Polish Attitudes to the Use of English and Other Languages in the Polish Public Space

Abstract

In the post-war era, Poland has been viewed as a homogeneous country both culturally and linguistically. It has not, however, remained immune to the developments of globalization, which has also been reflected in the linguistic developments of the present century. In recent years, the Polish public space has been inundated with numerous foreign language names, signs, slogans, elements in advertisements and on billboards, with the English language largely in the foreground, and not infrequently competing against Polish in such spheres as services and the advertising even of Polish brands. The present discussion focuses on the results of a survey distributed among Polish respondents which, with the help of indirect and direct methods, asked them to evaluate products/services advertised in visual forms by means of English and other languages, and react to the visibility of these languages both on the Polish street and in the Polish lifestyle magazines. The objective of the study was to identify the attitudes with which English and other languages are viewed by Polish respondents when used in the Polish public space, and to also assess their position in comparison with Polish. The survey results demonstrate that despite a significant number of positive judgements which the respondents offered on the topic, negative views outnumbered the positive to a considerable degree.