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Do You Know That...? a) It may sometimes be very useful to know how to say in Polish, - Do you live with your parents? (mieszka pani u rodzicow?) - Are you on vacation? (jest pani na wakacjach?) - Where is the restroom? (I'll let you figure it out); not to mention expressions for the more basic problems of hunger and thirst. b) Sand from the Baltic Sea can be used to make magnificent castles? c) Poland is geographically the center of Europe? d) Contrary to popular belief, Polish is just as easy to pronounce as English? (at least for non English speakers). |
Globalization is about to turn our planet into one big village. While it is bringing us closer together, we risk destroying the originality of cultures that makes our neighbors interesting people to meet. Furthermore, it's simply not enough to speak English and expect to communicate with the whole World. True, English allows us to communicate with a minority of the World's educated class or with people who work in tourism and trade. They may even be able to jabber enough to sell us a Big Mac and a Coke from people who consider us a good source of their profit. As for discovering other cultures, however, English will be rather an obstacle . |
Cioran once said, "We don't live in a country, but in a language". We can travel around the World today and never leave our linguistic cocoon. But, by learning a language (even a dead one!) we discover a world, a culture, a new way of seeing things. It's like shedding our cocoon and our prejudices, no longer talking "White" like "the Man", and no longer thinking like a redneck ("dem crazy A-rabs"), no longer being held prisoner of a single language. |
But, to learn a language well, we must start from a young age, the time we begin to speak, before the age of eight, if possible. After this age, it's not impossible to learn, but the mind becomes less malleable, the patterns of pronunciation and expression become more rooted and other languages start to sound strange and ridiculous. No doubt, this is why other languages usually aren't taught until after the age of twelve. By this time, one can be sure that no one will be able to speak or understand them correctly, thus assuring that none of those dangerous foreign ideas be adopted by the impressionable youth. The exception, of course, being the elite minority found in the rich neighmourhoods of Paris, Berlin or Rome, but there again, we just end up speaking English. |
It's been said people whose language is wide spread like English er French don't have a gift for languages. This is both true and false. It's true for the reasons already mentioned. It's also true considering that French was once the dominate language of distinguished Europeans, such as the German philospher Leibniz who wrote in French. In other parts of the World, English and French supplanted the need to learn Arabic, Hindi and Vietnamese, and even replaced these languages for numerous peoples. Yet, the statement about the French is equally false. In as much as the Scandinavians and Czechs will criticize certain reluctance on the part of the French to speak English with them, these polyglots are themselves the biggest offenders of resorting only back to English. If the little bourgeois children of the French smart set are able to learn English that is no reason that the little proletariat children, can't learn Polish or Bantu. In fact, everyone has the ability to learn several languages and learning new ones does not limit the others. The famous bilingualism that we hear about in those elite neighborhoods is no more than an English-French, English-Czech, or English-Swedish bilingualism. This brings us dangerously close to English monolingualism, much like Irish-English bilingualism brought about English monolinguilism. Language is, after all, a means of power. English is the language of centralized political power in Britain and the language of globalization dominated by the United States. Monolingualism is a good means of preventing us from hearing the protests of those who forbid themselves to blindly think like everyone else. |
Moreover, if regional languages like Gaelic or indigenous languages like Athabaskan tend to disappear, it's because they have been held with contempt and discourages from use, as are today's immigrant languages in industrial countries. Just consider how this contempt leads to real discrimination against other languages and it'easy to understand the desire to adopt the dominate language and culture ; In the US, immigrant languages are usually lost by the third, if not second generation of a family. The advantage of being bilingual is often valuated less than gaining credibility as a full blooded, standard accent citizen. In the case of Latinos in the US, their assimilation lays beyhind their booming population. This has lead to a real demand for bilingual services to a point where the English monolinguists begin to feel slighted. The climate is ripe for change in US. Already Spanish is the most taught «foreign» language in High School. Second and third generation latinos remain bilingual, as let us hope other segments of the population will free themselves of their monolinguist cage. |
For monolinguals, it's not as simple. In order to defend the multitude of languages, the richness of human cultures, and prevent all the cities of the World from becoming like Prague (a roughly English speaking city of McDonalds fans), it won't be enough for everyone to just not learn English anymore. After all, English speakers are people too! Nor will it be enough to coldly defend one's own language, as the French Canadians do against their English speaking countrymen, the Flemish do against the French, or the French school administrators do against Arabic spoken in the homes of immigrant children. One must also learn the languages of others. Of course, not all of them. Still, the number of languages a person can master is much higher than one may think; up to several dozen, depending on how you set about it. At any rate, you will not go everywhere and speak with all six billion individuals on the Earth, or even with ten thousand. |
