Learning a language

I arrived at Krakow airport with Kasia, my guide. Test number one. I had to get a taxi to the hotel. I said to the taxi driver, in Polish, ‘To the Holiday Inn hotel, please,’- Prosze do hotelu Holiday Inn. No problem. The driver understood me. But then he started talking to me in perfect English. I felt a bit stupid.

We got to the hotel, checked in, and then we went to the hotel bar for the test number two.

A waitress came up to us and I said ‘Prosze piwo,’ that is a beer please. Then the waitress said something in Polish and I understood her! She said ‘a big or small beer? ‘Big,’ I said. I was so happy that I could understand her. I really enjoyed that beer.

Next we went out into the street for the test three: asking for directions. I decided to ask for directions to chemists, apteka. I stopped a woman who looked friendly and I said, in Polish, ‘Excuse me please, is there a chemist’s near here? No problem. But then she started talking really fast and pointing. I tried to listen for left or right or anything. I was sure that Kasia was going to give me zero for this test!

I was feeling less confident now. We went back to the hotel for the test four: Making a phone call. Kasia gave me a phone number and told me to ask to speak to her friend. His name was Adam. I dialed the number. A woman answered the phone. ’Adama nie ma.’she said. I understood that! Adam’s not in. I wanted to say ‘When will she back? but I could only say ‘When home? Kiedy domu?’

And I didn’t understand her answer. So I said than kyou and good bye very politely.

Finally test five: asking the time. I knew this test was going to be very hard. Numbers in Polish are incredibly difficult and I’ve always found telling the time impossible. But I had a brilliant idea. I stopped a man in the street and said, ‘Excuse me., what the time?’ I couldn’t understand the answer but I just said, ‘Sorry, can I see your watch please? He showed to me. Twenty past seven. Perfect!

How well did I do in the tests? Well, Kasia gave me five out ten for language and eight for imagination. So can you learn a language in a month? Not Polish, definitely!