will certainly get you further than English, but Slavic helps too.
zetigrek
18 Jan 2013 #35
Russian will certainly get you further than English

Only if you chat with folks above 50.

but Slavic helps too.

Slavic?
berni23 7 | 379
18 Jan 2013 #36
Only if you chat with folks above 50.

Depends on the country

Slavic?

Oh not again, what i meant is that with Polish you get further than with English in most of these countries.
zetigrek
18 Jan 2013 #37
Depends on the country

I mean Poland.
Wroclaw Boy
18 Jan 2013 #38
Slavic?

Like garlic to a vampire
zetigrek
18 Jan 2013 #39
What do you mean? The vampires detest garlic.
berni23 7 | 379
18 Jan 2013 #40
I mean Poland.

Well, than you have to look at geography, too.
For instance close to the German border i meat more people speaking German than on the Russian border.
BTW I repeatedly said that its changing, but atm in countries that are not so well developed as Poland Russian will get you further, maybe not on the ice cream counter but in business certainly.
Wulkan - | 3,203
18 Jan 2013 #41
hmmm... in sixties and seventies - it was

No, it wasn't. That would mean my parents and people at their age could speak Russian but they can't although they had Russian in school. But how much do you remember from your worst subject in school? not much I guess
Suwka - | 21
18 Jan 2013 #42
I had a very good russian teacher - she was born in Russia, and my russian is quite good, even now
Wulkan - | 3,203
18 Jan 2013 #43
You can have the best teacher but if you don't want to learn anything you won't.
You wanted, you learnt it, simple
gumishu 13 | 6,134
18 Jan 2013 #44
I had a very good russian teacher - she was born in Russia, and my russian is quite good, even now

you were a bright student - can you say most of your schoolmates were equally bright? - I stand by the opinion that Russian was never a lingua franca in Poland
Wulkan - | 3,203
18 Jan 2013 #45
- I stand by the opinion that Russian was never a lingua franca in Poland

Russian a lingua franca in Poland - the most laughable thing I've ever heard
Vlad123 7 | 204
18 Jan 2013 #46
Do you personally dislike Russian language?What language sounds beautier to you Polish,
Russian or Ukrainian?
gumishu 13 | 6,134
18 Jan 2013 #47
Do you personally dislike Russian language?

I personally like the Russian language very much - the sound of it and the words
Wulkan - | 3,203
18 Jan 2013 #48
Do you personally dislike Russian language?

I can't say I dislike Russian language, it's more about the melody of the speach that is borat like, sounds backward to me.

What language sounds beautier to you Polish,
Russian or Ukrainian?

they sound alike, can't tell them appart
Lenka 5 | 3,418
18 Jan 2013 #49
Do you personally dislike Russian language?

I really like Rusian
Hipis - | 227
19 Jan 2013 #50
I'm not sure what the OP is trying to get at with his question and having read through all the comments I think some people have presumed the OP is looking for a negative reaction to his speaking Russian in Poland ie Russian is the language of the oppressor and Poles don't want to hear it etc etc

On the other hand if it's about the understanding of the language then I would think the reaction would depend on the person and whether or not that person understood Russian. There are similarities in the language ie if a Spaniard spoke only in Spanish in Italy and vice versa then a certain level of understanding and communication could be achieved, likewise with Polish and Russian. I was in a café in Kraków in June and the people in the queue in front of me were Russian and spoke all the time in Russian. The staff mostly understood what they were saying but the Russians did seem to get a bit annoyed and frustrated when they weren't understood, very similar to how Brits react when speaking to someone whose first language isn't English. Maybe a touch of the "we used to rule you, you should understand our language" sort of attitude maybe? However I did come across many Russians in Warsaw in the days leading up to the game who were very friendly and very polite, it all depends on the person so it's unfair to generalise, even about Brits abroad ;)

I know learning Russian was compulsory at school during Communist times but just because it was compulsory to learn it doesn't mean a person was any good at it and even though someone learnt it at school doesn't necessarily mean they'll still have a good understanding of the language today.
Zibi - | 336
19 Jan 2013 #51
What language sounds beautier to you Polish,
Russian or Ukrainian?

Ukrainian is far more understandable and nicer, also because it contains little or none of that tartar/mongol vocabulary that russian language possesses. However, russian language is also okay, but more distant than ukrainian.
Paulina 16 | 4,277
19 Jan 2013 #52
I know learning Russian was compulsory at school during Communist times but just because it was compulsory to learn it doesn't mean a person was any good at it and even though someone learnt it at school doesn't necessarily mean they'll still have a good understanding of the language today.

