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Post by Jaga on Nov 5, 2006 17:36:17 GMT -7
We have now two important reviews of two very interesting books on Polish-American themes. Here is my review, the author of the book was very helpful and edited my errors  culture.polishsite.us/articles/art368.htmlJadwiga's Crossing - a Story of the Great Polish Migration - Book Review |
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Post by hollister on Nov 6, 2006 15:25:21 GMT -7
Jaga - I enjoyed your review very much - you summed up the book well and hit all the interesting points.
One theme we have not touched upon very much here is the a theme you picked up on in your review - that of the interactions between the Poles, Russians and Austrians. Did you find that part "rang true" for you? Was there a regional difference in how these groups mixed and reacted to one another?
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Post by Jaga on Nov 6, 2006 16:09:20 GMT -7
Jaga - I enjoyed your review very much - you summed up the book well and hit all the interesting points. One theme we have not touched upon very much here is the a theme you picked up on in your review - that of the interactions between the Poles, Russians and Austrians. Did you find that part "rang true" for you? Was there a regional difference in how these groups mixed and reacted to one another? Holly, yes, I find it very much true! Even now when you travel through different parts of Poland you see differences in buildings, dialect and even the religiousity level depending on the partition these Poles were in. My mother comes from Silesia which was a part of Prussian partition. I was born in Krakow - a part of Austrian partition (Galicia). Not far from Silesia is so called Red Zaglebie - always considered more communistic which was a part of Russian partition. People in Russian partition were considered more lazy than these in Prussian (prussian drill and discipline |
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Post by hollister on Nov 8, 2006 9:43:59 GMT -7
Jaga,
I saw this first hand this last trip. The difference between Krakow (for example) and Gdansk (for another example) could not be starker! Even to my ears the Polish sounded very different. As Gdansk is a very old city and as a free city I got the feeling that the citizens are by and large tired of tourists and have very little patience for them. Not that I did not have a great time in Gdansk (I did) and not that people were not welcoming or polite - they were - we just had to work a little harder - and that is not necessarily a bad thing.
I found it strange and interesting that people assumed we were Germans and spoke German to us first were as in southern Poland - people assume you speak English. If you didn't speak German the next try was Spanish! (If we had been blonder and blue eyed I think it might have been a Scandinavian Language). I had to use my Polish MUCH more in Gdansk than in Southern Poland - which at times lead to some funny situations but everyone was so good humored about it - there was really no issue and I was happy to practice. I was told a couple of time that my Polish sounded like I came from the country. I happily admitted that I did - but not the rural areas they assumed.
Just my impressions and not very much to do with Jadwiga's Crossing I guess.
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scatts
Cosmopolitan
Posts: 812
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Post by scatts on Nov 10, 2006 0:41:34 GMT -7
In Krakow they use use English first (to foreigners) whereas from Katowice through Wroclaw to the German border they use German, as in Gdansk and indeed Poznan and other places West. Come to think about it, more of Poland prefers German than English. Thankfully not the parts I spend most time in!
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Post by kaima on Nov 10, 2006 1:08:04 GMT -7
In Krakow they use use English first (to foreigners) whereas from Katowice through Wroclaw to the German border they use German, as in Gdansk and indeed Poznan and other places West. Come to think about it, more of Poland prefers German than English. Thankfully not the parts I spend most time in! In 1993 I was in the Baltic countries and discovered that people could mistake me for German, and that Germans did not always get a friendly reception. So when going into stores I woudl start with "Do you speak English? Sprechen Sie Deutsch?..." adn THEN I would drop into my best imitation of their langauge (or Slovak/Russian mix) that I could make my self understood with. Starting with English almost always resulted in a good relationship. Kai |
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