Jak postrzegam Polskę? Uczenie się języka polskiego jako źródło wiedzy o Polsce
Insights into Poland. Learning Polish as a Source of Knowledge About Poland

Summary/Abstract: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment emphasizes the importance of sociolinguistic competence. Knowledge about a society and its culture is a part of general knowledge about the world. Therefore, it is especially important for a learner of a language to acquire socio-cultural knowledge. There are a lot of stereotypes about a country, its culture and society among its neighbours. Learning Polish in Lithuania promotes a better understanding of Polish culture and helps to overcome stereotypes. Both countries have the common history; however, Lithuanian society’s perception of the Poles is not always rational. The public opinion polls show that Lithuanians perceive the Poles worse than they perceive Russians. Does learning the Polish language provide the opportunity to understand the country and the culture as well as to reassess the views on the Poles? The students, who have been learning the Polish language for three semesters (A1-B1) at VMU, were asked to share their opinion. The questions were the following: Why did they choose to learn Polish? What did they know about Poland and Polish culture before the course? What are their insights into Poland after the course? The students were not satisfied with their knowledge about Poland prior to starting the course. It should be noted that they assessed their knowledge on the subject from the perspective of three semesters. In the meantime, some students went to the Summer School of the Polish Language and Culture in Poland and had an opportunity to visit Warsaw. The students, who completed B2 course of the Polish language, have changed their views and perceptions of Poland and its culture. The learning of the language has become an opportunity to learn about Poland and its culture and enabled students to evaluate the country very positively. It can be concluded that foreign language teaching develops learners’ intercultural skills: ability to perceive the relationship between own and foreign culture, ability to mediate between own and foreign culture, ability to overcome stereotypes.

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