And another thing, suppose that by some extraordinary twist you had learned the language of a lost tribe from the middle of Borneo with only a few hundred speakers. Wouldn't you rightly be interested in those people? Nothing would make you believe that they have any less to teach you than another group of people, however more popular, such as the American Cowboys. There's a good bet that you will discover from that lost tribe something besides what is already being offered on every street corner of the so-called civilized world. |
Ok, you say, but most of us haven't learned another language before the age of twelve. What we were taught in school was poorly communicated and we were persuaded that we would never really master something of such little value to us anyway. Language was taught as if it were something really boring and good for nothing, much less as a means of communicating with real people. To prove this one has just to recite: das schöne Mädchen, dem schönen Mädchen, des schönen Mädchens, das schöne Mädchen. One can hardly appreciate the value of this type of exercise, much less the schöne Mädchen in question. German was a chore like learning Latin: rosa, rosa, rosam, rosae, rosae, rosa. That helps very little to read Virgile, who, by the way, never proposed such nonsense. Anna Lietti, an author who I strongly recommend and who for once comes close to my opinions, once said that German in school is a subject and people don't speak subjects. A language serves to express oneself and grammar serves as an aid. Grammar was not invented by sadists wishing to inflict pain upon school children, even if that is their impression or belief reinforced, no doubt, by the manner in which grammar is taught. A better way to learn how to distinguish das schöne Mädchen (subject) from dem schönen Mädchen (indirect object), would be to find such a pretty girl and offer her some flowers. A clear distinction would be thus made between the subject (you), the direct object (flowers), and the indirect object (the pretty girl). But, if you prefer to offer some sauerkraut to ex-chancellor Kohl (after all there's no accounting for the taste of others), it makes no difference. The principle will be the same. |
In consideration of these reflections, I decided well after my fiftieth birthday to learn Polish. Don't look for reasons. There are none, or, perhaps only vague ones. Polish is neither too close to French as is Italian, nor is it too distant a language as Chinese whose words are monosyllabic and must be sung in a special manner, and if the tune is false you might say «f. off» instead of «would you like to drink something», thus earning you a slap in the face. But, I might as well have chosen to learn Swedish, as perhaps I will someday. In the beginning, it requires an effort, or efforts, to be made. Get a "teach yourself" beginner's guide. These pocket books work quite well to get the fundamentals. The important thing is to have the desire to learn. Once you get the basics, put yourself in a situation where you have something to say. If your aim is to learn Polish, then, this might ideally be with a Polish woman or even with a Polish minister to whom you would offer some flowers or sauerkraut. But, even in a crowded subway you can't always find a Polish person, and even when you can, you may not have any flowers or sauerkraut available (assuming that they would be presentable anyway), and even if you could unite all these improbable conditions, there's no guarantee that your efforts would yield you more than a slap in the face from the Polish woman's husband or the minister's wife. |
So, in order to increase the chances of success, we attempt to gather 15 people of similar whim around a table ; then, we invite a Polish speaking person who fully understands the rules of the game (which is not yet your case, but even if you aren't really Polish speaking either that's not my problem). Lastly, we place on the table a few succulent dishes and a few good drinks to loosen up the tongue. The rule, as you now know, is to speak Polish. The Polish speaker is there to help you and correct you, but nothing should stop you from taking notes or even from studying secretly before hand to impress everyone at the next meal. |
You can replace Polish with any language, except that there may not be a beginner's guide for every language. You will therefore, have to make one by taking an existing guide and translating it into Khanty-mansy, for example, with the help of someone from that region. Just go to the train station, take a train headed to Vladivostok and then, I don't remember where you get off. Just ask the ticket inspector, whose language you will have taken care to learn beforehand, but now you know how to do it. |
There remains just one important point. While being sure not to miss your stop, you will surely find yourself among speakers of whatever language you want to learn. As for finding people just as crazy as you about learning that very language (because after all, the more the merrier, and you will help each other out),this may prove much harder. For there are perhaps fewer of these motivated individuals than thick-headed people who refuse to be convinced by my dazzling demonstration, and just keep on speaking poor English while drinking their Coke. We will therefore have to take this quick survey: |
Who has already some knowledge of Polish, Dutch, Romanian, Czechoslovakian, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, Yidich, Spanish, Russian, Catalonian, Serbo-croatian, Bulgarian, etc? And who wants to continue to learn? |
Who has no clue about these languages but is ready to acquire some knowledge by any means, more or less honest, in order to be able to respond, "yes I do" to the preceding question? |
