Language survival 101: Feel local (in Poland)!
Oct 27th, 2008 | By Asia | Category: English
In this questionnaire, we plan to interview Lexiophiles bloggers to get tips on how to learn their native language. Instead of offering run of the mill advice, we tried a different approach, more unconventional, which might even help people NOT be labeled as a tourist in the first 2 minutes!
• Hum or sing along with these three songs in the subway:
[Please name us three songs everyone knows in your native language]
I don't know if everyone will know these, but I do, and I like them:
"Pognała wołki na Bukowinę" or the heynal in Gdansk: "Nie rzucim ziemi skąd nasz ród..." and finally something that most people my age will know: "Autobiografia" by Perfect
• Get by with firing off any of these five swear words:
[Please tell us the five unavoidable curse-words that are commonly used in your country and what they mean]
ay, do I have to do this? Ok, here we go:
kurwa, and kurwa, and kurwa, and kurwa, and kurwa.
Used as a swear word, or a filler word, or as a conjunction, or as an expression of surprise, or instead of "yes" , or instead of "no", and so on...
• Get the phone number (or a great laugh) with this pick-up line:
[Please share your favorite pick-up line with us]
I'm such a repulsive person that nobody ever tried to pick me up. Except this one time when a drunk guy at a party said: "no co ty kurwa..." and then he fell down before managing to finish the sentence.
• Cheer to this word with your new local friends at the bar:
[Please tell us what the word for “cheers” is in your language]
na zdrowie! (can be followed by "kurwa")
• And for our tip on feeling like a local - how to order a Big Mac menu in your language:
[Please write how you would order a super-size Big Mac menu in your language]
Big Maka proszę.
• The one thing you should do every day to feel truly local:
[Please describe a truly local thing/tick people in your country do]
ahem, wear a track-suit, drink yourself senseless and then scream "kurwa" at anything that moves?
• Have we forgotten anything? What is in your opinion the most unusual way to learn your language?
[Any ideas, comments, suggestions that we missed.]
Not really unusual, but very effective - get yourself a partner of another nationality. Suddenly learning a new language will be fun, easy, exciting, not to mention necessary.
