Comments on: Polish, English or Ponglish?

By: Mark Shepherd

Mark Shepherd — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:57:57 +0000

I have to say, whatever one’s feelings about the inflow of foreign words into any language, the presence of borrowed words can be an enormous boon when teaching. I have compiled a list of around 400 ‘English’ words (the inverted commas are deliberate; how English is the word ‘bikini’ for example?), which are at least recognisable by Polish people. When giving students the opportunity to practise speaking, it can really help to boost confidence when you supply them with a list of several hundred words they already have a degree of familiarity with.

By: Kasia

Kasia — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:26:20 +0000

I went back to Poland after a 17 year absence. I found all the use of bastardised English quite confusing. I wasn’t sure whether to pronounce it the English way or the Polish way. I wasn’t even sure how a Pole would pronounce it!
So apart from feeling stupid with my broken Polish, I then felt stupid not knowing how to use their Ponglish as you call it.
I understand how it might be popular or trendy to use some English words but surely there’s a limit.

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:55:40 +0000

Justyna,
you’ve completely missed the point here. There’s a fine line between linguistic creativity and tackiness. And what’s happening in Poland is simply tacky.
Anybody who uses English on a daily basis should have been able to notice that.

By: justyna

justyna — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:48:34 +0000

Hi,

I totally agree with Kinga; I get the feeling that she really understands the nature of the language, especially the spoken form; there’s no point in controlling the speech as it is spontanous and by nature not organised; it’s natural that people draw from the resources available to them to pass the meaning and if they have two languages in their linguistic repertoires then why not to use them, and why not to combine them??

to me it’s either creativity in using the language or the economy of language use! I bet those who think similar things have been travelling or living abroad at least for some time

By: Kinga

Kinga — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:58:31 +0000

But why say “sandwicz” if there’s a perfectly good Polish word already – “kanapka”?
this perfectly good Polish word ‘kanapka’ comes from French kanape.
And as I understand it kanapka is used for the ‘traditional’ kind with one slice of bread, whereas sandwich is the two slices of bread, often grilled and bought in shops.

Generally I hate when people complain about “polluting” the language. So we already have a word for that? So what??? It’s quite useful to have synonyms.
And “ksiazki dzwiekowe”? Please! How about “zwis meski prosty” instead of krawat – which is a foreign word as well? Any attempts of controlling the language are just ridiculous.
It’s been like that for centuries. And the original “Polish langauge” you’re defending is just a patchwork made up of all sorts of influences. One day someone will protest against some new word to mean “audiobook” because we already have a “perfectly good Polish word for that” (‘audiobuk’ that is).