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Text preluat de pe saitul: www.warsawwoice.pl |
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LANGUAGE LEGISLATION
The Polish parliament is becoming increasingly Polish. It's following France's example in defending the Polish language from Anglicization and from a surplus of vulgarities. But will the deputies successfully fight off these worldwide phenomena?
The Sejm passed legislation on July 22, with a slim 11-vote majority, which reflected the divisions and doubts on the issue among the parliamentarians. The parliament could not overlook the fact that Poland is still governed by a decree on the official language from 1945, from the Stalinist era, said deputy Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasińska of the Freedom Union (UW), who presented the bill for a vote. The cultural, social and technological changes that have taken place since then made it obvious that a new law is a must, she explained.
The measure provides that the Polish language should be obligatory in public life and in legal relations between entities. Information presented in public offices and institutions serving the public (such as theaters) can be presented in foreign languages, but only optionally. The basic version must be Polish. Also, international accords will now have the Polish version as their basis. Media ads and commercials can, in justified cases, remain in foreign languages, but usually they have to be at least accompanied by the Polish versions.
The exemptions from the rule that while in Poland, one must speak Polish, concern some proper names. And this is when all the doubts began creeping in. Śledzińska-Katarasińska said, "A proper name is peculiar in that it is limited to one entity and the translation of it, from the philological point of view, may not be entirely justified."
The new legislation also provides that only trademarks, trade names and signs showing the origin of goods and services should not be translated. This sparked a flood of questions. "I am a little bit confused by this debate," said Jerzy Osiatyński (UW). He asked whether Old Spice, "a very well-known after-shave," would now have to be translated into Polish, and gave two possible equivalents: one pleasant and one disgusting.
Deputy Michał Kamiński from the Christian National Union (ZChN), affiliated within Solidarity Election Action (AWS), answered his query by saying the name of Old Spice would be retained. "The legislation refers to proper names, and neither Old Spice nor Johnny Walker, which is actually much closer to my heart, would have to be translated," he said. That was answered by shouts "Drink Polish!" from his fellow deputies who were recalling the ZChN's recent call to promote Poland-made goods.
Another doubt concerned Margaret Astor cosmetics. Śledzińska-Katarasińska said that in this case, the name Margaret will have to be changed into "Małgorzata," clearly forgetting that this name was yet another trademark.
The issue that attracted the greatest number of adversaries was the provision to fight vulgarity. Deputies pointed out that coarse vocabulary has become a reality not only in the media, but even in the very building they were in. Besides, they argued, there are no institution that could possibly guard for such infringements.
The legislation also attempts to do away with signs and labels in English, German and other foreign languages that flood the streets of Poland. Here strict implementation of the law might help to eliminate all the "shops" and "markets." Yet, even the most ethically minded deputies did not want to get rid of "sex shops"-at least the name, if not the institution.
Now the measure will go the Senate, then to the president. Many observers and linguists hope the Senate treatment may help eliminate some of the vague provisions of the law.
Tomasz Oljasz
