Blog - Anna Śpiewak

Yes, I am Polish. But I will write in English to you in this blog, and I beg you to not hold it against me.

While I grew up in the Eastern Block of Poland, went to grammar school where they taught me flawed Russian, ate "pączki," watched child programs such as "Miś Uszatek," "Bolek i Lolek," or "5,10,15," and listened to synth-pop group Kombi, to which I still bop my head today, I left that country behind for good in the fifth grade. This means that my written Polish is, yes, on the level of a fifth grader. I do feel for my fellow editors at the Polish daily who grunt everytime they have to fix my Polish stories, and who hired me on the premise that I would work on their translations and improve their English website. Funny part is, my spoken Polish is almost flawless. My accent is slight to non-existent, and I know how to use majority of big words to express myself and still impress some Polish young men, who see me as "intelligent," through the use of "proper Polish." But the written word, that is a whole other animal, or "bajka" as they say in Polish slang. One of my editors tells me to read more in Polish to improve my skills, some even say that I'm already improving with some of my stories, but the bottom line is, my Polish will never be as good as my English. While newly arrived Polish immigrants in the United States, however few of them arrive these days, are struggling with their English, I feel their pain in a completely reversed way.

Photo: Archives Written Polish is a tougher nut to crack than spoken Polish for Polish-Americans who've become fully immersed in American society

I finished grammar school in America, then went to high school, college, and finally graduate school. I've worked for American newspapers, edited other people's work. You name it, I've done it, in English, twice. It is frustrating having gone through the entire schooling system, and then end up at a Polish newspaper and start all over again, especially to someone who was always interested in languages. it is hard on me, and even harder on my coworkers and superiors. But at the end of the day, I embrace this challenge. And I have news for all of you, it can be done. I learn new things everyday.  Just as learning Polish all over again can be achieved, so can learning English. Hey, if I can learn to write "z powrotem" properly instead of "spowrotem," you can learn the difference between "were," "we're" and "there" and "their.' But I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, because a lot of Americans don't know the difference between those two kinds of words either. I speak out to all of my fellow Poles, or immigrants who've settled here from other parts of the world, or children of immigrants. Don't feel second best, or less important just because you have an accent or can't come up with a certain word. It doesn't make you worse, it makes you what former Secretary of State (under Nixon) Henry Kissinger once said, who was German himself: "Don't laugh at someone with an accent. It just means they speak one more language than you." So don't fret that your English or Polish is not ideal. Be proud that you speak one more language better or at all. At the end of the day, language is indeed the greatest power you have. Use it wisely.