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[barnaby2008]

Hi

I need to find out if Polish schools / language schools / colleges / universities etc tend to use a British English (RP ish?) pronunciation model or an American English model in their EL teaching.

If any of you people teaching in Poland could tell me, you would be doing me a great favour!

Many thanks
Barnaby

[Richfilth]

I havent heard any schools (apart from The British Council and The American Institute, for obvious reasons) inflicting any particular accent onto their students as a matter of course; they just let whatever native speaker they can lay their hands on do their best.

Of course, a teacher with a strong Scots or Irish accent or Southern Drawl can get enough complaints from their students to be kicked out, but I've never seen RP hammered down the throats of anyone. It would be unjustifiable anyway, what with Polish tongues being so flat that they're better suited to trans-Atlantic accents, and the trend in British English teaching being towards Estuary English rather than RP. Of course, that's not to say that Oxford doesn't have a huge base for its phonetic dictionaries over here (which use RP for their pronunciation) but I don't think it's school policy to insist that the opposite of /kaen/ is /ka:nt/.

Telling us why you "need" to know might yield more detailed answers from the other wonderfully colloquial contributors to the board.

[barnaby2008]

Thanks for this.

[Richfilth]

If we're talking materials then, I'd have to say that I can't think of an American-produced coursebook for EFL. The market is dominated by European brands (Oxford, Express, Longman-Pearson, Heinle) which are definitely Anglo-centric in their pronunciation work. The books that stand out in my mind are the Headway and English File series, both from Oxford, which teach the British elements of the IPA only.

Other books contain US vocabulary, but I can't think of a single coursebook that demonstrates pronunciation in any other way than having foreign accents for the listening exercises, and in that case they also give (entertainingly amusing versions of) Australian, South African and regional British accents too.

So in effect, it really is down to the teacher's choice. I hope that gives you something to go on.

[sharter]

It has to be said that the most common exam courses in Poland come from the Cambridge Suite. Pronunciaton is one of the elements marked in the speaking test. The focus is on the pronunciation of sounds, word and sentence stress...consistency with the accent is key. It's always clear when someone has had a great deal of exposure to American teachers for example and as examiners we never marked anyone down for having an accent. As such, accent isn't really an issue when it comes to assessment.

Rightly or wrongly,RP English is probably still the taught benchmark...especially when teaching at the university level, where students spend countless hours in language labs mastering 'th' and long and short vowel sounds.

Schools also like teachers with nice, southern accents, which tend to be nearer RP. I spent years in Poland and rarely met Geordies, Scousers and Brummers with strong accents.

Oddly, I've always found that Polish women who speak with American accents always sound a bit like Martina Navratilova....they sound very flat.

[barnaby2008]

This is all really useful, thanks both of you.

[sharter]

From my experience, Am Eng accents in Polish students are a result of;

-Having a U.S. teacher.
-Having spent time in the U.S.
-Having U.S. family/ partners.

As another poster rightly stated, the EFL course book market in Poland is dominated by British English publications. ESOL books like Work Place are simply not used in Poland and TOEFL is unusual.

I'm not sure that media has a big influence on the Am Eng/ Brit Eng debate. Poles are not avid readers of magazines and newspapers, certainly not in English. Besides, Newsweek and the Washington Post etc are expensive for most Poles. Very few of my advanced students were interested in watching the like of CNN and NBC. So, I'd put the media influence idea on a backburner.

I think the big area where Am Eng is changing things is in spelling and that's got to be a result of internet usage and spell checkers etc.

[scot47]

Interesting to consider the differences on the other side of the Oder-Neisse. When visiting Germany I am struck by the rapid "Americanisation" of Germany. This can be seen in the use of English too. American English may not be the dominannt form but a large number of German teens spend an "Exchange Year" in the US and come back with American English.

[sharter]

Don't worry Scot; language aside, every other aspect of Polish culture is becoming Americanised.

The women are getting bigger too:)

[barnaby2008]

All very useful, thanks.

So it looks like I'm safe in assuming that for the vast majority of students, the pedagogical pronunciation model will be British English, but some people may have signs of an Am accent due to specific teachers, family, or trips to US.

Thanks again

[lundjstuart]

Sharter,
You should look in your own backyard when it comes to women! You just stated a stereotype about American people! There are large concentrations depending on the region. I believe that the UK is #3 and the US is #2 but AUS is #1 in being the fattest country.
Sorry Barnaby about that but what he said was uncalled for! The media only has an effect on their pronunciation through music and movies. Other than that it has little effect on them.

[sharter]

Easy boy!

I haven't had an English girlfriend since I was about 18.

Anyhow, I went to a posh school where all the girls were well groomed and sporty if you know what I mean. Very svelte.

Funnily enough the school's older than America.

Back to the OP and Americanisation-.....Polish gangsta rappers and Polish hiphop are comical. They want to be American and well 'ard, but they just don't look or sound hard singing about kielbasa, slippers and curling tongs.

[Harry from NWE]

[Scawie]

And, at least in the past few years, a lot of Poles wanted to learn English in order to live and work in England or Ireland.

[barnaby2008]

Thank you Harry, Scawie. All very useful and much appreciated.

Cheers