Oh definitely... I had Russian classes at secondary school (my school was probably the last one to have them lol). Our classes consisted mainly of reading texts aloud from our textbooks and I remember I was making cribs with phonetic transcription for other students because they couldn't even read the text as they didn't learn the alphabet lol I think I can recall one single grammatical test and it was a farse... And I really disliked the teacher, she was horrible... ;/

I enjoyed studying Russian language, I had good grades, but I remember I wanted to learn English back then, nobody wanted to study Russian at that time... However there weren't enough English teachers yet lol

And of course soon I could remember only "Kak tjebia zawód", "Spasiba" and "Haraszo" lol
It's good that at least I didn't forget the alphabet :)
Btw, some Poles regret nowadays that they didn't put too much effort in studying Russian during commie times.

I can't say I dislike Russian language, it's more about the melody of the speach that is borat like, sounds backward to me.

It doesn't sound backward to me. It's softer and probably more melodious than Polish.

Ukrainian is far more understandable and nicer

I've seen a documentary not so long ago probably on TVP Polonia or TVP Info about some Ukrainian festival in Poland and almost everybody spoke in Ukrainian there and I must admit I had to read Polish subtitles all the time so I don't know if it's far more understandable than Russian (but maybe it's because I know some Russian).

I don't know, you can compare yourself:

Ukrainian ("Przegląd ukraiński" on TVP):

Russian ("Rosyjski ekspres" also on TVP):

Ukrainian does have more words similar to Polish ones.

What language sounds beautier to you Polish, Russian or Ukrainian?

Ukrainian sounds like a mix of Czech and Russian lol
Dunno, there's something I like about it...
Wulkan - | 3,203
19 Jan 2013 #53
It doesn't sound backward to me. It's softer and probably more melodious than Polish.

yes it's more melodic and that melody sounds backward to me
Vlad123 7 | 204
19 Jan 2013 #54
Ukrainian is far more understandable and nicer, also because it contains little or none of that tartar/mongol vocabulary

Tataro-Mongol vocabulary?Well I decided to present here pictures of faces wich in my mind is common
for ethnical Russians:









Vlad123 7 | 204
19 Jan 2013 #55
And Russians from Polish movies:









Paulina 16 | 4,277
19 Jan 2013 #56
Tataro-Mongol vocabulary?

Don't mind Wulkan, he's probably a russophobe - those more hardcore ones like to bring up this "Tatar-Mongol" thing lol

And Russians from Polish movies:

Mala Moskwa

Szwadron

;)
berni23 7 | 379
19 Jan 2013 #57
Don't mind Wulkan, he's probably a russophobe

Nah, he is xenophobe in general. ;)
Wulkan - | 3,203
19 Jan 2013 #58
Don't mind Wulkan, he's probably a russophobe - those more hardcore ones like to bring up this "Tatar-Mongol" thing lol

you failed :-) that wasn't me who wrote it:

Ukrainian is far more understandable and nicer, also because it contains little or none of that tartar/mongol vocabulary that russian language possesses. However, russian language is also okay, but more distant than ukrainian.

Paulina: Don't mind Wulkan, he's probably a russophobe
Nah, he is xenophobe in general. ;)

that's why I've got a foreign girlfriend.... you also failed :-))
Vlad123 7 | 204
19 Jan 2013 #59
Paulina: And Russians from Polish movies:

Which exactly movies those pictures you posted are from?When those movies were shot?

almost everybody spoke in Ukrainian there and I must admit I had to read Polish subtitles all the time

I speak Russian and Ukrainian and often I could understend up to 70% of Polish text or more,though it depends on text.
Better if somebody speaks slowly and clearly like in documentary movie and use uncomlicated literature language.Pronounciation requires some adjustment but it is not very difficult to do.It depends on text though.Often I could understand a lot,sometimes not even a general sense.Quite difficult to undersand a speach that young Polish people use in informal conversation on differen tok-shows on TV.Those who use more archaic,simple, villegers language are way easier to undestand and sometime it resumble Russian to me.Some expressions are fully undestood.For example:

``ludzka podłość nie zna granic`` or ``Nienawiść wrosła w serca i zatruła krew pobratymczą``.
Zibi - | 336
19 Jan 2013 #60
Nah, he is xenophobe in general. ;)

So, none of you think that Russian have quite large non-slavic vocabulary? Let's start with a few: loshad' , yarlik, glaz, karaul, almaz, tyurma.


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