Mark Lewandowski’s writes about studying the Polish language (sorta) in The Polish Lesson at the Bad Penny Review. Mr. Lewandowski has been listed as “Notable” in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Best American Travel Writing, and twice in The Best American Essays. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Siauliai, Lithuania and, from 1991-1993, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Poland.

The other Peace Corps volunteers practiced their Polski with their host families, but Arek, a young college student, had requested a cipka for the summer training session, and soon after finding out he’d be putting up a mężczyzna, all bedraggled and bushy bearded no less, he left me alone in the first floor apartament for days at a time, where I learned to butcher the consonant clusters and noun declensions with no help at all…

Half na pół, literally half and half is a mixing of Polish and English phrases in conversation, or the conversion of English words into a Polish variant.