POLISH LANGUAGE IN KALININGRAD (RUSSIA) AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21TH CENTURY-FOREIGN, SECOND OR NATIVE LANGUAGE?

The main purpose of the article is to present the situation of the Polish language in Kaliningrad, the main administrative centre of the Kaliningrad region, the westernmost territory of the Russian Federation. Polish has been present in this area for centuries as foreign, second or native language depending on the nationality and origin of its users. Currently, people who live in Kaliningrad, have an opportunity to learn Polish at three institutions of various types. They are Polish diaspora organizations, private language schools and language courses, and state educational institutions, with Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University between them. This article presents the results of our research which aims to identify the status of the Polish language among the students who attend Polish classes. The survey took the form of questionnaires, was anonymous and voluntary, and involved people from each of the organizations mentioned above.

Polish can be understood everywhere in Königsberg. There are many Poles among buyers ... and German buyers learn Polish to develop trade relations with Poland ... In the olden days Polish speech was much more valued here. (JASIŃSKI, 1994, p. 63) Konigsberg is the former name of Kaliningrad and the presence of the Polish language in the area of the modern Kaliningrad Oblast (region) has been noticeable for centuries.
As the central city of the region Kaliningrad is an area of coexistence and interpenetration of many different cultures and languages. Special historical background, economy and geopolitical environment make this city unique. It is an exclave separated from the rest of Russia, located between Lithuania and Poland. The distance between Gdansk and Kaliningrad is considerably shorter (150km) than the distance between Moscow and Kaliningrad (1200km). On the one hand, due to the specific geographical location, the Kaliningrad Region is perceived as a double periphery of both the Russian Federation and the European Union, on the other, it is called the "gate to Russia" (PALMOWSKI, 2013, p. 28-31 It should be noted that the main condition taken into account when selecting families for resettlement, was the presence of at least two people in the family who were able to work (KOSTYASHOV, 1996, p. 83 Steckiewicz. Thanks to his involvement it has become possible to bring together people who didn't know each other before, but were connected by memory of their ancestral land, their parents, cultural traditions and religious identity. It will be perceived that it

POLISH -FOREIGN, SECOND OR NATIVE LANGUAGE?
Regardless of what is the goal of the projects realized by above mentioned associations, the Polish language is that ethnic and cultural substance which unites all participants. A Polish linguist Anna Seretny emphasizes that the meanings of the terms "native language" and "first language" are similar, as both of them refer to "the language first known and acquired by a human in the process of communication in their linguistic environment" (LIPIŃSKA, SERETNY, 2012, p. 20).
There is another term which refers to the concept of a first language. It is the national language, which is defined by Aleksander Szulc as "a set of social and regional variations of the language used by some language community (SZULC, 1994, p. 99). In turn, the notion of an inherited language refers to the method of determining the native language of emigrants used in the home environment, which is not an official or state language in the country of current residence. It can also be referred to as a home language (POLINSKY, KAGAN, 2007, p. 368).
Such terms as "language as a foreign" or "second language" appear in the context of mastering a non-native language. It is assumed that second language acquisition is learning a second language after a first language is already mastered or established.
However, as didactics show, these processes do not have a completely separate course, but can also intertwine (LIPIŃSKA, SERETNY, 2012, p. 25). It should be noted that there is a special word for the Polish language which is used by people who are of Polish descent and usually live abroad. This word is "polonijny". The difference between "polonijny" and Polish is explained by Lipinska and Seretny as follows: "If the term "Polish language" outside of Poland may refer to Poles as well as to other nationalities, "Polonijny language", however, will apply only to people of Polish descent (LIPIŃSKA, SERETNY, 2012, p. 22-25).
Stanisław Dubisz distinguishes two basic spheres of Polish occurrence abroad. First of all, it is a sphere of continuation, modification and consolidation of knowledge, which is particularly related to Polish communities or ethnic groups in different countries of their residence. Secondly, it is the sphere of acquiring Polish and developing or improving it by representatives of other nationalities (DUBISZ, 1997a, p. 13). Most importantly, for members of Polish ethnic groups who live outside of Poland, Polish, in any functioning variation, is their ethnic language, which has a unifying function. As a result, as one of the basic values of their culture the Polish language plays a culture-forming role. It also enables the formation of social bonds and participation in ethnic culture, which is why it is endowed with cognitive and ethnic identification functions (DUBISZ, 1997b, p. 18 They less often communicate using the spoken language in conversations with native language users (6%). As many as 25% of respondents use Polish for business purposes related to their work, but on the other hand, 28% are exposed to the Polish language only during language classes, whether at a Saturday school or a private language school.

