In this post I would like to attempt to categorize the polish culture according to the five subjects presented in the "figuring foreigners out" text by applying its points to previous experiences that I have had with my language partner. The application of these assessments do not by necessity reflect the culture as a whole since my language partner is an individual, however i believe that they are a good starting point for further research.
Direct/Indirect communication: The polish culture appears to be one of an indirect/ high context nature, that is to say that people tend to infer, imply, and use nonverbals rather than to say things directly. In the case of my language partner, the indirect use of language is not as apparent as is the lack of use of direct language. That is to say that the goal of her communication exchanges is not getting or giving information and she has well-established in-groups. Although her spoken words do carry the much of the meaning of what she is trying to say, i believe that this is due to a lack of practice in the circuitous ways in which the english language can be used rather than a cultural disposition.
Individualist/collectivist: The polish culture appears to be of a collectivist nature, that is to say that the smallest unit of survival is the immediate family rather than the individual. This is evident in my language partner's communication with her family unit being much higher than that of a typical american college student despite the increased difficulty and price associated with keeping in constant contact with people on the other side of the world. In addition, if the pseudo-family that she has built on campus among her closest friends is any indication of the tight-knit nature of her family abroad, the concepts of close psychological and emotional sharing and considering the needs and feelings of others in the collectivist group are perfectly represented by her actions.
Nonverbal communication: As in all cultures, this aspect of Polish(P) is unique and is best described through a list of specific types of non-verbals and their comparison to the two other cultures i am familiar with, american(A) and latin american(LA).
-personal space: A>LA>>P
-Touching: A+LA = very infrequent among acquaintances, used among friends occasionally during greeting or departure and frequent exchanges are only found between those in a relationship. P= frequent among aquaintances during greeting or departure and also an integral part of speaking as one may touch another in conversation to get a point across or to grab their attention. Friends are treated in such a manner that any type of physical barrier does not exist.
-eye contact: A+P= not necessary for conversation but not intentionally avoided either. A sign of respect to maintain eye contact with the elderly or in a business setting. LA= eye contact is a necessary courtesy that is to be extended to everyone in all situations, even to an unknown passerby on the street.
Monochronic/Polychronic: Impossible to tell due to the hectic nature of my language partner's schedule as a student athlete.
Internal/External: I would guess from my observations that Polish is an internal culture, that is to say that effort and personal responsibility breed achievement rather than predestination. This has evidenced itself most strongly in my language partner's refusal to give up on her favorite sport when she is injured for a prolonged period of time or give up on being a psychology major even if giving 100% of her effort doesn't yield a passing grade. There doesn't appear to be any sense of a "if im not fated to go to graduate school then so be it" mentality in her understanding, instead it appears to be "ill keep trying until they accept me". However, i find that this internal/external mentality is an especially difficult one to extrapolate out to the rest of the culture since i feel that this type of understanding can be largely driven by one's personal religious affiliations.
In general, as far as autonomous language learning goes i have done a mediocre job this past week as far as dedication to learning polish but I am going to attribute that to the fact that I had multiple medical school applications due which were extremely time consuming. On the plus side, i am slowly achieving my goal of being able to understand at least what people are driving at in written polish. Hopefully soon ill be able to do the same in spoken polish, we will see.
Sorry if this was a long read
Jason
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