LIVE FORUMS / ARCHIVES / 2008

Witamy in PolishForums Archive :

Archives / 2008 / General Language /

posts: 71

What language do you like better, Polish or English?

page 1 of 3: 1 2 3 Next »

GryziaThreads: 2 Posts: 16 Joined: Jan 1, 08	Edited by: Gryzia Jan 2, 08, 04:04 / #
I want to know your opinion!

zionThreads: 20 Posts: 180 Joined: Dec 21, 07	Edited by: zion Jan 2, 08, 04:06 / #
English

vodkaThreads: 1 Posts: 46 Joined: Dec 30, 07	Jan 2, 08, 04:09 / #
Polish

PolsonThreads: 15 Posts: 2,812 Joined: May 9, 07	Jan 2, 08, 06:37 / #
What about Polglish ?... :)

djfThreads: 23 Posts: 204 Joined: Dec 18, 07	Jan 2, 08, 06:51 / #
English is less complicated! i think....

PolsonThreads: 15 Posts: 2,812 Joined: May 9, 07	Edited by: Polson Jan 2, 08, 07:00 / #
djf wrote: English is less complicated! I agree ;) And i don't think there's anyone to disagree...except maybe Poles themselves...but even them, if they know both languages would agree that English grammar is much easier :)

PuzzlerThreads: 11 Posts: 1,613 Joined: Mar 21, 07	Jan 2, 08, 07:04 / #
djf wrote: English is less complicated! i think.... - It depends for whom and what attitude you approach it with. If you're convinced it's easy, it'll be easy for you to learn; if you're convinced it's hard, it'll be hard. Actually, English is as complicated - and easy - as Polish, I think.

vodkaThreads: 1 Posts: 46 Joined: Dec 30, 07	Jan 2, 08, 07:26 / #
Puzzler wrote: Actually, English is as complicated - and easy - as Polish, I think. ;) Polish have opinion of one of the hardest to learn

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 2, 08, 08:21 / #
I prefer English. Polish is quite hard to learn, I've learnt Japanese and I can say that doing so was easier than learning Polish. The cases are the hardest

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07	Jan 2, 08, 09:00 / #
I would prefer Croatian or Slovenian. The countryside is wonderful and there is nothing like it in Poland. English people who throw away their culture and adopt Polish must have serious problems. As they say, its all in the mind!

MarekThreads: 4 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Feb 15, 07	Jan 2, 08, 10:05 / #
English is orthographically and phonetically the hardest and probably least 'logical' language to learn, if I compare it to Polish or German, even French and Russian. Although I haven't seriously learned an Asian or non-Western language (save a lame attempt to teach myself Korean, aided by a former English student!), I'd have to say that English, particularly American, has about the most haphazard spelling vs. pronunciation correlation of any language I'm presently aware of. Lewis Carroll I believe tried to prove same by providing an alternative spelling of 'fish' substituting different letters in our language to achieve the identical articulation.

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	Edited by: Administrator Jan 2, 08, 10:07 / #
The Chaos http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/tough.html

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 2, 08, 12:05 / #
Marek has a point, take disciple and discipline. One is pronounced sigh and the other si. How do pronounce the word semi? Is it sem A or sem I? Or look at OUGH, how to pronounce that? The answer, in 7 different ways. I could go on and on as I've taught pron and phonetics quite often

espanaThreads: 40 Posts: 2,233 Joined: Feb 28, 07	Jan 2, 08, 12:39 / #
spanish !!!!!!!!!!

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 2, 08, 12:40 / #
I'm sorry, that wasn't an option. Try again, hehehe

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07	Jan 2, 08, 13:06 / #
Gryzia wrote: I want to know your opinion! Most Poles will prefer their own language and that is logical. Both languages have a lot of Greek and Latin in them and so there is probably not much difference at the end of the day. Spelling is easier in Polish, which is more logical. The English language has had a written form for a long long time and has changed historically over the centuries , hence its strange spelling rules.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 2, 08, 13:10 / #
Good posting by Michał, all the key points captured in a nutshell. English is an evolving language and has been since the great vowel shift.

MarekThreads: 4 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Feb 15, 07	Jan 2, 08, 14:18 / #
Seanus, For that matter German is an evolving language too, since its spelling is still in the process of being 'reformed' ( hopelessly complicated is a better word, UGGGGH!) For my money, Polish is sooooo much more phonetic than English, French even German which has plenty of silent dipthongs e.g. "ie" in "wIE", "dIE" as well as "Rhein" where the "h" written, is silent.

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	Jan 2, 08, 14:23 / #
Marek wrote: Polish is sooooo much more phonetic than English one would normally expect this when comparing a phonetic language to a non-phonetic language

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	Jan 2, 08, 14:31 / #
I cannot comment on the German language as I don't know it well enough. I have found Polish to be much more phonetic than English. It's just the cases that get me. Polish and German are purer languages. Oh, btw, have u seen the Youtube video with the German coastguard? Just type in Ad Berlitz and it should come up.

Foreigner4Threads: 22 Posts: 1,971 Joined: Nov 18, 07	Jan 2, 08, 14:59 / #
BubbaWoo wrote: one would normally expect this when comparing a phonetic language to a non-phonetic language ouch, that one was on the button.

