any Czech or Polish DUers? (or anyone familiar with the languages?)

progdonkey

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Wed Nov-09-05 05:16 AM
Original message

any Czech or Polish DUers? (or anyone familiar with the languages?)

(I posted this in the Democrats Abroad group, but I think it must've gone by unnoticed, so I'm re-posting in General Discussion.)

I'm just starting to learn Polish, and I'm considering following Polish with Czech because I've heard that they are very close languages and learning Czech would be significantly easier to learn when you already know Polish.

How close are the languages? Am I completely misinformed and Czech might as well be Swahili in regards to Polish? Or are they more comparable to Italian and Spanish?

Thanks!

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OldEurope

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Wed Nov-09-05 05:33 AM
Response to Original message

1. They seem to be even closer than

Spanish and Italian, because the Slavic languages started their evolution in the 10th century; the Romanic languages were separated 500 years earlier at the end of the Roman Empire.

:toast:

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ErisFiveFingers

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Wed Nov-09-05 05:39 AM
Response to Original message

2. Portugese and Spanish might be a closer comparison.

Edited on Wed Nov-09-05 05:42 AM by ErisFiveFingers

Duplicate words, some duplicate syntax, but at the same time, pronunciation and "language drift" means that some words, and phrases, are entirely different. Add in USSR and other soviet influences, and the mix gets even more interesting.

Edit: oops, Spain/Italy vs. Spain/Portugal, more comments.

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wickerwoman

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Wed Nov-09-05 05:42 AM
Response to Original message

3. I speak Russian and a little Czech.

They have a lot of common vocabulary but the grammar is quite different. Maybe English and German is a good analogy. I found Russian helped me pick up Czech quite quickly and I'm sure Polish is even more helpful.

Good luck!

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progdonkey

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Wed Nov-09-05 08:18 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. cool, thanks!

:toast:

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