Sunday, April 17, 2011
Speaking English - revised
When we first arrived, I originally had the impression that very few people spoke English at all, but at this point, 3 months into our stay in Lublin, I have to give a revised assessment of the language skills of local Lubliners...MANY people speak some English, but they are hesitant to let you know it. Discussions with colleagues at the University seem to indicate that most people learn some English in school these days (often along with a 3rd language like German or Spanish). The teaching method, however, is pretty heavy on writing, reading and proper grammar, but does not focus much on conversation skills. Thus people are reluctant to speak for fear of making a mistake, and they often apologize for their English. As an English-speaking visitor, I have to say that I'm quite delighted with hearing anyone attempt to speak English and the grammatical errors don't bother me in the least. The main point is that we can communicate and learn something more about each other's respective cultures.
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I can say the problem of Polish people who try speach in foreign language is a inferiority complex. It causes by our history and also by TV, where we often heard about german and other foreigners who speak better than we in different, than native, langauge. I know that by myself. I'm quite young polish man, but always I think that my english is so awful so then I try do not speak to much using this language. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, because I used to have the same problem with speaking in English. I just prefered not to say something if I was not sure it was correct.
ReplyDeleteBut then I went to the university and there were (and still are) many foreign students. I quickly realised that most of French and Italian Erasmus students speak terrible English with terrible accent. African people can be even worse (it's quite a stunt to understand Nigerian-English).
If someone looks for Europeans with good English, I'd certainly recommend Scandinavian countries or the region of Belenux - mostly Belgium and The Nederlands.
This April I got to spend a week in the Belgium and The Nederlands and I must say positively supprised that virtually anyone spoke decent English no matter how young/old they were (in Poland it's uncommon to find a grandma with fluent English)
rgrds