A subordinate question, but one none-the-less of great importance: |
What are we drinking, eating, and when? |
Chapter 2: Would you like some cheese? Möchtest du Käse? Chcesz sera? Quieres queso? |
We have now united 15 people around a warm and inviting table. A pleasant, convivial atmosphere is provided by all, and for the meal we designate a few volunteers to cook. This group of individuals (who shouldn't all hate each other, otherwise it can be rather bothersome) divide into three main groups: 1. The beginners, the not-too-dumb-but-motivated, true customers, base-of-the-statue speakers. 2. The advanced, the locomotives or engines, the not-so-bad-at-all speakers who come to help the first group. 3. The teachers, the competent speakers, also called the référents, the language modelers or consultants who have a central role, as well as, two primordial functions : (a) to help the motivated speakers to express themselves, which assumes a certain mental agility to be able to think ahead of their thoughts, but not beyond them, and (b) to correct them gently, but firmly and not so frequently as to discourage them, but enough to prevent them from assuming bad habits, which also assumes they themselves don't have these bad habits. |
I sense, at this point, a few questions from the back: -- Can I take notes? -- Yes, but be careful not to get any spots of grease on your paper and don't confuse your fork for your pen. -- Do we all have to have the same level of ability? -- No, but we shouldn't overwhelm the weakest in the group. We should expect a minimum level of ability, without which one can say absolutely nothing and remains hungry (in more than one sense that is, as the others are calmly asking for more cheese, one person makes exhausting and incomprehensible gestures). True beginners will therefore use our one page handout or "miniguide" with 50 useful sentences and a few explanations of basic grammatical structures. Those with a deeper desire to learn will study a beginner's "teach-yourself" language book. -- And what about talking with your mouth full?. . . -- It is true that talking with your mouth full can seriously affect pronunciation and therefore comprehension. So, we don't recommend it. But, just observe a meal and you will find that people aren't just eating the whole time. -- What in the World will we be talking about and how do we find a topic of conversation? -- Well, here we already find a topic to talk about, asking what we can talk about! And I might add that at times we may find even simpler subjects to discuss such as our discontent: the soup is cold and too salty, do you really need two chairs, who has stolen my fork, etc! -- We still don't get it. Who would ever want to learn Bambara? -- There are two kinds of people interested in Bambara. The first group consists of the second generation of immigrants who want to speak to all those still living in the country of origin or to those who have newly immigrated. The second group consists of those who want to speak to the same people, and who also like human contact. Which is all the better since it would exclude any grumpy people. -- When do we start? -- Excellent question! Thanks for asking it. I will have to ask to the organizers, consultants, and aficionados who have planned the linguistic meals of Aubervilliers in the past, who have helped in putting together the mini-guides and who attend and organize the meals in Dutch, Polish, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Potuguese, Romanian, Persian, Yiddish, Turkish, Greek, Georgian, Japanese and Chinese...even French. The program is created upon demand and availability of consultants. You however can also take the initiative and plan a linguistic meal. Just be sure to actually learn a language if you call it a "linguistic" meal and try to avoid English at the table. English really doesn't need any more help in spreading its' destructive dominance in the World. |
A Few Recommendations for Language Learners |
Pronunciation: Every language has its' own phonology and intonation. These characteristics are a part of what give languages their charm. They are also what give speakers of other languages their various accents. Accents can be charming and fun as they allude to a person's background and language of origin. However, an accent that is too strong can be an impediment to communicating with others. The real charm of an accent is in its' subtlety and discretion. It is, therefore, important to try to imitate the pronunciation of the consultant speakers as best you can. When learning a new language, it is important to identify its' unique phonetic characteristics and to try to emulate them as best you can. The Standard French language, for example, has a particular sound and music about it. There is a light intonation at the end of words. In many languages, the intonation may come at the second to last syllable. In French, there is also a distinctive guttural "r" that, in fact, used to be rolled as it is in Spanish and other languages. Many languages have sounds that don't exist in French or English, or vice versa. For example, Japanese speakers of English may have difficulty hearing the difference between l and r or b and v. English speakers of French have difficulty pronouncing the guttural r and certain vowel clusters such as [uji] as in barbouiller. English speakers also have trouble distinguishing between the sounds [u] as in bout and the deeper u sound [y] as in "bu". Likewise, French speakers of English have difficulty in hearing a difference between ship and sheep. French speakers of Polish have difficulty hearing the difference between ci and czy. Polish speakers of French have a similar problem to distinguish between violent and violon because for them there is no difference between the sounds [ã] and [õ]. Identifying and imitating these unique sounds may be a challenge, but will enhance understanding of