Poland: Language problems
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Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 20:18:15 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Poland: Language problems
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Poland: Language problems
Dear all,
It seems that the problem of the official language vs other (including
minority) ones is urgent not only in the countries where large
minority groups are present like eg Latvia and Estonia, but also in
much more ethnically and linguistically homogenous East European
countries. Find enclosed a paper on the new Polish draft language law
(published in Warsaw Business Journal, August 2-8, 1999). Having read
it, I got astonished to what little extent the manner of argumentation
on the language issues depends on actual ethnic composition of the
population :-). Any comments from our Polish colleagues?
Boris
---------------
MOW PO POLSKU
Language law decrees how businesses should get their message across
By Anna Kocinska and Chris Rivituso
Zenon Mikulec may have a language problem. Under legislation passed
two weeks ago by the Sejm, Mikulec's shopping mall may have to change
its name, Land, because the word is not Polish.
Mikulec, president of the shopping center on ulica Walbrzyska in
Warsaw, said he would change the name if the Sejm's legislation
becomes law and he is required to do so. But the executive said the
government would then be saddling him with a new cost of business to
counter something that he doesn't really see as a problem.
"To change (the name) now, when the center already functions, we would
have to pay a new promotional campaign", he said. "The name was picked
at a time when it was efficient, in marketing terms, to use English
words instead of simple Polish names."
Ironically, Land's owners are exclusively Polish companies whose goal
is to prove that they can successfully compete with foreign-owned
shopping centers.
Other businesses may also find themselves having to change promotional
tactics. For example, the legislation could mean that out-door
advertisements for cigarette brand West, bearing the English-language
slogan "Test It" could soon be 'verboten.' This would necessitate a
change in advertising strategy and new billboards.
None of that really matters, though, to the Sejm deputies who pushed
for a Polish-language protection bill. These lawmakers believe that
the everyday use of foreign terms poses a threat to the existence of
the Polish language.
Under the legislation, names of products, advertisements, descriptions
of goods and services, labels and bills have to be expressed in
Polish. In the case of imported goods, a description in Polish must be
added to the original language version.
"The primary goal of the new law is to prevent Polish from being
gradually eliminated by other idioms," said Jerzy Bralczyk, a
professor in Warsaw University's journalism institute known for his
focus on Polish and the use of language, and who supports the
proposal. "It would be an alarming situation if Polish couldn't cope
with designating some areas, such as lr for example."
Opponents of the bill see it as an unwarranted government intrusion
into an area that doesn't need fixing. 'This is a damn serious thing
to do," said Jakub Bierzyllski, general manager for media house
Optimum Media. "It is typical thinking of a bureaucrat."
Ad executives also pointed out that the number of foreign-language
advertisements in Poland might be so low that it can hardly be
quantified. And how one chooses to express an idea should be an
individual choice, they added. "There's also the question of freedom
of expression," said Eugene Radevich, creative director with
advertising agency Ogilvy & Matter. "That's what you call democracy."
Confusion reigns
If the legislation adopted by the Sejm is passed by the Senate and
signed into law by President Aleksander Kwasniewski, the new
regulations will come into effect within six months. But many people,
including some Sejm deputies, aren't sure exactly how the legislation
will work. "Aren't we accepting a bill a result of which Mr. Szwarc
will have to change his name to Czarny (black)?" Maciej Manicki, a
deputy from the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) asked during
the parliamen-tary debate preceding a vote on the bill.
Deputies at least managed to clear that question up. Under an
amendment to the bill, foreign proper names, including surnames, trade
names, company names and place names, could be maintained if they
don't have a Polish equivalent. Well, maybe it wasn't totally clear.
"Is it that, in accordance with the amendments, which have just been
accepted, the trade name Old Spice, with which most of us are
familiar, will have to be translated into Polish? (literally, Stara
Przyprawa or optionally Story Smrod)," asked Jerzy Osiatynski, a
Freedom Union (UW) deputy.
