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- Title
English in contemporary Poland.
- Authors
KASZTALSKA, ALEKSANDRA
- Abstract
Because of its association with the West, English became a symbol of modernization and freedom during Poland's communist chapter. Since 1989, English has achieved an even higher status, as the language of international business, research, and media. Today, Polish advertisements are filled with English loan words, English-language movies reign in theaters, and most young people study English in school. As relatively little research has examined the impact of English on contemporary Poland, this paper is an effort to begin filling this gap. I start by offering a concise history of Poland and Polish, as well as a history of English in Poland. I then provide examples of changes in Polish that are likely motivated by Poles' use of English. In the following sections, I outline the rise to fame of English in Polish classrooms, advertisements, and media. From this review emerges a somewhat incongruous image of English, as both an economic asset and a corrupting agent on the Polish language and culture. To illustrate these dichotomous attitudes, the subsequent section reports on the findings of my preliminary, Internet-based study of contemporary Polish discourses about English. I end the paper by identifying some unanswered questions and suggesting directions for further research.
- Subjects
POLAND; ENGLISH language in foreign countries; POLISH language; ENGLISH as a foreign language; MASS media; LANGUAGE &; culture; ADVERTISING &; culture; ADVERTISING; POLISH history -- 1989-
- Publication
World Englishes, 2014, Vol 33, Issue 2, p242
- ISSN
0883-2919
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/weng.12083