Indonesian Student Shares Experience of Learning Polish

Learning languages broadens the outlook and makes our inner world richer. When we learn the Polish language, we learn more about its history and culture, mentality, habits, and rules. This is definitely useful during your studies in Poland.

In fact, learning any language is always worthwhile, it keeps your brain active and opens up new pathways in your brain. Polish is a Slavic language so learning it will open up a whole new array of languages, Russian included. As our Digital Ambassador Yolanda from Indonesia mentioned “I have a lot of fun exploring Central European lands, because sometimes I can catch the same words in different countries, for example, in the Czech Republic I even ordered a meal using the Polish language”.

Knowledge of languages will always help you with getting a job. And the Polish language is not an exception. Poland is a country with a thriving economy. That is why this language is in demand at companies that target the European market. Moreover, the Polish language can be classified as quite rare. Not many people speak this language. This means that there could be a competition for a candidate who knows Polish.

Jeffrey Hanafie, The Digital Ambassador of Poland from Indonesia has shared with us his experience of learning the Polish language from a zero level. Now Jeffrey is taking his Master’s degree in Robotics at the Warsaw University of Technologies. He chose Poland as his study destination because the Polish government offered him a full scholarship that covers his tuition fee and living expenses. Jeffrey believes that having a Master's diploma in Poland made by European standards will bring him a very bright future. Jeffrey mentioned that he loves the standard of the universities here. The scoring system is very fair and transparent both for the professor and for the student.

            Could you please describe your story about learning the Polish language? 

Since I am the awardee of the Łukaszewicz scholarship, it is obligatory to take the one year of the Polish language course. I have been taking my Polish language classes every day in Krakow. I am thankful for my Polish language course, and now I am super happy that I can understand the Polish language, and jump in the conversation of the natives. I can actually understand what people say. As per my experience, Polish people are super excited when foreigners can speak the Polish language. My Polish is far away from perfect, but Polish people really appreciate the way I try and express myself. If you ask me how difficult for me as Asian to learn the Polish language, I would say it is extremely difficult, because there are no similarities between our languages. I spent more than 1 week learning how to pronounce perfectly numbers from 1 to 10 in the Polish language. However, I have ended my language preparation course with good memories and emotions. 

            Do you have any funny stories connected with your misunderstanding of Polish?

When locals talk, they pronounce words in a super-fast way. When they talk to me and I don’t understand them, my answer is going to be “Tak, Tak, Tak” … and that is silly, because I don’t understand what I agree with.

            What could you recommend for beginners who just start learning the Polish language?

In my opinion, patience and effort are the most crucial parts of learning the Polish language. I recommend you decide on a simple, attainable goal to start with so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. The more you invite a foreign language into your daily life, the more your brain will consider it something useful and worth caring about. Use every opportunity to get exposed to the new language. A funny thing like resetting the language on your phone can help you learn new words right away. Find native speakers near you. Or search for foreign penpals or set up a language tandem online, where two volunteers help one another practice their respective languages. And most important, do not worry about making mistakes.

Below you can find an online course made for foreigners to learn the Polish language from zero level which Jeffrey strongly recommends you:

https://navoica.pl/courses/course-v1:Politechnika_Bialostocka+PB_SJO_002+2020_01/about