Im considering doing a foreign exchange program in the summer of 2011 and Poland is one of my options. Theres only one problem i dont know enough polish to go to Poland. Do you think I should go or not?
I'd absolutely love to go there and experience it.
Why not.. you just need to chose a course in english language, most of Polish universities have at least one. Poorer/smaller/worse schools have worse english quality courses ; ) I know many polish students who used the Socrates/Erazmus students exchange programme and they were really happy..
on the other hand my mates who participated in students exchange said that they prefered it outside of Poland - properly and expensively equipped laboratories, and friendlier deans office and professors.. ; )
It's best to stick to students from your native country as then you can faster figure out how to survive without Polish. The negative is that you won't learn much from them unless they are friends with Poles.
Polish language skills certainly are required, as well they should be for anyone living, working, studying in a foreign country!
It's hardly practical after all to expect that Poles will learn Hindi to communicate with an exchange student from India studying at a Polish university any more than Hindi speakers should be required to speak/study in English with English non-native speaking Polish teaching staff.
Learning the basics of the language prior to arrival shows respect for the host country and will make your stay that much more rewarding.
At least I've found this to be the case.
Home / Study / Foreign Exchange Program in Poland, what do you think? Polish language required skills.