Summing up the attitudes towards the Polish language among the Kaliningrad
Polonia it is obvious that they are varied and most probably stem from the personal conditions and preferences of the respondents. However, the vast majority of respondents have a positive attitude towards Polish, considering it as their mother tongue even if they consider that they have mastered it poorly. We think that an important factor modeling a positive attitude towards the Polish language is the geographical proximity of Kaliningrad to the country of ancestors, which provides an opportunity to travel to Poland quite frequently or conduct vibrant business relations.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND LANGUAGE COURSES
In addition to Polish organizations, language classes are offered by private language schools. These classes are attended mostly by young Kaliningrad people interested in studying in Poland. It should be emphasized that these are people who do not have Polish origin and who justify the choice of the country of study planned by several factors: • geographical proximity, • lower fees related to studies (because the tuition fee in Russia is often higher), • the opportunity to find a job in the EU, • belonging of the Polish language to the group of Slavic languages, which suggests less difficulty in the process of language mastery.
In Kaliningrad there are three language schools specializing in teaching only Polish and several language schools in which teaching of the Polish language comes second or third after English and German in terms of the number of learners.  In most schools and courses lecturers-volunteers are students or less often graduates of Polish studies at the Baltic Federal University of Immanuel Kant -the largest university in the region. It is the only university in the region that trains specialists in the field of Polish.

STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
In addition to private language schools, Polish is taught in state-owned educational institutions, including: • several high schools that organize classes as a second foreign language as part of an additional program; the first high school in Kaliningrad, which introduced teaching Polish language as foreign (JPJO further) in 1994, was junior high school No. 40; • several universities (e.g., Russian University of Cooperation (Kaliningrad Branch), Russian Academy of National Economy and State Service (Western Branch), etc.) in the fields of "tourism", "customs law" etc. as a second foreign language; • Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University as a basic subject in the field of "Polish philology" and as a second foreign language in the fields of "tourism", "socio-cultural activity", "linguistics" and others.
Kaliningrad state educational institutions have much less motivational pragmatism in teaching JPJO. A leading position among these institutions is occupied by the Baltic Master's studies take place in the field of "Polish for professional purposes". You must be at least a B1 level to be admitted to this level of studies. The classes embrace various aspects of specialist languages (tourism language, language of law, business language) as well as disciplines developing the skills of masters students in the field of scientific research (research work, scientific seminar and others This manual has already had three editions (1999, 2012 and 2018) and is best suited to work in Russian-speaking groups. Thanks to the intended use of positive interference and interesting original methods of introducing the grammar and lexical material, students are immersed in Polish from the first class and start to communicate only in Polish.
In addition to traditional lectures and exercises, the education of future Polish language students takes place as part of extracurricular events organized at the university. Summing up, we can say that Polish language is present in Kaliningrad not only because of the Poles and the Polish community who want to cultivate the language and traditions of the country of their origin, but also as the subject of steadily growing interest of the Russians who do not have relevant ethnic roots, but want to learn it due to specific geographical and economic conditions. The Kaliningrad city offers not only a wide range of language classes at various levels of language proficiency, but also a wide spectrum of events showing and promoting Polish culture.