Gardai learn basic Polish in their bid to serve immigrants

DonJose

Gardai learn basic Polish in their bid to serve immigrants
"THE country's growing Polish community will soon be able to speak to local gardai in their native tongue.

Members of the force around the country have undertaken "basic Polish" language classes, according to the Garda Press Office.

There are over 130,000 Polish people now living here and the efforts of the gardai will help to improve communication, particularly with Polish people who have little English. In one case, almost a dozen Donegal gardai are in the middle of a basic Polish language course at Letterkenny Vocational School.

Letterkenny Sergeant Christy Galligan, who is one of the students, said the course would last 10 weeks and participating gardai would then have the option of progressing to a higher standard of the language. "The course is very good. We are being taught by a Polish guy and he is learning some English from us. "There are more than 3,000 Polish nationals living in the county and the course will help us have a better understanding of each other. It is useful for greetings, asking for names and addresses and for giving directions. We also learn about their country and their customs."

Sgt Galligan said that the course was the brainchild of one of the gardai based at Letterkenny."
http://www.unison.ie/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1822489&issue_id=15574

I've an even better idea, how about teaching the Polish basic English The poor Latvians, Lithuanians, Romanians and Bulgarians should feel left out

Owen

Well, my girlfriend is Polish, as are most of our friends, and they all have an excellent standard of English, it takes them a few weeks to get the basics, but once they can string a few sentences together, it's away from there.

The Gardaí learning Polish is just another step I guess. Vodafone stores in the bigger cities now have token Polish staff members, and the banks publish documents in Polish now too. Up until now, the Gardaí have been using people like my girlfriend for translations when there have been issues explaining charges to people, etc. So it will, in the long term, save tax payers money.

GarraiGamhain

What a load of crap. You wouldnt see it in any other country. When we were pulled by the police in Germany we replied to them in German that we could only speak a bit of german and if they could speak english. The cop just looked at us, laughed and then continued on in German.

Dyr

why the feck would the gardai be having that many dealing's with poles in the first place?

Seriously kids, speaky de lingo or go homeski.

Crucifix

Fairplay to them.

Mossy Monk

Ireland has a sizable Chinese community too. Will they be learning that too?

Owen

Mossy Monk wrote:

Ireland has a sizable Chinese community too. Will they be learning that too?

Probably not. The Chinese (And by Chinese I think you mean Asian) are actually immigrants. The Polish come here for a year or 2 at best to save money for houses back home, so it's a completely different situation.

thelordofcheese

GarraiGamhain wrote:

What a load of crap. You wouldnt see it in any other country. When we were pulled by the police in Germany we replied to them in German that we could only speak a bit of german and if they could speak english. The cop just looked at us, laughed and then continued on in German.

Yes, but there isn't, to my knowledge, a massive influx of native english speakers into germany at the moment.

I'm guessing it's for those occasions where there are likely to be talking to people who havn't got a very good grasp of english, and instead of gesturing, pointing and trying to rope in another person as a translator, the garda would be able to at least get an idea of whats going on.

After all it's only basic polish, i doubt the gardai are going to be holding long debates in polish. I can't really see anything to be getting upset about.

DonJose

ned78 wrote:

The Polish come here for a year or 2 at best to save money for houses back home, so it's a completely different situation.

That doesn't give them a reason not to learn English during the time they are here. When dropping off my son to school, I have seen 5 year olds foreign kids translating for their parents. This just gives foreigners another reason not to learn English.

Owen

Amazing. Utterly amazing. Someone comes to boards to post a positive step forward by the Gardaí and immediately, it's turned into a racist argument directed at Polish people. Irish people disgust me when it comes to this, the amount of times I listen to people say "I'm not racist but ...", and then proceed to rant about Polish/Asian/African People. Incredible.

Judt

Well actually a lot of officials in other countries are usually happy to speak English to you.

It's reality. There are 130,000 Polish people in Ireland, for the most part making us richer as a nation (in real terms, cultural stuff is for the leftie's to love.) The majority of Polish people, and other E. Europeans I've encountered, tend to speak good English, even if just between the lot of them.

Not teaching Gardai some basic Polish when you have a population of Polish speakers on a par with the population of full-time Irish speakers is a bit silly. People cry "This is a disgrace!" But at the end of the day the Guards are there to protect the rule of law. If one way of doing that is to teach Gardai basic Polish, then so be it.

For example, say you're on a building site and you've broken your neck. The Gardai and ambulance arrive, but the chap giving them directions to you only speaks broken English. Between a Gardai with broken Polish and the Polish guy with broken English, they could be the difference between you coming out of there alive or not.

All this "Learn the lingo or go home" stuff is a bit Jingoistic. They'll learn the lingo, I'm sure, but you'd still want the police force to be able to communicate even roughly with a population larger than that of Cork city.

bizmark

Bambi wrote:

why the feck would the gardai be having that many dealing's with poles in the first place?

Seriously kids, speaky de lingo or go homeski.

