Two years of Russian in preparation to speak… Polish?
I missed my tram heading from the beach back into the city center of Gdansk on the Polish Baltic coast. As the tram was finally returning, a lady holding the hand of a little child tried to ask me something in Polish pointing at the posted tram schedule. But while trying to keep up with her fast stream of Polish words I saw the tram was headed toward a different stop. I was in the wrong place. Again. I desperately told her in English that I had to catch the tram that was stopped 20 yards from us and ran toward the open doors that would close any second. She and her child ran behind me. As I arrived at the doors and started to board she asked me again in Polish but in a shorter simpler sentence if the tram was going to the city center. I understood her sentence this time and replied affirmatively in Polish. We all made it on and back to the city center of Gdansk, Poland.
That story perhaps involves more language misunderstandings than understandings, but it was a memorable couple minutes for me. Certainly being able to finally answer the woman’s question and help her find the correct tram felt good. But it was also a moment when I negotiated some meaning in Polish. That hasn’t necessarily been easy since arriving in Poland a couple weeks ago. I’d spent two years studying Russian and the last six months adding in Ukrainian in preparation for a visit to see my partner who was working in Ukraine. But when she was evacuated to Poland, my trip to Ukraine turned into a trip to Poland instead. I crammed a dozen or so hours of Polish language before I left, but showed up with little linguistic resources for the situation I was in, at least compared to what I’d originally expected with my Russian and Ukrainian studies.
Now that I’m here, my understanding of the language being used around me is spotty (until people switch to English which is easy and quick for many people in Warsaw). But as I navigate the city and interact I make an effort to get as far as I can in Polish with each interaction. As I’ve kept trying, now and then I can have an interaction fully in Polish generally to order food or a drink. Normally, though, at some point my Polish breaks down if someone says a sentence that is too long and I have to request English.
But with only a few hours of study how am I navigating anything in the language? Well, I’ve noticed that I pick up on similar words I learned from Ukrainian and Russian and have perhaps developed an ear for English to Slavic language cognate words. When making sense of Polish, my brain doesn’t reject these words and say, “No, I’m listening to Polish and that word is Russian or Ukrainian so I refuse to understand”. On the contrary, my brain is doing its darndest to make sense of the communications that people are attempting with me using all the resources I’ve got whether they come from Ukrainian, Russian, English, my knowledge of gestures, or the context of the situation. Only when my analytical mind takes over after an interaction do I notice what has happened.
Other times these interactions break down not because someone says something too complex, but because after understanding what they’ve said I can’t come up with the right words. As I try to produce language I am suddenly aware of the differences between languages again — aware that speaking Russian or Ukrainian is a different language (and therefore incorrect?), aware that most people could easily switch to English (incidentally, also a different language). Suddenly all the things I’ve learned about language take over and my brain is no longer ignoring supposed differences or borders between languages, instead it is using those differences to filter the speech I am about to produce. I think this challenge is rooted in my own self consciousness and anxieties playing off the sacrosanct divisions between languages I’ve learned to respect. It takes effort to use the closest word I’ve got to what I’m trying to say, even if I’m mixing the languages. But today when I was ordering lunch I filled in gaps in my vocabulary with Ukrainian and Russian and successfully ordered my food. I think the confidence to give it my best shot and then restate with new words if necessary will be key if I want to communicate in Poland without constantly asking people to switch to English for me.
I don’t really know what future I have with the Polish language. Like I mentioned, my focus had been on Ukrainian and Russian for a long time (so I’m not ready to let go of those languages). For now I’ll keep trying to start every interaction in Polish and get as far as I can. Keep noticing the commonalities of Slavic languages and how hard my brain works to understand whenever the situation demands. And keep pushing myself to speak with whatever words pop up that will fit the bill.
