Came across this article today and found it interesting, so here is an excerpt. It's a good thing that Tom and I are researching Polish language lessons now. Apparently it is most effective to have a private tutor come to your house for lessons, so that is our plan. We are hoping to start taking them in the next week or so and will probably take them twice a week.
Most Difficult Languages - Polish
February 22, 2011
I've read about the supposed difficulty of many languages. Some I don't know at all (like Chinese or Arabic, which I'd imagine are difficult), but I did have the opportunity to learn one of the hardest, and supposedly the most grammatically-complex Slavic language, Polish. It is certainly harder than Croatian, which I already knew when I started to learn Polish.
Here's one (somewhat trivial, but illustrative) example of the relative complexity of languages: the number 2.
Here's one (somewhat trivial, but illustrative) example of the relative complexity of languages: the number 2.
English, Spanish, Dutch: 1 form (two, dos, twee)
Portuguese: 2 forms (dois/duas) - depending on gender (2 - masculine & feminine)Croatian: 7 forms (dva, dvije, dvoje, dvojica, dvojice, dvojici, dvojicu) - depending on gender (3 - masculine, feminine, and neuter) and case in one specific form. There were other variants historically but they're not used anymore.
Polish: 17 forms. Depends on gender (3), case for all forms. Pretty much all these forms occur in regular speech (6-11 less often than the others)
Dwa palce
17 grammatical forms for the number 2
- dwa
- dwie
- dwoje
- dwóch (or dwu)
- dwaj
- dwiema
- dwom (or dwóm)
- dwoma
- dwojga
- dwojgu
- dwojgiem
- dwójka
- dwójki
- dwójkę
- dwójką
- dwójce
- dwójko
Why is Polish so complex?
Poland's history is one of being attacked and subjugated by its neighbors throughout most of its history, either by Germans, Austrians, Swedes or Russians. Many times the speaking of Polish was forbidden, so people were understandably protective of their language and less likely to have foreign intrusion into it. (English readily absorbs foreign words because American, Brits, Australians, etc don't feel like their language is threatened.) Also, "world languages" simplify much more rapidly, while "niche languages" don't have the same sort of pressure.
Even the names of months, which are usually similar in all the languages of the world, retain old Slavonic forms in Polish:
Even the names of months, which are usually similar in all the languages of the world, retain old Slavonic forms in Polish:
- January - styczeń (from the Polish word for joining, since January joins two years together)
- February - luty (from the Polish word for freezing cold; this is the only month that is grammatically an adjective, not a noun)
- March - marzec (from Mars - the 3rd month is the Roman god Mars's month, as it is in English)
- April - kwiecień (from the Polish word for flower, since this is the month when flowers bloom)
- May - maj (the only one adopted from the Roman calendar)
- June - czerwiec (from the Polish word for reddening...named after the Polish cochineal, a red insect that is used for red dye and is harvested in June - thanks, Lola!)
- July - lipiec (from the Polish word for linden tree, which blooms in July in Poland)
- August - sierpień (from the Polish for for sickle, since this is the month of harvest)
- September - wrzesień (from the Polish word for heather, which turns a brilliant shade of purple then)
- October - październik (from the Polish word for a type of flax mulch used in the fields during this month)
- November - listopad (almost literally - falling leaves)
- December - grudzień (from the Polish word for hardened, frozen ground)
No comments:
Post a Comment