Agreed

Amazing. Utterly amazing. Someone comes to boards to post a positive step forward by the Gardaí and immediately, it's turned into a racist argument directed at Polish people. Irish people disgust me when it comes to this, the amount of times I listen to people say "I'm not racist but ...", and then proceed to rant about Polish/Asian/African People. Incredible.

Duck! shameing language bombs incomeing! you have no right to a non pc view on anything or your ebal!!!!!!!!!

simu

They're already supposed to know some Irish but most of them don't so I don't imagine their Polish will be up to much. It will probably be amusing for Poles to hear, though.

astrofool

More useful than them having to learn Irish (someone had to say it ). I wonder if a better entry requirement would be "a" language other than english.

themole

I think it is a good thing for the Garda to learn some polish if it help them do their job.

When it comes to costs of translators i think they should do what is done in some other countries ,(france being one i think?), the cost is with the person requiring the translation. Either speak english/irish or pay for the cost associated with not knowing english/irish.

GarraiGamhain

For example, say you're on a building site and you've broken your neck. The Gardai and ambulance arrive, but the chap giving them directions to you only speaks broken English.

If he had of just learned english then there would be no problem. It makes a lot more sense for somebody who is emigrating ot an english speaking country, having already learned english for ten years at school to improve his english than for an Irish Garda to start learning polish.

Plissken1

Mossy Monk wrote:

Ireland has a sizable Chinese community too. Will they be learning that too?

No they just have to point at the menu !

Owen

GarraiGamhain wrote:

If he had of just learned english then there would be no problem. It makes a lot more sense for somebody who is emigrating ot an english speaking country, having already learned english for ten years at school to improve his english than for an Irish Garda to start learning polish.

Great idea. You should present it to the EU. No one is allowed into another country without learning the language fluently first. Get a grip!

mikemac

astrofool wrote:

More useful than them having to learn Irish (someone had to say it ). I wonder if a better entry requirement would be "a" language other than english.

I though all guards had a decent standard of Irish, no? Sure, aren't they liable to posted anywhere when they are trainees and if they can't speak Irish in the Gaelteacht, the local will makes fools out of them:eek:

They're cute hoors out whest;)

DonJose

ned78 wrote:

Great idea. You should present it to the EU. No one is allowed into another country without learning the language fluently first. Get a grip!

Ned, do you speak Polish?

Owen

I speak fairly fluent irish, french, broken german, and basic Polish. My Polish girlfriend speaks fluent Russian, and her English grammar is better than most Irish people's. Not that any of that has any bearing on the original point of this thread.

Plissken1

micmclo wrote:

I though all guards had a decent standard of Irish, no? Sure, aren't they liable to posted anywhere when they are trainees and if they can't speak Irish in the Gaelteacht, the local will makes fools out of them:eek:

They're cute hoors out whest;)

Yes but the Garda are getting Tazers soon, so all they will have to do is ZAP the locals until they start speaking the Queens English !

DonJose

Could you hold a conversation with a Pole.

Owen

DonJose wrote:

Could you hold a conversation with a Pole.

Again, not that this has any bearing on the thread whatsoever, but in Lodz last January, I was able to get directions, order food, and drink, and go through the basic pleasantries. So, what has this to do with anything if you don't mind me asking?

5starpool

ned78 wrote:

Well, my girlfriend is Polish,

Where can one source one of those lovely Polish wimmins?

Also, on topic, anything that helps the guards do their job better is to be welcomed. they get enough stick (rightly or wrongly) on other crap, so a step in this direction is to be appluaded.

It'll be interesting to see though what the Polish polulation of Ireland is like in 5-10 years though, whether they will all be gone home, or whether there will still be a sizeable population here.

DonJose

ned78 wrote:

Again, not that this has any bearing on the thread whatsoever, but in Lodz last January, I was able to get directions, order food, and drink, and go through the basic pleasantries. So, what has this to do with anything if you don't mind me asking?

You are surrounded by Polish (language) on a daily basis, I'm sure you hear your girlfriend speaking it daily. The Gardai on the other hand are doing a 10 week course, probably an hour here and there. After 10 weeks how much can they learn? What we need to do here is to subsidize English courses.

humbert

there's a difference between casually learning a language and actively learning a language.

themole

Most of the polish people i have met in ireland either have very good English or are learning English.

I think it is of benefit to the gardai in their work if they can speak a few words. Even if they can just ask for name, address, ID and the phone number of someone to call. This will get you a long way in the event of a situation, be that an accident of if they are arrested.

Owen

DonJose wrote:

You are surrounded by Polish (language) on a daily basis, I'm sure you hear your girlfriend speaking it daily. The Gardai on the other hand are doing a 10 week course, probably an hour here and there. After 10 weeks how much can they learn? What we need to do here is to subsidize English courses.

Apologies, I thought you were trying to be confrontational towards me. They'll learn quite a lot in a 10 week course. They don't need to be concerned with writing the language, or learning past/future tenses. Once it's done phonetically, they'll be flying it.

You'll find the majority of Polish people in Ireland looking to better themselves, and improve employment prospects are actively involved in English Courses. The one in Cork is booked solid, and many private teachers are relishing the additional income the community provides.

