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Roloman4 wrote:

Dan wrote:

Not a chance. There's not enough time in the day. If anything should be given more time it should be PE, which is also once a week, rather than Welsh.

PE is once a week? Hmm. Here in the States unless you are in a magnet program a period of PE every day is required to graduate.

In Canada you can drop PE completely so long as you choose a magnet program such as Weight Lifting or Sports and Athletics Science. If you are part of the school Soccer, Rugby, Football or Swimming team you can drop PE and any magnet program completely.

Roloman4 wrote:May I ask what RE, ICT, Phonics, and ESDGC are?

RE = Religious Education.
ICT = Computers and shit.
Phonics = the formation of words, sounds, phrases. Improves learning of reading and writing. Things like thishttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/phonics/index.shtml

ESDGC = Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship. Basically like science, but promoting well-being, self-worth and respect for others.

Dan wrote:

Roloman4 wrote:May I ask what RE, ICT, Phonics, and ESDGC are?

RE = Religious Education.
ICT = Computers and shit.
Phonics = the formation of words, sounds, phrases. Improves learning of reading and writing. Things like thishttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/phonics/index.shtml

ESDGC = Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship. Basically like science, but promoting well-being, self-worth and respect for others.

Some bizarre mandatory classes there... I guess it provides for well-rounded individuals.

Is it possible for children within the mandatory age for Welsh to take more than one Welsh class a week?

Who gets taught Phonics? Neither me nor my 10yo bro got taught that.
Isn't it part of english anyway?

Roloman4 wrote:

Dan wrote:

RE = Religious Education.
ICT = Computers and shit.
Phonics = the formation of words, sounds, phrases. Improves learning of reading and writing. Things like thishttp://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/phonics/index.shtml

ESDGC = Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship. Basically like science, but promoting well-being, self-worth and respect for others.

Some bizarre mandatory classes there... I guess it provides for well-rounded individuals.

Is it possible for children within the mandatory age for Welsh to take more than one Welsh class a week?

It's possible. But it would have to be extra-curricular in most schools.

ricky//habana wrote:Who gets taught Phonics? Neither me nor my 10yo bro got taught that.
Isn't it part of english anyway?

Hasn't long come in. It's not mandatory everywhere yet but will be within the next two years or so.

Phonics seems like a rather pointless class, as Ricky mentioned, it should be part of English, and either way, linguistics are a bit too complicated to be taught at elementary school level.

Roloman4 wrote:Phonics seems like a rather pointless class, as Ricky mentioned, it should be part of English, and either way, linguistics are a bit too complicated to be taught at elementary school level.

Nah, it's brilliant. The kids latch onto it really quickly as well. It's all about how it's taught.

It's unfortunate that even though Wale's native-language policy is the best out of all of the Celtic nations, it still isn't too great at all.

I live in Wales, and apart from the lack of enthusiasm when it comes to learning another, seldom-used language in a world where english gets you everywhere, more Welsh lessons would mean longer school hours or less time for other, high-priority lessons.

And Dan as you will agree, the mining industry falling has turned small Welsh towns into shitholes, and Cardiff and Swansea, the two most populated cities, are known as the most "English" in the UK.

Jayx1012 wrote:And Dan as you will agree, the mining industry falling has turned small Welsh towns into shitholes, and Cardiff and Swansea, the two most populated cities, are known as the most "English" in the UK.

Yeah, since I've got here, I've noticed most of Wales is shite..

Dan wrote:

polska. wrote:

Faggots.

Nice.

Try that with some spotted dick

ricky//habana wrote:I live in Wales, and apart from the lack of enthusiasm when it comes to learning another, seldom-used language in a world where english gets you everywhere, more Welsh lessons would mean longer school hours or less time for other, high-priority lessons.

That may be your view, but to me, it is a matter of preserving one's identity and not bending to the will of another culture. I have argued this many times, it is easier to create oppressive societies and culturally-deprived communities when a similar pattern of thought it followed.

polska. wrote:

Those maps only consider us Eastern European for one and only one reason. We were east of the Iron Curtain. Nothing else.

Poles, Czechs, Slovaks are Western Slavs. We speak Western Slavic languages. We are Roman Catholic, use the Roman Alphabet, culturally we are similar to Germans, our cuisine is Central European and share many similarities to German regions like Bavaria, Pomerania and Saxony.

Ukrainians, Belarussians, Russians etc. speak East Slavic languages, they are Eastern Orthadox, they use the Cyrillic alphabet, culturally they are the descendents of the medieval East Slavic empire the Kievan Rus, their cuisine is predominately Russian-like (I say predominately because Poland owned large parts of Ukraine and Belarus for some 6-7 centuries and thus the Ukrainians and Belarussians adopted many Central European/Polish foods and delicacies), culturally they are Russian.

Before WWII, people referred to Poland as Central European and have been since ever. I don't see why you should stop because of the Cold War, especially considering the Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago.

I would agree it's in Central Europe but on the borders of it considering Europe is a fairly small continent. It is bordered by Eastern Europe to the right and Central Europe to the left. Also, although, Poles share cultural similarities to Germans and other Central Europeans, they have many similarities to Eastern Europeans as well. You said it yourself, they speak Polish, a western "Slavic" language. It shares more similarities to other slavic languages like Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian etc. than Germanic languages like German and English.

Also, Eastern Europe is quite large if you look at it so Poland could be considered part of it depending on the criteria your looking at. What I'm trying to say is Eastern Europe can include Baltic countries like Estonia or Lithuania and Southeastern European countries like Albania, Serbia, etc while also the obvious Eastern European countries like Ukraine and Russia. So why can't Central European countries at the borders of Central and Eastern europe like Poland, Slovakia, etc. be considered Eastern Europe as well?

