I’m not a fan of posting videos and suchlike but I thought this little vid summed up the linguistic life of Poles living in the UK. This is a Polish chappy trying to undertake an important transaction in English. Enjoy:
Raf Uzar
into the unknown…
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November 15, 2007 at 8:03 pm |
It is even said that this popular curse is used as a comma in speech…Though I think that in this case the Pole may be justified – he was simply infuriated because this transaction was difficult, I’m sure that when he is relaxed, he is a lot more fluent…in more elegant issues of course…
November 15, 2007 at 8:44 pm |
I’m not so sure there’s ANY justification for the way he was speaking, although it is very amusing.
November 15, 2007 at 10:51 pm |
Haha, now THAT is an intelligent expression! To be honest, I think that ‘yyy’ or ‘eee’ in this case would be a ‘lesser evil’
November 16, 2007 at 3:09 pm |
Most certainly!
November 16, 2007 at 7:35 pm |
I cannot think of any justification for such words, I wish that boy good luck….
November 16, 2007 at 9:11 pm |
Damn…it made me laugh in such a way that I haven’t laughed in a avery long time…
November 16, 2007 at 9:14 pm |
of course there’s a ’space’ between a and very
November 17, 2007 at 9:08 am |
I love the way that “k…” is used as a comma.
November 19, 2007 at 8:24 pm |
I do not believe there is any justification of such a language, especially in business relations. Even frustration is not such.
Nevertheless, that is the biggest ‘lol’ of the week.. Apart from the use of ‘k…’, I loved the way the speaker combined certain Polish expressions (”no to” – eng. ’so’) with an English sentence (”how I can take”), of course adding his most favourite ‘k’-word
November 19, 2007 at 9:01 pm |
It’s awful, isn’t it? But at the same time there’s something tragically comic in the whole conversation. And the scary thing is that the guy on the other end of the phone understands his Polish interlocutor!
November 29, 2007 at 12:01 pm |
I just want to add something interesting to the topic – how Poles are perceived abroad.
I don’t know if you know bash.org.pl – it’s a website where people send funny conversations from various means of communication, mainly IRC.
Let me quote one:
and where are You from??
:D
:)
from Poland
Oh… I know
??
Andreas Lepper, HomoTubbies and Xero Brothers
Yes
[http://bash.org.pl/230900/]
Now you see what makes Poles so distinctive in the world
btw. reading bash.org.pl is a nice way to make you smile everyday.. I recommend it!
November 29, 2007 at 12:02 pm |
oh, the nicknames have disappeared. the first interlocutor is some guy from abroad, the second one is a Polish girl named Madziaa.
November 29, 2007 at 12:26 pm |
January 4, 2008 at 5:42 pm |
unbelievable!!!!!!!!!! i’ll leave it without comment…..
January 5, 2008 at 8:44 am |
Believe it ans weep!
January 26, 2008 at 12:38 am |
I feel sorry..
The sad part is that it is so real and so common, not only in the UK, but also in Dublin.
For that poor guy and for all the other ones that are still somewhere there enjoying their conversations..
January 26, 2008 at 11:37 am |
Indeed…
March 28, 2008 at 4:20 pm |
Dear Raf:
I am doing my MA thesis in Translation Studies. At present I am collecting materials that may be of use later on in the process. I am interested in any references related to the following: Polish-British political relations after WW2 until now, Polish-British business relations after Poland’s accession to the EU, Polish nationals in the UK and British nationals in Poland, British investors in Poland and Polish investors in the UK, Polish tourists in the UK and British tourists in Poland as well as age, eductation, knowledge of foreign languages, sex, statistical data on the level of the exchange for all the mentioned groups to produce a general profile of the British national in Poland and the Polish national in the UK.
I would be very much obliged for your possible assistance in this respect.
Thank you very much in advance and best regards,
Grzegorz Rystwej
PS I know your from “-ska (Biska) and will never forget the cries you let out! It somehow rings a bell on this end too though long past now
.
March 28, 2008 at 8:16 pm |
Greg, I can’t pass out my email to you onthis open forum but I’m sure you’ll find a way to contact me by email and then we can continue this conversation…
May 10, 2008 at 2:00 pm |
Dear Raf: It’s a pity I checked out your site again that late. Many thanks for your possible assistance, but it’s almost done — I mean the profiles. If you could only let me know the computer literacy rate in Britain and Poland (?). And keep up what your’re doing on ”-ska – that’s great!. Regards, Greg
May 10, 2008 at 2:38 pm |
Thanks, Greg!
As for literacy I’m not sure where to look but this link is pretty interesting:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/21/business/pew.php
May 16, 2008 at 3:51 pm |
Many thanks Raf — I’ll check out that site.
Take good care and enjoy your stay in Poland!
Best regards, Greg
May 17, 2008 at 7:18 pm |
Many thanks!