Mossy Monk

ned78 wrote:

The Chinese (And by Chinese I think you mean Asian)

No, I actually mean Chinese.

Owen

Mossy Monk wrote:

No, I actually mean Chinese.

Have you gone to every person who resembles a Chinese person, and asked their Nationality?

nesf

themole wrote:

I think it is a good thing for the Garda to learn some polish if it help them do their job.

Exactly, that just about sums it up. Though I don't think they'll avoid the need for translators when dealing with complicated stuff.

daenis

I think it is a bit discriminatory to the chinese that they are only learning polish. There is a large chinese community in this country too and with mandarin being the most spoken language in the world surely it would make as much sense to learn it. So it should be that they have to learn all new languages to our country or none.

Mossy Monk

ned78 wrote:

Have you gone to every person who resembles a Chinese person, and asked their Nationality?

Are you going to have that stick removed from your arse?

themole

daenis wrote:

I think it is a bit discriminatory to the chinese that they are only learning polish. There is a large chinese community in this country too and with mandarin being the most spoken language in the world surely it would make as much sense to learn it. So it should be that they have to learn all new languages to our country or none.

The problem would be that Chinese is VERY difficult to learn as it has a completely different base to European languages, even its tonal nature is hard to learn.

Also, accoreding to the census there are a more Polish than Chinese here. Although it has been pointed out eleswhere that the number of Chinese here is underrepresented.

shrapnel222

this'll get absolutely nowhere, and bottom line is 99.9% of the gardai will only know hello and goodbye. This is just a waste of time and money- if you want polish speaking garda, then recrute polish people

themole

The numbers from here put the number of polish here at 63,276 and chinese at 11,161

Clum

Is there much of a similarity between the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian languages? I always see my neighbours (from the three countries just listed) conversing together and wonder what language they do it in. I was told by a few people they all speak Russian!?

I'd love to know which language they all speak so I can learn a bit myself and tell them to shut the f*ck up at 5am every Sunday morning when I can hear a dozen of them going through something that sounds nothing like a mannerly debate about whether the Gardaí are wasting their time learning Polish...

is_that_so

Plissken1 wrote:

Yes but the Garda are getting Tazers soon, so all they will have to do is ZAP the locals until they start speaking the Queens English !

That is a very good idea. Some of the locals are in serious need of English courses.

Learning basic Polish is not too bad , once you get past the sounds. The grammar is complex but putting basic sentences together is reasonably easy - no articles, you don't even really need pronouns and you would certainly learn to say some basic things in 10 weeks.

I too have met some Poles with superb English and others who struggle. If someone like this find themselves in a situation that requires dealing with teh Gardai, a few choice sentences in their mother tongue may be all that is needed.

You can't compare children with adults. Children are sponges and have a greater phonetic ability , in general, than adults. Another reason why they should be learning loads of languages from the age of 5.

Nevertheless IMO it is not only incumbent on anyone living in a new country to try to learn the language , it may also be of great benefit to them as well.

GarraiGamhain

her English grammar is better than most Irish people's.

Not its not. Irish people speak better english than polish people.

yangzhao

there have been some chinese gardai recuited. isnt it just easier maybe employ some polish gardai too?

is_that_so

GarraiGamhain wrote:

If he had of just learned english then there would be no problem. It makes a lot more sense for somebody who is emigrating ot an english speaking country, having already learned english for ten years at school to improve his english than for an Irish Garda to start learning polish.

Would you like to correct the grammar in this and your other posts?
Any well-educated non-national who has studied English to university level will have better English because they learn the grammar, something we do not do any more.

DonJose

themole wrote:

The numbers from here put the number of polish here at 63,276 and chinese at 11,161

There a HUGE number of illegal Chinese in Ireland, you won't find those on any census.

GarraiGamhain

Would you like to correct the grammar in this and your other posts?

No because I'm not writing a ****ing dissertation on english grammar. Its a messageboard and i like to keep the english loose and conversational.

themole

DonJose wrote:

There a HUGE number of illegal Chinese in Ireland, you won't find those on any census.

True, i have heard of numbers of around 200,000 polish and 100,000 chinese from somewhere.

But if someone is here illegally why cater for them?

is_that_so

GarraiGamhain wrote:

No because I'm not writing a ****ing dissertation on english grammar. Its a messageboard and i like to keep the english loose and conversational.

No problem with that at all. However you made a sweeping statement that is quite obviously incorrect and with respect about something you may not know anything about.

Dyr

themole wrote:

True, i have heard of numbers of around 200,000 polish and 100,000 chinese from somewhere.

But if someone is here illegally why cater for them?

because some people in this country think the tail should be wagging the dog

humbert

and some people think we should make no attempt to cater for non-nationals.

Dyr

Indeed, they should cater for us *boom tish*

daenis

But catering for only one section of non-nationals isn't right either. Regardless of how many people there are. The polish community are well catered for in my opinion.

humbert

I'm open to correction but I suspect it has to do with the Asians keeping to themselves, the polish have a much more conspicuous presence. I've met plenty of polish socially but never an Asian person.