4 ms·

Polish person here. Don't try to learn Polish. It's insanely difficult, the "rules" make no sense whatsoever, and almost anybody that you'll want to talk to wil

by jwr 10mo ago

Polish person here. Don't try to learn Polish. It's insanely difficult, the "rules" make no sense whatsoever, and almost anybody that you'll want to talk to will be able to communicate with you in English. As for Russian, I also don't see any point in learning it. I was forcefully taught Russian in primary school back when Poland was under Russian yoke. The general idea here is that we'd like not to be in that situation ever again. Learning the language of a nation where a significant percentage of population supports war and killing is not something I'd consider.

rvba 10mo ago
Why is every time you see a Polish person they have an inferiority syndrome and and shit on their own country?
- jwr 10mo ago
  I… don't think that's what I did?
otabdeveloper4 10mo ago
> Learning the language of a nation where a significant percentage of population supports war and killing is not something I'd consider. So, when do you plan to unlearn English?
- yakshaving_jgt 10mo ago
  Do you believe that a significant proportion of native English speakers support the idea of imperialistic invasion and occupation, and the rape and torture of women and children?
  - viccis 10mo ago
    Yes. This has been incredibly consistent throughout the existence of the US and UK in particular.
    - yakshaving_jgt 10mo ago
      That seems like a pretty wild thing to say. What is your source for this?
      - viccis 10mo ago
        Which war? The Iraq War started with around 62% support. When the US started its involvement in the Korean War (one of the biggest mass atrocities we'd carried out since, well, about 5 years earlier when we atom bombed Japan...), around 78% supported it. Around 71% of Americans supported a large scale troop invasion of Afghanistan when it started. Honestly, even for the wars with bad public perception, like Vietnam, it was mostly because Americans were tired of our guys being drafted just to be turned into dogfood on the other side of the world, not because we were occupying and brutalizing them.
        yakshaving_jgt 10mo ago
        Let's just pick one, so as to not get distracted. > The Iraq War started with around 62% support. I think the essence of my question is what did "support" look like here? I can empathise with the position that the invasion of Iraq was warranted (which is not to say that I agree with it), in the context of the September 11 attacks. What I haven't seen is any popular support for the slaughter of civilians or the annexation of territory — there is no grand narrative that the USA is actually liberating its historical lands in Iraq. I think the support was conditional, and based on claims that later collapsed. The end goal was withdrawal after regime change. What I haven't seen is any analogue to egregious instances like this[0], of which there are many in russia's war against Ukraine. [0]: https://iwpr.net/global-voices/go-ahead-and-rape-ukrainian-women https://iwpr.net/global-voices/go-ahead-and-rape-ukrainian-w...
        otabdeveloper4 10mo ago
        > it's different when we do it You're not helping here.
- jwr 10mo ago
  Ah, the usual whataboutism that derails rational discussion. While the world isn't black and white, there are rare situations where things actually are totally black and white, and we are witnessing one of them right now.
fasbiner 10mo ago
> Learning the language of a nation where a significant percentage of population supports war and killing is not something I'd consider. Are you a european/white supremacist who doesn't consider the victims of the anglosphere to be human, or are you historically illiterate, even of extremely recent history? I don't see a third option here since you learned english also, would appreciate an explanation for this special pleading rather than furious downvoting when identifying basic empirical discrepancies in the face of what looks to be materially false claims.
- sublimefire 10mo ago
  trolling is really an art ^^^^ the references were about russian federation waging an imperialistic type of a war to conquer land when they have the most land already
  - fasbiner 10mo ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Invasions_by_Great_Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Invasions_by_Great_Br... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States_in_the_21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... This kind of historical blindness and hysterical hypocrisy has never ended well. Is HN becoming a place where we should expect people to lie to us and promote trivially disprovably rationales in order to foment cultural and racial hatreds based on current political conveniences? "Never believe they are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. By giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert."
  - wartywhoa23 10mo ago
    You're really deep into painting everyone with the same brush, aren't you? Define russian federation first. Am I it? Is it land? Is it government? Is it those zombie mercenaries who execute criminal orders? Is it those who got jailed after protests against war? Is it those who got conscripted? Those who fled the country to avoid that? Those who struggle to meet ends? Those cruising aboard 150 meter yachts? Who is this elusive mrs. russian federation?
sublimefire 10mo ago
Polish is great because there is a lot of content to learn from. And it is a gateway to other western slavic languages in the region. I basically forced myself to learn it because Manga was all in polish at the time. Their movie industry is great as well.
- kubanczyk 10mo ago
  Being able to read Stanisław Lem in original I'd consider possibly the biggest perk.
Koshkin 10mo ago
> Learning the language of a nation A nation doesn't own the language.
coder68 10mo ago
As someone studying Polish, and making excellent progress, I mostly agree with your take. If you want to explore other languages, something like Spanish will get you much more mileage. Polish is difficult and the community of speakers isn't exactly warm to foreigners or people acquiring the language. On the other hand, if you truly enjoy languages and are passionate about them, I have found Polish to be really interesting and beautiful in its own way. Definitely not recommended, but still enjoyable to read/write/speak.

