Between Languages and Cultures: Polish Youth Speak from the Italian Perspective

Abstract

Many words and phrases that appear in the sociolect of young people in Poland have English origin. This phenomenon arises due to the ubiquity and significance of the language in various aspects of life. Nevertheless, as the lexical units migrate from one language into another, they sometimes undergo certain modifications in terms of their form and meaning. This might be challenging for those who learn Polish as a foreign language, especially since the youth slang does not seem to be incorporated in their coursebooks. The article aims to examine whether Italian people who study Polish understand English-derived words and phrases commonly used by the youth in Poland. The text reports the results of the survey analysis in which respondents were supposed to provide definitions of the following words: cringe, crush, friendzone, gigachad, m8, maybe in another universe, NPC, POV, random, rel, rizz, side-eye, sigma, slay, tryhard. The study shows that although many Italian students are not familiar with Polish youth speak, they are able to understand the general concepts behind these terms. Nonetheless, it is sometimes difficult for them to capture some detailed semantic nuances.