ArcticPaul: Englishman seeks help with Polish Language

Hi everyone (Cześć).
I have just had my third 90 minute lesson using a skype connection to a tutor in Kraców and it is DIFFICULT!
In Septemeber or October I intend to spend 2 weeks on an intensive language course, also in Kraców, at the Polishcourses.org place.
I am looking for any suggestions that could help me get to grips with a language that sometimes seems like a C.I.A. unbreakable supercode!

Would anyone recommend one of those hand held translation machines so I could type in a Polish word to listen to its pronounciation?

It also seems hard to find the entries in my Polish - English dictionary due to Polish words having so many variations (On, Ona Oni, One....!).

And, during my last lesson when I said that 'Na zdrowie' sounded Russian, I thought my teacher was going to have me shot! JESUS! To a Brit IT DOES SOUND RUSSIAN!

ivosoftware.com


I would suggest you find another teacher;)

Cześć ArcticPaul, Cool name (geddit?!)

Anyway, I just started learning too and yes it can be rather tough, the biggest problems i am facing are indeed the many variations, it makes a lot of online/PC translation tools helpless and i have tried quite a few! i found the best place to come is here, so Welcome!

Have a look through these 'General Polish Language' threads and you will find lots of advice and tools to assist you. And anything else, like i said, you can just ask as most of the people here are very helpful and friendly.

So then, i'm guessing your reasons for learning are woman related? Do tell!

Good luck fella, see ya on screen.

WOW! That IVOSOFTWARE is brill!

My teacher is very nice. She just advised me to keep comparisons to Russian to a minimum. Understandable given the recent history, I suppose.

My language ambitions are not actually woman related.
I have always wanted to learn another language. Most English speakers never even attempt it because the world speaks our language but it is one of my major goals and I work with many Poles, some I consider friends. So Polish is the langiage I can best practise.

The women wouldn't put me off though.
Not at all like the shotputters we were shown during cold war propoganda.

Ha hahah!! fair dues man, nuff respec etc.

So is this online teacher the only method you are using?

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::Edit::

Ditto on that Ivosoftware, you never gave that before Miranda!!

My teacher sends e-mails with attachments of pdf files before my lessons. I unzip and print them. Sometimes she sends audio files to help me with the written files.
Then we talk using skype headsets and she sends little written notes to aid her verbal instructions....So it's really the only methos I have room for.

I bought a good set of Polish-english/English -Polish dictionaries (Oxford PWN) Very expensive and heavy, so I bought the pocket collins one also. Plus 301 Polish Verbs and Basic Polish by dana Bielic.

I spent £30 on Rosetta Stone Polish but it is a con. All you actually do is use deductive logic to choose multiple choice options. You could complete ot ten times over and only learn individual words and the odd phrase.

it was posted by one of the members a short time ago. There is a lot of info re learnign Polish from other people. You need to do a wee bit of work;)

Ahh, i torrented the Rosetta stone software... i mean... borrowed it....

I know what you are saying but i find it has helped simply with learning new words and with hearing them also, which is good for learning pronunciation but yeah it is generally a con. I find it good to use when i'm in a lazy mood and dont want to stress myself too much, and like i said somewhere else you will start pointing at things around the house/street/workplace and saying what they are in Polish.

Wont do sod all for verbs/nouns/pronouns etc, and it gets real fecking slow.
"Yes, i know its a bloody biały kapelusz! can we move on now please!?!?"

"Yes, I know it's a 'white hat'! Can we move on now please!?!?"

Can I have a translation of the translation, please?
What does it mean?

Welcome, ArcticPaul. Good luck, you'll need it.

tee hee hee. Yeah, I got rossetta stone too, not really that good, although have learnt a few verbs using it.

Although it did teach me nominative plural and genative plural for okno - 2-4 okna i 5+ okień.

5+ okieN - normal n at the end

IMO You ( who learning Polish) should ask the admin for new subforum similar to Translations named : Mostly in Polish - i.e.

Then you could start a few topic at different dificulty levels and trying write some posts in Polish as much as you can. You could ommit endings or putting them between () if you were not sure if they are correct.

We could qouting your posts and correct errors or giving some further tips.

What do you think about that idea?

I think its an excellent idea.
We could even use optional endings (Samolot/loten/lotcy) and use each others knowledge to learn as we communicate.

napewno! to jest bardzo super idea! i've written a message to the admin people asking them for it. if a couple more write messages might get some action.

Nice one NieMota.

For the sheep lovers out there, jedna owca, dwie owce and pięć owiec

Oh, super idea btw