by jwr 10mo ago

rvba 10mo ago

Why is every time you see a Polish person they have an inferiority syndrome and and shit on their own country?

jwr 10mo ago
I… don't think that's what I did?

otabdeveloper4 10mo ago

> Learning the language of a nation where a significant percentage of population supports war and killing is not something I'd consider. So, when do you plan to unlearn English?

yakshaving_jgt 10mo ago
Do you believe that a significant proportion of native English speakers support the idea of imperialistic invasion and occupation, and the rape and torture of women and children?
- viccis 10mo ago
  Yes. This has been incredibly consistent throughout the existence of the US and UK in particular.
  - yakshaving_jgt 10mo ago
    That seems like a pretty wild thing to say. What is your source for this?
    - viccis 10mo ago
      Which war? The Iraq War started with around 62% support. When the US started its involvement in the Korean War (one of the biggest mass atrocities we'd carried out since, well, about 5 years earlier when we atom bombed Japan...), around 78% supported it. Around 71% of Americans supported a large scale troop invasion of Afghanistan when it started. Honestly, even for the wars with bad public perception, like Vietnam, it was mostly because Americans were tired of our guys being drafted just to be turned into dogfood on the other side of the world, not because we were occupying and brutalizing them.
      - yakshaving_jgt 10mo ago
        Let's just pick one, so as to not get distracted. > The Iraq War started with around 62% support. I think the essence of my question is what did "support" look like here? I can empathise with the position that the invasion of Iraq was warranted (which is not to say that I agree with it), in the context of the September 11 attacks. What I haven't seen is any popular support for the slaughter of civilians or the annexation of territory — there is no grand narrative that the USA is actually liberating its historical lands in Iraq. I think the support was conditional, and based on claims that later collapsed. The end goal was withdrawal after regime change. What I haven't seen is any analogue to egregious instances like this[0], of which there are many in russia's war against Ukraine. [0]: https://iwpr.net/global-voices/go-ahead-and-rape-ukrainian-women https://iwpr.net/global-voices/go-ahead-and-rape-ukrainian-w...
        otabdeveloper4 10mo ago
        > it's different when we do it You're not helping here.
jwr 10mo ago
Ah, the usual whataboutism that derails rational discussion. While the world isn't black and white, there are rare situations where things actually are totally black and white, and we are witnessing one of them right now.

fasbiner 10mo ago

> Learning the language of a nation where a significant percentage of population supports war and killing is not something I'd consider. Are you a european/white supremacist who doesn't consider the victims of the anglosphere to be human, or are you historically illiterate, even of extremely recent history? I don't see a third option here since you learned english also, would appreciate an explanation for this special pleading rather than furious downvoting when identifying basic empirical discrepancies in the face of what looks to be materially false claims.

sublimefire 10mo ago
trolling is really an art ^^^^ the references were about russian federation waging an imperialistic type of a war to conquer land when they have the most land already
- fasbiner 10mo ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Invasions_by_Great_Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Invasions_by_Great_Br... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States_in_the_21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... This kind of historical blindness and hysterical hypocrisy has never ended well. Is HN becoming a place where we should expect people to lie to us and promote trivially disprovably rationales in order to foment cultural and racial hatreds based on current political conveniences? "Never believe they are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. By giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert."
- wartywhoa23 10mo ago
  You're really deep into painting everyone with the same brush, aren't you? Define russian federation first. Am I it? Is it land? Is it government? Is it those zombie mercenaries who execute criminal orders? Is it those who got jailed after protests against war? Is it those who got conscripted? Those who fled the country to avoid that? Those who struggle to meet ends? Those cruising aboard 150 meter yachts? Who is this elusive mrs. russian federation?

sublimefire 10mo ago

Polish is great because there is a lot of content to learn from. And it is a gateway to other western slavic languages in the region. I basically forced myself to learn it because Manga was all in polish at the time. Their movie industry is great as well.

kubanczyk 10mo ago
Being able to read Stanisław Lem in original I'd consider possibly the biggest perk.

Koshkin 10mo ago

> Learning the language of a nation A nation doesn't own the language.

coder68 10mo ago

As someone studying Polish, and making excellent progress, I mostly agree with your take. If you want to explore other languages, something like Spanish will get you much more mileage. Polish is difficult and the community of speakers isn't exactly warm to foreigners or people acquiring the language. On the other hand, if you truly enjoy languages and are passionate about them, I have found Polish to be really interesting and beautiful in its own way. Definitely not recommended, but still enjoyable to read/write/speak.