Should I just learn German?

Wow for once a couple people read the topic instead of arguing about french which I never mentioned, thank you. I think I will learn Polish as I have a lot of resources on it, just need to learn the grammar and declination and I'll be good

He never mentioned work.


It depends on the job, and your clients.


You may have been born in Poland, but you are more American than you think - you forgot Canada!


That's how it is on here, you'll get used to it eventually.

You appear to still be in your teens, with a somewhat vague plan for the future (which didn't even mention work/business) so you should be pleased to receive a wide variety of opinions and suggestions. German's a very useful language in Europe, but it entirely depends on where you want to live/work, and what you want to do.

You guessed right I'm 14. And I do plan on working/living in Poland. I also plan on being a Pharmacist or something involving computers.

North-Manc is right on the money about German!

Easier said than done, but if you study Latin, you'll find it easier except when it comes to grammar.


Again, easier said than done. This forum is full of advice about how difficult it is for Americans to find work in Poland unless they teach English. Difficult yes, impossible no. And I'm not the one to rain on your parade. Just do your homework on this subject.

So I pretty much have to teach English or I won't be allowed in? That sucks, and I have been doing homework, I research on this a lot.

Agreed. In Toronto where, I have come across many Germans who came here to work for a year or less and brush up on their English skills. English of course still dominates the global business world. But it's all about perspective. Poles living near the German border will most likely understand some German as they may come in contact with them more often or may travel to Germany for work. Same with Ukrainians near the Polish border. They learn to speak Polish if they want to live and work there. In parts of Canada (Quebec) it's hard to have a decent life without knowing French. In parts of the USA, it helps to know Spanish.

So learn Polish instead of German. After all, you already know English. It's good enough. I feel sorry for the Swiss though :) They have to know three languages.

I'm sure they're raised with their parents speaking it to them, I would be ecstatic if I knew 3 languages

Learn Russian. Germans are learning English very well, while the Russians have considerable number of speakers who do not know English. In this way it will help your future career and widen your horizon.

So one more country where French would be more useful than German. There is also Belguim, Luxembourg (sort of..), Caribbean countries. German is useless outside German and a bit of Switzerland.

"Pharmacist or something involving computers."

That's Germans not French

Germany: Room to grow. Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago. France has leveled off

German is still a world-class language! While Germans have been learning English longer than Russians on the whole, they still speak English with poor accents, often worse grammar and frequently don't improve beyond a certain point as they seem to dislike or disrespect even polite correction. Russians are little more open in that way, I've found:-)

I have a Russian friend who is fluent in English

Fluency merely means ease and facility with communcation, not necessarily accuracy.

He's from Russia and he speaks it at home, so he is 99% accurate

Then he's a true bilingual. That's clear now. The problem only arises when people bandy about the word "bilingual" and in fact it's more like 60% ease of communication and less than 10% accuracy:-) Often too, I've noticed Russian men in particular can become physically aggressive and openly vulgar when their English "fluency" is challenged. Most recently I entered into an innocent conversation with a Russian-born ESL instructor colleague where I teach, reminding him upon hearing the typically omitted article, of the major difference between to be "in THE office" vs."in office". The most that would have sufficed, would have been a well-mannered smile (even if underneath he were annoyed) and then to move on the the next. Instead, I was treated to a sewer-mouthed onslaught of softly-spoken, yet vicious, four-letter words, reminding me, that maybe I had attended Columbia, but that HE had attended Kishniev University!!!! He wasn't kidding either.

So much for the advantages of diversity in the workplace:-) Nothing that a little modesty wouldn't cure^^

Perhaps I ought have said nothing, since my correction was neither solicited nor desired. It was only that as an "advanced" ESL instructor (whatever that title means anymore!), he should have known better! Another time, I heard another English teacher, also a Russian, politely and audibly ask each student to "go write their correct answer on the DESK." (..instead of on the BOARD!). Here, the false friend intererference board > Russian "daska" , desk sound-alike, was the cause. "Desk" in Russian is "pisenyi stol", "daska" "blackboard"LOL When a student timidly told the teacher, it was not permitted to write on school furniture, the instructor became angry and accused the student of being fresh:-))

Ya can't make this stuff up, I'm tellin' ya!!

Classic russians. I often make fun of his country (joking) and he gets pissed. But he is very good at English, rarely makes mistakes and he often translates cuss words for me, that's how I learned suka :P

I've not doubt your buddy's "good at English". Still doesn't mean he can't improve, does it? German (defininitely NOT Polish!!!!) is my second mother tongue, as I heard it growing up. I too consider myself in all honesty (forget false modersty) 99% "fluent", i.e. nearly perfect. Yet there's STILL stuff I keep learning. I'd be a fool if I said otherwise, and native-born Germans would doubtless agree.

Also young generation in big cities in Russia know English well.
I've learned Russian at school. As I'm Polish it's not easy to compare to Polish language, but I think the grammar is more easy. You should just learn how to read and write in cyrillic alphabet what is not that hard. Polish is useful language to learn at the moment, but Russian is useful maybe a little bit more.

The issue is not whether Russian youth all learn English for many years in school, as do most people throughout the world, but whether their ABILITY is such as to be deemed "bilingual" or even "fluent"! I for one cannot attest to it being much of either, based both on the two incidents I relayed in previous posts, as well as the general written/speaking skills of young Russians I've encountered over the years who claimed to have spoken or known (in their own words, mind you!) "excellent English"!

Which three languages do you think are most useful from 21 century? Polish? Russian?
NO , i give English, Mandarin, German. Japanese is also a good choice! These are dominant .

Once again, what should be the "dominant" language is in fact NONE of the above; the most important language remains the language your customer speaks:-)

Not to flog the proverbial dead horse here, but alot does come down to the fact that the expectations of English among non-native speakers as well as native speakers hearing non-natives speaking English are generally low; if one doesn't expect unaccented perfection, one's happy with the modicum of basic communication. The expectations of Russian, German, French or Polish speakers for instance, are immeasurably higher for foreigners speaking THEIR language. Sadly, many of these young Russians will switch to English once they detect the average foreigner bravely struggling with their language, even speaking it relatively well! Again, it's certainly not because the Russians necessarily ALL speak better English, but rather, that it's thought to be somehow "cool" to speak broken, or at least, poor (less than perfect,) English. It's the ol' double standard thing, that's all. We should speak their language correctly, if we even bother to speak it at all, whilst they can take whatever liberties and vulgarities with English they wish.

that sounds fair now, doesn't it?
lol

I'll join the discussion, because I also wanted to learn German. I'm an Englishman and I live in Poland. I would like to learn German in English because I don't speak Polish. I'm thinking about this school - berlitz.pl/en/programs_for_adults/learn-german-the-berlitz-way.html

Has anyone of you knows something about this school?

I think the Deutsche Welle TV has some interesting courses on their website.