"I'm a foreigner, but I really want to learn Polish [my girlfriend is Polish]. What are the best strategies to learn Polish quickly?”
If your girlfriend is Polish, you are in an enviable situation. For the first, let me congratulate you on your very wise choice of your girlfriend, Polish girls are the best. For the second, you already have the best language teacher in the world. Not only capable and patient, but also dedicated, eager to help, and totally free of charge. It’s a combination hard to beat.
When it comes to learning a language, let me just point out that there is not one single strategy to learn Polish, nor any other language for that matter. We are all different, both the teacher and the pupil, and the languages are different. Learning is all highly individual, and you will have to find what suits you both best, but if your mother tongue is English you already have an advantage. You will soon be aware that Polish, although undisputedly a much different language, has many things in common with English. For the first, there is the same Latin alphabet. The basic 26 letters of the alphabet are there, plus a few funny characters, like “ą” and “ę” with a funny tail, and a few others, that modify the original letter and indicate a slightly different sound to the original.
But in principle, the reading and writing should not be a problem. You won’t understand the content, but you will be able to pronounce the text with a little gentle guidance from the lady of your heart.
There is always a problem when starting with letters when learning a new language. Unfortunately, although the written word is easier to remember, it does not convey the real pronunciation, the way the Poles speak.
I believe that the best idea at the start is to learn the most basic vocabulary. Actually, when you think about it, in a normal everyday situation, people do not use all that many words. They talk about “having” or “not having”, “giving” or “not giving”, “taking” or “not taking”, “buying” or “not buying”, etc. Nothing very complicated.
The next thing is to start learning the most common phrases in Polish like: “I am, you are, etc.”, and learn them by heart. Also “I have, you have, etc.” will come in handy. You will be surprised how many sentences start with those simple phrases. “I am tired. I’ll have milk.” And so on. Once you know that much, you go on by adding an object to the phrase. You could for example continue by saying:
“Ja mam dziewczynę” (I have a girl) and “Jestem szczęśliwy” (I am lucky), which would both be proper Polish and also make your Polish girlfriend extremely glad. Remember, with ladies, even in Polish, possibly even particularly in Polish, flattery will take you far, almost as far as you might wish to go.
Flattery in Polish works extremely well, I promise. Next step would presumably be:
“Ty jesteś piękna” (You are beautiful) and you are on your way.
Continue by learning the most common small words. “Good, bad, little, big, very, etc” and add them to the phrases. Now you can say, “I have a beautiful girl”, “I have a little girl”, “I have a very beautiful girl.” You are in business.
Say “Ty jesteś bardzo piękna” (you are very beautiful) and no one will believe, that you are a learner. If you’ll also bring a bouquet of flowers to complement the phrase, you and your Polish might even be taken very seriously!
“Does not speak very much Polish, as yet, but he surely knows what to say and how to behave,” your future mother in law will pronounce proudly to her friends and family. “Give him another month and he will be making jokes in Polish,” the presumptive father-in-law will add without hesitation. “Especially after a couple of shots of real Polish vodka,” he might correct himself with a laugh.
This way, step-by-step you should be building up your vocabulary and improving your language proficiency without even knowing when and how.
There is no better way to learn the language than one on one with an eager and beautiful teacher. Combine training with pleasure and you won’t even notice when your language skills will exceed your expectations and match your needs.
On the other hand, if you do account any communication problems, remember - love conquers all. (I won’t say it in Polish, as yet, it’s too hard for a beginner, but it is just a matter of time…:)
MATEO
