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46
NAUKA PRZEZ ROZRYWKĘ
NAUKA PRZEZ ROZRYWKĘ
47
Dear readers, PBG Group’s employees. What you may
see in front of you is the first part of the text that has been
sent to you through us, by Mrs. President Małgorzata
Wiśniewska. Go back and read what others think about
learning languages. Translate the text, send an e-mail
to editorial office (redakcja@fundacjapbg.pl), and we
will reward the best translation!
What others
think
about...
4
stories learning about
the lingo
–
part one
tekst Michał Maćkowiak pbg s.a.
opracowanie małgorzata wiśniewska fundacja pbg
About Polish
The language is completely nuts. What
strange letters! How do you pronounce
“Wszystkiego najlepszego” anyway
I never imagined I would even come in
contact with the language. Italian, French
and even Japanese were more important
to me. But now I thank fate for introducing
me to Polish.
When I came to the eastern German
city of Frankfurt/Oder for a year to do
a foreign exchange, I wanted above all
to improve my German. But living there
at the border with Poland you should
speak at least a little Polish… and
at the university they were offering it.
I went back and forth. Isn’t it too hard
Could I do it I reasoned that I had time
to at least get a passing mark.
So I signed up for Basic Polish 1A. The
pronunciation turned out to be not that
hard at all. I found out that Polish was
almost like Russian, except that it uses
our alphabet – even though it’s a Slavic
language. I found that very interesting.
The Poles I’ve met are very nice and
have always been helpful. I also find the
country and the culture to be really fascinating.
A year and a half later I still want to learn
more Polish. I want to get to know the
beauty of a culture like the Polish one
closer up.
David, from Bogotá, Colombia, passed
both semesters of Polish with the highest
marks.
About Dutch
Dutch is an underdog of the European
language set. It suffers from something
of an image problem, much like the country
and its people, a less an obvious
choice in the language learning stakes
than its more widely spoken, sexier cousins,
English, German or French, or exotica
like Japanese or Mandarin. I started
learning Dutch because my significant
other (husband) is from Zeeland, in the
south of the Netherlands, but I’ve realised
along the way that the Dutch language
has plenty of charm of its own.
Worldwide more than 30 million people
speak Dutch, not just in Holland but
Budowa LMG to jedna z realizacji PBG, w której pracownicy wykorzystują swoją znajomość języków obcych. Na zdjęciu powyżej instalacja aminowa, służąca do usuwania siarkowodoru
z gazu, wybudowana przez włoskiego konsorcjanta – firmę KTI
in Belgium, South Africa, the South Pacific
and South America. And English words
of Dutch origin are countable in the thousands.
Cookie, biscuit and many, many
seafaring terms: dok = dock; boei = buoy,
jacht = yacht; schipper = skipper.
Dutch grammar is much less daunting
than German, the spelling is more
logical than English but the pronunciation
is, let’s be honest, a challenge. The
easiness of mastering the 13 vowels and
four diphthongs depends on where you
come from – if you’re a native Swiss-
German, Norwegian or Hebrew speaker,
you’ll pick it all up more quickly. It’s
been described as “A nearly fatal throat
disease” for the guttural, throat constricting
‘sch’s and ‘g’s.
I’ve been visiting the Netherlands
on and off for years, but I’ve yet to nail
the pronunciation of the beach district
where we regularly stay, Scheveningen
or, embarrassingly, my significant other’s
surname. Fortunately, the Dutch are a forgiving
lot and indulge my mutilations
of the language with good humour.
Janet from Tasmania, Australia.
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