Iwona Sledzinska-Katarasinska, another UW deputy who summed up the
bill before the Sejm vote, changed her mind and ended up voting
against it. "Old Spice could be considered a trademark, but as far as
Margaret Astor is concerned I am positive that now it should be
Malgorzata Astor," Sledzinska-Katarasinska said. She added that it's
unclear whether it's acceptable at all to translate proper names into
Polish.
The somewhat light-hearted nature of the debate on the bill seemed to
indicate that it was heading for defeat. In the end, however, it
squeaked by 200-179. Most deputies in favor of the bill came from
Solidarity Election Action (AWS) and the Peasants Party (PSL). UW
deputies largely went against their AWS coalition partner, with 47 out
of the party's 59 deputies voting against the bill.
Those watching the debate noted that the parliamentary concern on
defending the Pol-ish language appeared to focus around English, a
language that has steadily been gaining popularity over the past 10
years.
Some could understand this concern, but said the move was more about
rhetoric than substance. "The big mistake of this parliamentary debate
is its intent for public relations," said Wojciech Plawa, president of
the board at market research company Osrodek Badania Opinii Publicznej
(OBOP).
He added that deputies seemed to be counting on this being a popular
issue, rather than one of great import. Many questioned, though,
whether the effort was worth it, saying that all language is
constantly evolving.
"This is the life cycle of every language," said Optimum Media's
Bierzynski.
He added that language is something "living," and that over time
Polish has assimilated words from other languages, such as German or
Latin. "I don't think you can stop this process by any legislation,"
he said.
Following France
Polish lawmakers are not the first to throw up a defensive bulwark to
protect a language. France paved the way when it adopted a law to
protect its mother tongue. As a result, French civil servants are
obliged to remove foreign words from their lingo. In addition, a
language committee meets regularly to coin new terms in French that
would replace foreign ones in the field of IT and finance.
"But sometimes the new terms come too late," said Francis Legros, who
is in charge of French-language promotion among Polish teachers at the
French Embassy in Warsaw. "So, there is a bit of controversy about
this law. Those who oppose it argue that lan-guage is subject to
evolution and there is nothing that one can do about how people use
it. However, a group of academics is in favor of this law because it
protects the language".
The Sejm's legislative project was met with criticism in the media,
but many businesses are trying to remain sanguine about its
implications for them.
Radoslaw Bubienko, an owner of desktop publishing company Travel Text,
didn't expect the bill to affect him. "I heard that proper names won't
be touched," he said.
Either way, though, he expects that ultimately the bill will fail.
"Within 20 years there will be a lot of English names in our language,
it's simply the way it goes," Bubienko said. "No bill can change
that."
But it can change the way businesses attract customers. One area where
this is likely to have a great impact is in towns near Poland's
eastern border where signs that cater to clientele from republics of
the former Soviet Union often have signs in Russian.
Forcing businesses such as these to change how they advertise doesn't
make business sense, said opponents of the legislation. "It's your
sign, you pay for it," Bierzynski said.
"Business will dictate whether I can survive" with a sign in a foreign
language, Ogilvy's Radevich added.
Some proponents of the law argue, though, that foreign language signs
send the wrong message. Grazyna Majkowska, a lecturer at Warsaw
University's Journalism Institute who specializes in the use of the
Polish language in the media, said a kind of pretentious fad made
people use foreign terms with no good reason. "TV and radio presenters
were becoming kind of snobbish when they were talking about foreign
songs or movies without giving their Polish translation," she said.
"So, we need to replace one kind of snobbism with a new one so that
people realize that overusing one's fluency in English has little to
do with one's intellectual and cultural qualities."
Advertising execs countered that because the world is becoming more
connected, in essence making it a smaller place, a foreign language
may be looked upon simply as a necessity. "We are a global village,"
said Radevich. Ultimately, a balance must be struck between language
and progress, as well as culture and tradition, Bierzynski said. But
protecting Polish should be done differently through grassroots
movements. "You can't ban language," he added.
--
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