For students in McMaster’s beginner’s Polish class, taking a language class is a way to connect – with a culture, with family, and with each other.
“I want to strengthen my connection to my Polish roots, and learning the language feels like the most meaningful way to do that,” says Life Sciences student Nicole Olszewski, whose parents came to Canada from Poland when they were both teenagers, and whose grandparents are more fluent in Polish than they are in English.
“I’m taking this course to become a stronger and more confident Polish communicator, especially with my family, to feel more connected to my cultural identity, and to hopefully be able to pass the language on to my own children one day.”
Olszewski is one of 37 students in POLISH 1Z03, the introductory Polish language class offered this year thanks to an endowment funded by the Canadian Polish Congress and members of the Polish-Canadian community.
“There is a long tradition of teaching Polish at McMaster,” says Wendy D’Angelo, the chair of the university’s Linguistics and Languages department.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity to our students, and are grateful to the Canadian Polish Congress and the community for their generous support.”
McMaster is one of only three universities in Ontario to offer Polish language instruction and, according to instructor Joanna Lustanski – herself a native speaker with an academic background in linguistics – the class has attracted both students like Olszewski and students with no Polish background.
“A few of the students of Polish descent have a basic understanding of Polish, but the majority of the class are complete beginners,” she explains. “We have students from all different backgrounds: Serbian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Persian, Korean, Chinese, Indian and Nigerian, and they express many different reasons for wanting to learn the language – including plans to travel, the wish to communicate with their Polish partners, and an interest in learning another foreign language.”
There are other benefits too. Poland is now one of the world’s top 20 economies. Polish is the world’s second most widely spoken Slavic language. And with Polish found to be the most effective natural language to give AI prompts, there are lots of reasons to become familiar with the language.
For Christina Nedoshytko, currently in her final term of the Earth and Environmental Sciences program, taking Polish is both a way to connect with her past – she has Polish roots, and family that still lives there – and her future, as she prepares to start graduate school in Krakow next year.
“It’s so much easier to connect with a culture when you know the language,” she says. “And the class is very tight-knit – we started reading out loud in the very first class, and we’re able to practice speaking with each other.”
Ultimately, says Olszewski, knowing a language – whether it’s brand new or familiar – is the key to many opportunities.
“Learning a new language opens up so many doors, not only in terms of a career, but also for travelling, connecting with different cultures, and gaining a valuable lifelong skill,” she says. “Language learning can definitely be frustrating at times – and Polish can be challenging – but it is incredibly rewarding and offers a unique sense of accomplishment compared to other skills.”