Don't get me wrong, I still consider Poland a Central European country but with many Eastern European influences.

Do you want the short version or the long version?

Roloman4 wrote:

ricky//habana wrote:I live in Wales, and apart from the lack of enthusiasm when it comes to learning another, seldom-used language in a world where english gets you everywhere, more Welsh lessons would mean longer school hours or less time for other, high-priority lessons.

That may be your view, but to me, it is a matter of preserving one's identity and not bending to the will of another culture. I have argued this many times, it is easier to create oppressive societies and culturally-deprived communities when a similar pattern of thought it followed.

Are you trying to get Wales to break off from the UK or something

menalawyerguy wrote:

Dan wrote:



Nice.

Try that with some spotted dick

Nah, doesn't go well.

polska. wrote:Do you want the short version or the long version?

Your not going to change my opinion so no point. I consider Poland at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe and it is considering that it is one of the most "eastern" Central European countries. Not saying much when Europe itself is a small continent and Central Europe are quite small.

Also, you already alluded to it but the fact is Poland was part of the Eastern Bloc so in the minds of many Americans, Canadians, British, etc., it is part of Eastern Europe. When large parts of Poland border Belarus and Ukraine, I don't see anything wrong with it. It may be geographically part of Central Europe but it has many cultural and linguistic influences from Eastern Europe. In addition, when anyone hears the term Slavic, they connect it to Eastern Europe and since Poland is a Slavic country, it is often associated with Eastern Europe.

Anyways, no point in really elaborating further. Your not changing my opinion and besides I already agreed Poland was Central European.

Jayx1012 wrote:

Roloman4 wrote:

That may be your view, but to me, it is a matter of preserving one's identity and not bending to the will of another culture. I have argued this many times, it is easier to create oppressive societies and culturally-deprived communities when a similar pattern of thought it followed.

Are you trying to get Wales to break off from the UK or something

No.

mac wrote:

polska. wrote:Do you want the short version or the long version?

Your not going to change my opinion so no point. I consider Poland at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe and it is considering that it is one of the most "eastern" Central European countries. Not saying much when Europe itself is a small continent and Central Europe are quite small.

Also, you already alluded to it but the fact is Poland was part of the Eastern Bloc so in the minds of many Americans, Canadians, British, etc., it is part of Eastern Europe. When large parts of Poland border Belarus and Ukraine, I don't see anything wrong with it. It may be geographically part of Central Europe but it has many cultural and linguistic influences from Eastern Europe. In addition, when anyone hears the term Slavic, they connect it to Eastern Europe and since Poland is a Slavic country, it is often associated with Eastern Europe.

Anyways, no point in really elaborating further. Your not changing my opinion and besides I already agreed Poland was Central European.

No it doesn't.

Poland/Slovakia/Czech Republic is probably closer culturally to Britain than to Russia.

Linguistics mean little. West Slavs separated from East Slavs before Lechite tribes even considered themselves Polish.

But yah, that is kind of my point. People often term Poland as Eastern European mainly because of the Cold War. The Cold War ended twenty years ago.

polska. wrote:
No it doesn't.

Poland/Slovakia/Czech Republic is probably closer culturally to Britain than to Russia.

Linguistics mean little. West Slavs separated from East Slavs before Lechite tribes even considered themselves Polish.

But yah, that is kind of my point. People often term Poland as Eastern European mainly because of the Cold War. The Cold War ended twenty years ago.

It doesn't what? Also, I highly doubt Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic are culturally closer to Britain than to Russia. They are likely in between. Besides, how would you go about proving it? Do you have a PHD in European cultural/linguistic studies? I don't think so. Also, take into consideration that Poland borders Ukraine and Belarus. It doesn't border England, Scotland, Ireland or Wales. You could argue Poland is culturally more similar to Germany than Russia but you have to recognize that the eastern half of Poland is bordered by Belarus and Ukraine.

Also, linguistics mean little? You say that as if your an expert on linguistics. A Pole will have a easier time understanding someone speaking Belarusian or Ukrainian than English or German. Not that they would have an easy time understanding either to the extent people who can speak Italian, Spanish and French can. Linguistics do matter. Perhaps, not as much as much as culture but they do still matter.



Also, Poland isn't only termed Eastern European because of the Cold War and the Eastern Bloc. Your ignoring the fact that it is a Slavic country and borders two Eastern European countries. It seems your letting your "dislike" (whatever you want to call it) toward the Soviet Union and Russia ignore the fact that Poland has cultural and linguistic ties to Eastern Europe. Poland is closer to western Ukraine and Belarus than it is to Britain. Germany is arguable but I'd say Poland is closer to Ukraine and Belarus than Germany as well. Other than former Czechoslovakia(Czech Republic and Slovakia) and perhaps Germany (regions like Bavaria, Pomerania and Saxony ie border areas like you mentioned earlier), Poland is closest to its neighbors Belarus and Ukraine.

Also, btw, the United Nations Statistics Division also considers Poland as part of Eastern Europe.




Meanwhile, the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names considers Poland as East Central Europe.



I still don't know why your getting so worked up. I agree Poland is a Central European country but recognize its cultural and linguistic ties to Eastern Europe which isn't just Russia but can include the following: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania etc.

Anyways, having a discussion with you about Poland is like talking to a brick wall. It's pointless and will never go anywhere. Your basically saying Poland is the same as Germany, Britain, etc. and has no relations to Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, etc.