Great! Just What We Need, Another Language
Gliwice, Poland - Tuesday, May 4, 2004
German! I cannot say that I had no warning. Gliwice is where WWII started. It is a place that was coveted by the Nazis (Hitlerofsky) and where the staged attack on a German radio station by the Nazis became the pretext for Germany invading Poland. Many people here are ethnically German. So, I knew that German was a strong second language in this city.
The more that we speak Polish to the children, the more that they talk to us and you can clearly see that they are happy that we can talk. Who among us does not want to be understood? This past weekend had two holidays. May Day on Saturday and Constitution Day on May 3rd. So, the hotel shed most of the businessmen here on assignment who took the opportunity to head home.
Except for Herr “B” decided to stay. (You may remember him as the nice older gent who bought the ice cream (lody) that baffled the children.) He had asked me what resources I was using to learn Polish. So, one evening - after the babies were all asleep and with Elaine minding the fort - I took my books and headed downstairs to the bar to show him. Herr “B” speaks German, English, and Polish. My goal was to get him and the bartender to help me learn more Polish for the next day. Let me say that it worked out very nicely, but had some comical moments.
I had wanted to talk in only English and Polish. The bartender working that night was one who speaks German as - what I suspect - a first language. However, he is Polish. I bought Herr “B” a beer and the three of us spread the books out on the bar and got to work. Elaine had gone online and gotten these sheets of simple pic-to-grams that are used to communicate one simple thought - sometimes a noun like “spoon” and sometimes a verb like “run”. I took some of these with me too. (Note from Elaine- As the Mom, I get to do all the “special ones” about pooping and peeing because Lawrence was to shy to ask.)
Before I go on, let me just say that I had a year of German in college. I did so badly that the university at which I took it would probably rather I not drag their name into this. Still, I do not find German that hard and am rather proud of the fact that in my job I have, from time to time, very accurately translated a few pages of German here and there.
As I would ask questions, Herr “B” and the bartender would sometimes debate what the answer should be. As we gained some success, these debates were in German. Great! Just what I need - another language. As these debates heated up, Herr “B” went and got Eva the front desk clerk. She speaks the best English of anyone who works here. She has helped us several times to fill out these sheets and with other phrases.
So, just after Eva came in to the restaurant I was asking how I would say that; “I am Mister MacDonald”. The result of my attempt was probably the hardiest laugh that these nice people have had for some time. I cannot totally say why my “jestm pan MacDonald” was so funny. When I am hungry, cold, or even saying that I am a dinosaur this construction works perfectly. In English, this would follow. Polish is different. I am not sure that I can stress just how different Polish is. But, I don’t wish to dwell on that since I am speaking so much of it that even I surprise myself. How I goofed up (as far as I can tell):
1. My family name is funny. (Yes, the children of Poland sing “Old MacDonald”.) And MacDonald is NOT a name of people from around these parts.
2. Nobody EVER calls themselves Mister.
3. If you do call somebody “Pan” (Mister) you do not often use the last name.
4. “Jestm” seems only to be used to describe something that anybody could be - like hungry. As those of you who know me can attest, not everybody can be Mister MacDonald.
We worked out that in Polish, one says; “my name is Lawrence MacDonald. So, you can see if this question takes five or six minutes to work out, that it is going to take awhile.
I have learned an odd thing on this trip. (Well, many odd things actually.) Among the oddest is this. You know how it is difficult to listen to two different talking to you at the same time? Well, I have discovered that if one of the people is speaking English and the other Polish that I can follow both. If one of the children is speaking to me in Polish and Elaine is speaking to me in English, I am following both. Not sure why, but okay. Of course, at the bar that evening, there are now three languages being spoken among four people. A question asked in Polish, is clarified in English, debated in German, and resolved in Polish. Boy! Neurons and Atoms were bouncing all around the inside of my skull that night.
It was a very productive 90 minutes. We filled out four sheets of pic-to-grams, taught me not to inadvertently be a stand-up comic just by introducing myself, how to say that something “is for you”, and ask “what is this?”
I thanked my companions and headed upstairs. Since neither Elaine or I had any plans to sleep, Elaine took more of the sheets and headed downstairs again to see the very helpful Eva who helped her for another 30 minutes. We will take help learning Polish at every opportunity.
Yes. The children do have to learn English and that process has already started rather nicely. Elaine will seamlessly repeat in English what she says in Polish. She is really very smooth with this. We have also worked with the picture dictionaries. However, they do not really need to learn English today. What they need today is someone who understands and takes care of them. So, since we can read, we will use Polish until after the children are home.
Elaine hopes to retain enough of the language so the all the kids will go “Oh no, Mum is yelling at me in Polish, I better stop what I am doing.” And so she can say in our world, “Get closer to me, that guy is creepy” in Polish, playing the percentages that the creepy guy in America doesn’t speak English.
We have also found that as we make improvements in our Polish, the children feel a sense of accomplishment. Trust me when I say that all three are good teachers. It is an odd feeling to have a tiny three year-old correcting your grammar, but we will take the help from whomever will offer it. The children don’t know that we study our brains out when they are sleeping. Please. Nobody tell them.
Now, (Teraz) I will leave you with a joke that slays them in Poland.
