Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

Janina M. Zabielska
The question about the attitude of the respondents to a specifi c language also resulted in
curious observations. Ukrainian was seen as a foreign language only by one person, while others
classifi ed it as the language of the neighbouring country. On the other hand, Byelorussian was
regarded as a foreign language by all the Polish students surveyed. These fi ndings attest to a
negative perception both of the Byelorussians and their mother tongue.
The majority of respondents with Ukrainian origin declared Ukrainian as the fi rst language
which they had been taught at home. A few participants of the survey were born in Ukraine and
for this reason this language was the only one they had spoken in their childhood. Similarly,
Byelorussian was the fi rst language for the respondents from Byelorussia, but a few of them also
mentioned Russian as another language spoken in their homes.
The conclusion to be drawn from these observations is that people who are not familiar
with Ukraine or Byelorussia categorize the above-cited languages either as foreign or as the
languages of the neighbouring countries.
Respondents’ perceptions of the two languages are also interesting to note. Ukrainian was
regarded as a “useful, nicely sounding language” and as “beautiful, original, rich and melodious”
by Ukrainians. Byelorussian, in turn, was viewed as “cool and interesting” but “impracticable”
– the last feature resulting from the fact that in Byelorussia it is Russian that is widely spoken
and the use of Byelorussian in commercial relations or in social life appears to be unpopular.
Among the main diffi culties in learning the languages in question the respondents mentioned
“different letters, grammar, pronunciation and accent”, while “the similarity to Polish” and
“analogous vocabulary” were considered as the features facilitating the acquisition of Ukrainian
and Byelorussian.
The undeniable popularity of western languages among the students results mainly from
their plans to fi nd a well-paid job in Poland or in foreign countries where those languages
are spoken. Only a few respondents intended to learn the so-called “unpopular” languages
and, what should be noted, they were motivated solely by their own interest. The lack of
attention paid to learning Ukrainian and Byelorussian also results from the fact that most of the
students involved in our research either knew those languages partly or spoke fl uent Russian,
which, according to their opinions, was suffi cient to communicate with people while visiting
the eastern countries or talking to their acquaintances.
What does it mean to speak a language well? The most frequent answers given by the
respondents were the following: “To speak without an accent”, “to know vocabulary pertaining
to all aspects of life”, “to speak without thinking, but correctly and logically’, “to be fl uent”,
“to know the grammar of the language”, “to speak without diffi culty”, “to think in a given
language”.
As regards specifi c strategies used in acquiring a foreign language, the respondents’ opinions
in this respect do not differ signifi cantly. They all admitted learning foreign languages by
“reading and listening”, “listening to English songs and translating the lyrics”, “working with
a dictionary and reading books in their original versions”, “listening and repeating”, “private
tutorials” and “speaking”. A few respondents regarded going to a foreign country as the best
way of learning a particular language.
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Multilingualism.indb 492 4-12-2006 12:30:08