„Czelendżuj kejsa”, or a few remarks about the language of the corporation

Abstract

Corporations are large, most often international enterprises in which a lot of attention is paid to all kinds of procedures, work organization, efficiency in operation and anonymity. Employees of large companies are treated as fully convertible „cogs of machinery”, which is why these institutions arouse completely ambivalent feelings in society – for some they are almost a modern form of slavery, others associate them with continuous development, the opportunity to meet new people and foreign trips. In the face of corporate challenges, knowledge of English has become an indispensable skill. In the constantly progressing process of globalization, he penetrated permanently, mainly in the form of borrowings, also to the Polish version of corporate speech, providing the basis for creating a specific language, called korpolekt, korpomowa, poliszinglisz or ponglish. While English names of positions or areas of the company are recognized in the international environment and greatly facilitate communication, combining Polish and English words or polonizing foreign phrases often gives even comical results. The aim of this article is therefore an attempt to discuss selected characteristic features of this specific novelty and give examples of typical corporate words, phrases and abbreviations.