how a language is spoken and written. And we may gain an appreciation of the accents of others. For languages that are not written with the Latin alphabet, a transcription is offered for beginners to avoid some of the otherwise initial complications of learning a whole new writing system. The transcription aims to be clear and coherent, so it may not necessarily follow the spelling rules of English or French, neither of which have very consistent systems of spelling nor which can represent all the sounds found in other languages. In light of this problem, we have created when necessary a few arbitrary phonetic conventions to help in transcribing to a Latin-based alphabet. Consider the following examples: [u] transcribes the sound found in the English words who, blue, shoe. [sh] transcribe as they would in the English word she. [kh] corresponds to a German Ach-Laut (sorry, no English equivalent); [j] is pronounced (as in French, Portuguese or Rumanian) as s in the words pleasure, measure. [y] is pronounced (for instance in the Polish word czy) approximately as in English in the word liberty. [gh] corresponds to the French or German guttural "r" a sound that doesn't exist in English, except perhaps when one is clearing the throat of phlegm (but not too roughly, because you would then have the famous Ach-Laut)! The transcriptions are by no means perfect and are meant only as temporary aids. The best guides are still the consultants who can help to clarify and explain their pronunciation. As for languages that already use the Latin alphabet, it is indispensable to have knowledge of the variations in phonetic and spelling systems. For example, the sound written as "sh" in English is written as "ch" in French, "sch" in German, "sz" in Polish, "s" in Hungarian, etc. The letter "y" in Polish represents a sound that doesn't exist in French or German. We will be required, therefore, to learn some new phonetic reflexes and to try a new system of representing these sounds. Above all, to practice good pronunciation we must loose our fear of sounding ridiculous and embrace the idea that a foreign language will always sound a bit funny in regard to the phonetic "norms" of our mother tongue. |
Grammar: As stated earlier, grammar is a tool, a means of expression for the language learner and not a means of sadistic punishment. A few brief grammatical instructions are given to help you understand the structure of the given practice sentences and with a bit of luck you might be able to create more or less correct sentences. There is no way to avoid the subject of grammar even if it may scare some away. It would be like refusing to tell a French speaker about the present progressive, or an English speaker about genders and irregular past participles in French, thus allowing him to say «son vieux tante il a mouru», which, although approximately understandable, can hardly be considered as French. |
50 Practical Sentences: Our "miniguide" is a double-sided handout that includes a list of 50 short sentences that allow us to begin expressing ourselves right away. These expressions are nearly the same for all languages and are the result of our experience at the linguistic meals attempting to ask for more bread or to express our discontent with the cold soup. It is simply a page of things we commonly want to say in the course of a meal and is very much open to whatever additions you may feel are necessary. |
A Few Recommendations for the Language Consultants or Référents |
The linguistic meal is a meeting between people interested in languages and speakers of languages. During the meal, you will not be able to chat alone with your friends. You will be required to engage the language learners. They are not all at the same level. Some are beginners, some advanced and some will be able to teach the others. Still, even the absolute beginners may not be completely lost if the language in question is close enough to a language they already know. There are always people who have had some contact with language in school or on vacation, with their parents, friends, etc. Some speak with ease, but make mistakes. Others are quasi-consultants and can help in teaching the learners. The learners have a very basic "mini-guide" that follows this introduction. Most often it's a double-sided page with 50 sentences and a brief explanation of pronunciation and grammar, etc on the back. The mini-guide can be used for teaching a very basic class before the meal. Several dictionaries may also be made available to the learners, yet not all will be able to use them with the same agility. Above all, it is important to avoid speaking constantly in English. You should also avoid simply switching to this language when comprehension isn't immediate, something which happens quite frequently. It's not bad for the learners to hear an authentic conversation between fluent speakers, but you must avoid speaking at full speed while ignoring the learners. Try also to avoid translating systematically everything that you have said in your language into English. This will give the learner the impression that his or her efforts are in vain. Try instead to repeat yourself very slowly, to explain in another way perhaps. Try to translate only certain words as needed to get the message across. You will sometimes need to be very patient while waiting for the learner to tell you proudly in your language, after having read his mini-brochure, "Hi. I'm American. My name is So-and-so". If he makes errors, repeat the sentence while pronouncing it correctly. Then respond to him with a question in your language at the same level, "So, how old are you? Do you live with your parents?, etc. You may also want to say things that are not on the mini-guide. If so, you will need to give the learner the necessary words. Write them down as needed. You may also suggest some additions or corrections to the mini-guide. |
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