“What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? - Trilingual”
“What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? - Bilingual”
“What do you call someone who speaks 1 language? - An American”
German! I cannot say that I had no warning. Gliwice is where WWII started. It is a place that was coveted by the Nazis (Hitlerofsky) and where the staged attack on a German radio station by the Nazis became the pretext for Germany invading Poland. Many people here are ethnically German. So, I knew that German was a strong second language in this city.
The more that we speak Polish to the children, the more that they talk to us and you can clearly see that they are happy that we can talk. Who among us does not want to be understood? This past weekend had two holidays. May Day on Saturday and Constitution Day on May 3rd. So, the hotel shed most of the businessmen here on assignment who took the opportunity to head home.
Except for Herr “B” decided to stay. (You may remember him as the nice older gent who bought the ice cream (lody) that baffled the children.) He had asked me what resources I was using to learn Polish. So, one evening - after the babies were all asleep and with Elaine minding the fort - I took my books and headed downstairs to the bar to show him. Herr “B” speaks German, English, and Polish. My goal was to get him and the bartender to help me learn more Polish for the next day. Let me say that it worked out very nicely, but had some comical moments.
I had wanted to talk in only English and Polish. The bartender working that night was one who speaks German as - what I suspect - a first language. However, he is Polish. I bought Herr “B” a beer and the three of us spread the books out on the bar and got to work. Elaine had gone online and gotten these sheets of simple pic-to-grams that are used to communicate one simple thought - sometimes a noun like “spoon” and sometimes a verb like “run”. I took some of these with me too. (Note from Elaine- As the Mom, I get to do all the “special ones” about pooping and peeing because Lawrence was to shy to ask.)
Before I go on, let me just say that I had a year of German in college. I did so badly that the university at which I took it would probably rather I not drag their name into this. Still, I do not find German that hard and am rather proud of the fact that in my job I have, from time to time, very accurately translated a few pages of German here and there.
As I would ask questions, Herr “B” and the bartender would sometimes debate what the answer should be. As we gained some success, these debates were in German. Great! Just what I need - another language. As these debates heated up, Herr “B” went and got Eva the front desk clerk. She speaks the best English of anyone who works here. She has helped us several times to fill out these sheets and with other phrases.
So, just after Eva came in to the restaurant I was asking how I would say that; “I am Mister MacDonald”. The result of my attempt was probably the hardiest laugh that these nice people have had for some time. I cannot totally say why my “jestm pan MacDonald” was so funny. When I am hungry, cold, or even saying that I am a dinosaur this construction works perfectly. In English, this would follow. Polish is different. I am not sure that I can stress just how different Polish is. But, I don’t wish to dwell on that since I am speaking so much of it that even I surprise myself. How I goofed up (as far as I can tell):
1. My family name is funny. (Yes, the children of Poland sing “Old MacDonald”.) And MacDonald is NOT a name of people from around these parts.
2. Nobody EVER calls themselves Mister.
3. If you do call somebody “Pan” (Mister) you do not often use the last name.
4. “Jestm” seems only to be used to describe something that anybody could be - like hungry. As those of you who know me can attest, not everybody can be Mister MacDonald.
We worked out that in Polish, one says; “my name is Lawrence MacDonald. So, you can see if this question takes five or six minutes to work out, that it is going to take awhile.
I have learned an odd thing on this trip. (Well, many odd things actually.) Among the oddest is this. You know how it is difficult to listen to two different talking to you at the same time? Well, I have discovered that if one of the people is speaking English and the other Polish that I can follow both. If one of the children is speaking to me in Polish and Elaine is speaking to me in English, I am following both. Not sure why, but okay. Of course, at the bar that evening, there are now three languages being spoken among four people. A question asked in Polish, is clarified in English, debated in German, and resolved in Polish. Boy! Neurons and Atoms were bouncing all around the inside of my skull that night.
It was a very productive 90 minutes. We filled out four sheets of pic-to-grams, taught me not to inadvertently be a stand-up comic just by introducing myself, how to say that something “is for you”, and ask “what is this?”
I thanked my companions and headed upstairs. Since neither Elaine or I had any plans to sleep, Elaine took more of the sheets and headed downstairs again to see the very helpful Eva who helped her for another 30 minutes. We will take help learning Polish at every opportunity.
Yes. The children do have to learn English and that process has already started rather nicely. Elaine will seamlessly repeat in English what she says in Polish. She is really very smooth with this. We have also worked with the picture dictionaries. However, they do not really need to learn English today. What they need today is someone who understands and takes care of them. So, since we can read, we will use Polish until after the children are home.
Elaine hopes to retain enough of the language so the all the kids will go “Oh no, Mum is yelling at me in Polish, I better stop what I am doing.” And so she can say in our world, “Get closer to me, that guy is creepy” in Polish, playing the percentages that the creepy guy in America doesn’t speak English.
We have also found that as we make improvements in our Polish, the children feel a sense of accomplishment. Trust me when I say that all three are good teachers. It is an odd feeling to have a tiny three year-old correcting your grammar, but we will take the help from whomever will offer it. The children don’t know that we study our brains out when they are sleeping. Please. Nobody tell them.
Now, (Teraz) I will leave you with a joke that slays them in Poland.
“What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? - Trilingual”
“What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? - Bilingual”
“What do you call someone who speaks 1 language? - An American”