Which language is easier for Poles?

grubasThreads: 20 Posts: 1,452 Joined: Feb 1, 10 ♂	Aug 8, 11, 01:07 #31
I take it you mean šíje; there are virtually no words beginning with sz in Czech (but I imagine that English-speaking Poles who still think that Czech sounds "hilarious" will get a giggle out of sžít se :p ), oh and btw... it's krk not kark ;) Maybe I can't write in Czech.And yes, Czech does sound funny to me but I don't lough AT them,I lough WITH them.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Aug 8, 11, 01:21 #32
Lough? Krk is Krakow's airport probably. Known to Poles :) Yup, Czechs know Polish better than the other way around. The Poles are not that strong generally when it comes to other Slavic languages.

grubasThreads: 20 Posts: 1,452 Joined: Feb 1, 10 ♂	Aug 8, 11, 01:30 #33
Lough? Laugh.Happy now?

IronsideThreads: 59 Posts: 6,783 Joined: Feb 26, 09 ♂	Aug 8, 11, 01:55 #34
1. Silesian ?. Wendish 2. Slovak 8. Kasubian 4. Ukrainian 3. Belarusian 7. Czech 6. Russian

f stopThreads: 33 Posts: 2,861 Joined: Dec 9, 09 ♀	Edited by: f stop Aug 8, 11, 02:42 #35
Ukrainian. Seems closest. And they have a sweet way of pronouncing their l/ł's. Oh, wait, did I say sweet? I meant the most attrocious.

NathanThreads: 33 Posts: 1,846 Joined: Feb 13, 09 ♂	Aug 8, 11, 03:22 #36
Oh, wait, did I say sweet? I meant the most attrocious. Interesting :) I couldn't ever understand why in Polish one uses Ł if there is W. For instance: Łopata sounds like Wopata. You either have L or W - why mix their sounds up? ;)

shinga	Aug 8, 11, 11:33 #37
You're thinking in English, Nathan. In Polish "w" is always pronounced as English "v", so writing wopata would make no sense.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Aug 8, 11, 11:48 #38
Nathan, do you pronounce Ł as L? I know that Poles based in Lithuania pronounce it that way. She kept saying ladny instead of ładny. It's this way in the east of Poland too, I think.

plgrl	Aug 8, 11, 12:19 #39
do you pronounce Ł as L? it's called "dark L"

♂

Aug 8, 11, 13:38 #40

You're thinking in English, Nathan.

Actually, this is Ukrainian thinking ;) We have sounds similar to L and V, but not Ł, which for me (I am not a linguist) is a mixture of two or even better to English W.

Nathan, do you pronounce Ł as L?

I try to pronounce it correctly, but it sounds a bit funny to me, as if I am not able to pronounce "L".

She kept saying ladny instead of ładny

You know, Seanus, when I read this, I realized that is exactly how I say it :)

♂

Aug 8, 11, 14:15 #41

Slavic languages are mutually intelligible if both sides put an effort.You see it all the time when there is interest

I really think this is the key. My Polish is still rather basic but I enjoy watching Czech and Russian (and even Serbian) films to pick up the similarities. It makes me think about the language system and rules, and then you realise that a lot of the differences are systematic and a lot of Czech and Russian is highly intelligible. My wife often doesn't need to subtitles, and thats mostly just familiarity rather than systematic learning.

southernThreads: 116 Posts: 10,955 Joined: May 17, 07 ♂	Aug 8, 11, 15:19 #42
I am sure that Poles in Czeszyn and Czechs in Cesky Tesin communicate without dictionary.Western Ukrainians virtually understand polish for example the ones doing business in the borders.

Lyzko	Aug 8, 11, 15:23 #43
Spoke a little bit of Polish to a Ukrainian woman who was visiting New York the other day and she understood everything I said, yet couldn't respond in Polish. I understood her Ukrainian, yet was equally tongue-tied to say anything back in Ukrainian. She said she was from Kh'iiv, by the way-:)

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