Polish Language Problems
This morning, I got up early so that I could have breakfast with my daughter Imogen before she went to work. We drove into town and had a ‘supermarket breakfast’ in the food court of the shopping centre.
First, Imogen and I went to the supermarket to buy yoghurt and muesli, blueberries and raspberries, and a packet of ‘breakfast biscuits’. Then we took our shopping to a table in the almost empty food court and ordered two pots of English breakfast tea before opening all our packages. A feast was spread before us which we enjoyed!
I love going out for an inexpensive meal with my children. While we eat, we chat and share stories.
Here’s one of Imogen’s stories that makes me smile:
The Paczki Story
Imogen and sister Sophie work in a cafe. The owners are Polish Australians. They cook traditional Polish food. The menu is written in both Polish and English. And although there are lots of English speaking customers, there are many who also speak Polish. Often these customers assume that Imogen can speak Polish too.
The other afternoon, a man approached the counter in the cafe and started speaking Polish to Imogen. While she was waiting for a suitable break in his flow of words to tell him she can only speak English, she suddenly heard the word paczki which is the Polish word for donut. When it was Imogen’s turn to speak, she said, “I’m very sorry, we’ve sold out of donuts. They were very popular today.” The man smiled and said, “You speak very good Polish!” Imogen smiled back. She didn’t tell him she only knows a few words, all of them related to food.
Later, when Imogen told me this story, I said, “What are you going to do if the man returns and speaks Polish to you again? He’ll assume you can understand him.” She’ll have to confess that she doesn’t speak this language after all. Or maybe the man will ask another food-related question and Imogen will recognise the Polish word, think quickly, and come up with a likely answer once again!
Imogen had another Polish language story to share with me. She’s already posted it on Instagram so I’ll let her tell you the story herself.
The Messaging a Girl Story
One of my favourite stories I’ve heard at the cafe comes from one of my co-workers, who is Polish. It’s about how she met her husband D-. She was set up by a friend, after seeing D- in a photo. Her friend convinced her to message him, which she finally did, writing to him in Polish. They messaged back and forth for a while until finally, he had to ask her if she minded switching to English.⠀
.⠀
Turns out, while D-‘s family spoke Polish, he didn’t and so his whole family was helping him read the messages and write replies to this girl. After that, he made the effort to finally learn Polish, maybe so his mum didn’t have to help him message girls anymore! I love this story because it’s so funny, but also kind of sweet, and has a happy ending.⠀
After that, he made the effort to finally learn Polish, maybe so his mum didn’t have to help him message girls anymore!
Funny the things that motivate us to learn!
More About Paczki
If you’d like to know more about paczki, you could read the article Authentic Polish Paczki Recipe. Maybe you could make some of your own!
Images
Sophie in the Polish cafe. There are two plates of paczki on the counter. Quite often the girls buy a few donuts to bring home. Our mouths water when we see them! Paczki are only available in the cafe on Fridays and Fat Thursdays.
So I’m wondering…
Do you have any funny language stories? Has anything unusual ever motivated you to learn something new? And have you ever had a supermarket breakfast?