MufasaThreads: 24 Posts: 445 Joined: Oct 21, 07	Jan 2, 08, 15:09 / #
Afrikaans - but that wasn't an option either! ;) I know English better, but I think Polish, with its complicated grammar and all, is thus for me more interesting and a new challenge :)

MarekThreads: 4 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Feb 15, 07	Jan 2, 08, 16:15 / #
Mufasa, I frankly don't think that Polish grammar is any more 'complicated' than other grammar systems with which I'm familiar. It's merely that Polish, much like German for that matter, requires more of an arsenal of applied usage than does English, basically. More is needed in say, Polish, to form basic thoughts and put them into language, than does English which is confusing too, yet by virtue of its erratic orthography and seeming sameness of articulate construction "the" "a" "an", with no longer varied inflections corresponding to case usage. Foreigners, i.e. Poles in this instance, are often looking for more grammar and rules than currently exist in English. English speakers on the other hand are often baffled by so much grammar in Polish.

GryziaThreads: 2 Posts: 16 Joined: Jan 1, 08	Edited by: Gryzia Jan 3, 08, 07:26 / #
Geeze Michal! youre such a blimming nerd,but actually tell you what that is good;) hmmm..do you know why its hard to learn polish greek etc? cause they are called hard languages where you roll the r and all oh and marek it is hars as its got the ó and all and we have the rz and stuff but english grammar is coplicated too. oh and in polish if someone had a juper and they wanted someone to put it down it would soun like this ''poloz JA na ziemie'' ''put HER down on the floor''as if items had genders!lol;)

MarekThreads: 4 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Feb 15, 07	Jan 3, 08, 09:35 / #
When Poles speak foreign languages such as German or English, in my experience, they often tend to 'overpronounce' and not to elide or 'swallow' syllables or schwa-sounds, e.g. final "e" in "thE" etc. English speakers do the opposite, lending their speech in other languages a drawling, almost lazy, quality. In addition, most Polish words are accented on the second-to-last syllable, such as "FO - tel", "HO - tel", "KSIĄŻ - ka" etc. compared to English "ho - TEL" or "hel - LO" and so forth. Poles sometimes sound as though they're chirping like birds when they speak English.

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07	Jan 3, 08, 09:39 / #
Also, as a P.S. our early printing work was carried out by the Dutch for whom English was a foreign language and this also presents problems and why so often pronunciation and spelling are so far apart. Poland and its borders have always been in dispute to such an extent that Poland even disappeared off the map all together for a period of time. Well, all good things come to an end as they say and Poland has reemerged! Having to struggle to keep their language alive has meant a much higher consistency in grammar and spelling.

MarekThreads: 4 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Feb 15, 07	Jan 3, 08, 10:47 / #
Witaj, grzyźiu! Do you consider English or Polish tongue twisters (łamacze językowe) harder: "W Szczeszebrynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzececinie." vs. "Theopholus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter successfully sifting a thread of unsifted thistles through the thick of his thumb.." etc. To koszmar, nieprawda? Dobrej zabawy! (Have fun!)

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07	Jan 3, 08, 12:09 / #
Michal wrote: I would prefer Croatian or Slovenian. The countryside is wonderful and there is nothing like it in Poland. What does that have to do with language? Does Croatian landscape speak with any particular dialect? Michal wrote: Both languages have a lot of Greek and Latin in them and so there is probably not much difference at the end of the day. English aka "the greatest borrower" has a far larger Latin and Greek based vocabulary than Polish. The two languages are pretty far apart in this area. Michal wrote: The English language has had a written form for a long long time and has changed historically over the centuries , hence its strange spelling rules. For some reason I have a feeling that you never saw a text in OE. The spelling rules are nothing like those of modern English at all. As a matter of fact, even the alphabet had some notable differences, let alone the Anglosaxonrunes which are completely unlike anything used in the English language now. I know of very few languages whose documented history would not show changes. That is likely to escape a foreign Polish language speaker, who more often than not won't even dare come close to early Polish literature. Seanus wrote: English is an evolving language and has been since the great vowel shift. And before that too. Roman influence on proto-English cannot be underestimated.

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07	Edited by: Michal Jan 3, 08, 12:35 / #
z_darius wrote: English aka "the greatest borrower" has a far larger Latin and Greek based voca The Polish language too has borrowed huge amounts of vocabulary. As for the Croatian landscape, I am not so sure as to its dialect. Perhaps you can fill us in? After all, we have all heard about your daughters fantastic accent in Polish, maybe she can do the same in Serbo-Croatian!

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07	Jan 3, 08, 13:15 / #
Michal wrote: The Polish language too has borrowed huge amounts of vocabulary. Most languages have and Polish is no exception. It hasn't borrowed nearly as much from Latin and Greek as English. These were the languages you mentioned.

page 1 of 3: 1 2 3 Next »

Go UP

Similar discussions:

Similar to: What language do you like better, Polish or English?

POLISH LANGUAGE CONTRIBUTIONS TO ENGLISH

Aberdeen - looking for English/polish language exchange

English language colleges in West London

New English Language Magazine for expats in Poland?

english language universities for undergraduate in medical fields

Kaczynski laughs at Tusk because of his English language skills

Teaching resources for English language teachers in Poland

Google now translates from Polish to English and English to Polish

Polish Language Exams

POLISH LANGUAGE POLICE?

i / a what is the difference?

Useful words in polish

Random: Going to Kraków, Gdańsk, Słupsk, Szczecin...

Archives / 2008 / General Language /

posts: 71

This forum is archived (read-only).

© 2005-2010 PolishForums.com | PolishForums LIVE | Archives | Random | Statistics