My father spoke some Polish while we were growing up, but not a lot by the time I came along ... But he spoke enough to help repatriot Polish people who survived WW2 ....
He used to visit the old family farm in Thorpe WI as a child and spoke Polish then since his grand-family spoke little or broken English ....
Anyways ... I have two older brothers who speak excellent Polish.
I know one took lessons in the Polish section of our town ... Well, his town ... To learn. Not sure where my other brother learned his - I always assumed that he simply learned it growing up.
I speak very little Polish and I'm sure that even has a strong American accent to it ... I can say hello ... Thank you ... Please ... Fine/good ... Butt (only I've learned it's the bad word for it) ... And then there's food names.
But that's about it ...
I downloaded a couple of apps to learn ... And they were free apps.
One was WordPower .... Everyday I get a random word with verbalization and some spoken sentences using the word.
The other is the google translator with a mic so it can hear what I'm saying and translate it ...
Normally I do pretty good ...
Not today
Today's word was "55" ... That's it ... Just a number ...
Simple right?
Well - no
If I wanted to order 55 pierogi (they are soooo good) the waiter would likely bring me either 5 10 15 .... Or ... 5 10 .... Or ... 515 - I mean they're good but I don't think I could eat that many!
Or he would look at me funny because I might have said
"Life is spinning" or "life is a lot of it" or "full of it"
Insert sigh here ...
I can do this .... Really I can.
Oh and I put in 55 and had the translator say it in Polish ....
I thought that was what I said. ....
Maybe I need to use my "Polish" accent ... I usually use it when I read to kids books about the Old Country ... Like Matrushkas cookies or Strega Nona or the like ...
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