"Oh, they don't speak Polish there," said my counterpart English teacher on the way to Lipnica for the first time.  "They speak Orawian, a mix of Polish, Slovakian, and a bit of German."  "Great," I thought to myself.  "I just spent three months studying Polish, not Orawian . . ."  Of course everyone knows "proper" Polish, for Orawian is only a dialect, so it has only created minor difficulties.  But unfortunately, one difficulty is with the simple word, "Yes."

In formal, "proper" Polish, "yes" is "tak."  It is said quickly and with a softened "k" at the end.  Orawian for "yes" is "hej" which is pronounced just like, "Hey!"  And usually with the same enthusiasm.  My first encounter with "hej" was in the shop near my apartment.  I was standing patiently in line when suddenly, behind me, there erupted a loud, "Hey!"  Of course I didn't know that the lady was saying "Hej!" in answer to the shop keeper's question.  I only thought that someone was trying to get my attention.  I looked around quickly to see if something was about to fall on me or hit me, but I saw nothing.  Still, I was a little confused . . .

There is one more way to say "Yes."  It's "no."  That's right: "No."  But it means "yes."  This causes some confusion in the English classroom.  "Do you understand?" I ask.  "No," respond my students.  "Is that the Polish 'No' or the English?"  Finally I told them that anytime they said "No," I was going to assume that they meant the English "No."  So when I ask "Do you understand?" and they reply, "No," I simply begin explaining it again.  Gradually, they've started saying, "Yes" . . .

In casual Polish conversation (for me, that is really an oxymoron, I guess) I've begun to pick up the Polish "no."  I expect this might be a problem when I return to America: "Do you feel you accomplished anything?"  "No."  "Did you miss your family?" "No."