Yesterday, I wrote a post about my trip to Poland and describing how much fun my first faltering steps with the Polish language were. Make no mistake, if you want someone to say “with rum” in Polish then I am your man – but otherwise, the language remains very much an undiscovered country to me.
It would seem that Twitter is reading this blog and taking some of its text to heart. From this morning, they have started adding adverts into my timeline which are written only in Polish. Now, I will admit this is geographically much more relevant than their usual offerings, which apply (at best) to those living on the other side of the Atlantic – so a good 2000 miles better targeted. Congratulations Twitter! However, none of these ads has yet used any of the limited vocabulary I acquired in Krakow – so they remain a complete mystery. So, Twitter is still totally failing with even the most basic requirements of an advertisement – in this case, the vaguest hint of reader comprehension (or is this a cunning new take on subliminal advertising?). Still, according to Nicholas Parsons many a foreigner has learned English from Just a Minute, so perhaps I could learn Polish from mis-directed advertising?
I wonder if I claim to be fluent in Euskara, I will start receiving ads aimed at the Euskal Herria? Or maybe I should stick closer to home (and my roots) and claim to be fluent in Welsh? I did watch the excellent 2014 BBC Wales production of Under Milk Wood yesterday and so find myself very tempted by the language of my fathers (look you). So much so that I have been proof-reading this post in a cod Welsh accent (please feel to try this yourself, it’s a lot of fun!) – so in deference to my forebears, I shall stop now.
Glimpses of a disturbed mind 