Is it too late for me to learn Polish..?

Freedom

May 9, 07, 08:45 #1

Hey folks, I'm a 20 year old student from Scotland - third generation Polish - and I am looking to learn some basic Polish language skills. I'm really disappointed that my family didn't continue to use Polish in the household and let it gradually die, maybe I could revive it.

I'd preferably like to chat to someone online, maybe through messenger regularly. A friendly bright female would be an added bonus :) but thats irrelevant. Anyway, thanks for reading

ps I am sorry if this is in the wrong place

dannyboyThreads: 24 Posts: 298 Joined: Feb 15, 07 ♂	May 9, 07, 08:47 #2
20...too late....your still a child!!!

TripTicThreads: 4 Posts: 118 Joined: Apr 10, 07 ♂	May 9, 07, 08:56 #3
it's never too late for learning !!! - that'a the old polish sentence !!!

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07 ♂	May 9, 07, 10:45 #4
Learning a few words of Polish should not be very difficult if that is your final aim. At 20 you should not be too old, after all, a lot of people only start university at around 20. Your memory may start to fail you though when you get to around 90!

Freedom	May 9, 07, 11:46 #5
haha cheers, i knew there was hope. this website could be a good opportunity to start learning and possibly could offline too with the influx of Polish migrants in my city. Though I don't even know where to start, in terms of meeting and getting to know Polish people here. neway, im rambling now....thanks for the replies still lookin for someone to help...?

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07 ♂	May 9, 07, 15:09 #6
It is really a wast of your time though as the language is dying as so many of the young are moving out of Poland. A lot of work for little if any real return. What about Chinese? A very interesting country and the future world dominant power. The Poles do not even produce the Polonez motor car any more!!

Freedom	May 9, 07, 16:03 #7
I agree, Mandarin would be far more benefitial for me in regards to employment and practical advantage but thats not why i want to learn Polish. I want to learn it to embrace my family's heritage and tradition which mean alot to me and im disappointed the language has gone from my household. thanks for the replyin though, appreciate ur time cheers

sparrowThreads: 4 Posts: 307 Joined: Apr 24, 07 ♂	May 9, 07, 16:10 #8
Depends how serious you are about it. You could try evening lessons or finding a private teacher, that should give you the fastest advenements in learning a language as you talk to others as well. Of self-learning kits such as books or software.. but that's harder.. but less expensive.

DagmaraThreads: 1 Posts: 39 Joined: Dec 14, 06 ♀	May 9, 07, 22:05 #9
Rosetta Stone is number one software to learn a foreign language. Just google it, you shouldn't have a problem finding it online.

General Patton

May 10, 07, 04:51 #10

Quoting: Michal

It is really a wast of your time though as the language is dying as so many of the young are moving out of Poland. A lot of work for little if any real return. What about Chinese? A very interesting country and the future world dominant power. The Poles do not even produce the Polonez motor car any more!!

Stop spreading lies. This guy wants go back to roots, and you can`t stop him. Wanna spit on polish language? Fine. But you got one more enemy in your life and it is me. You are stupid a s s h o l e.

jagusia	May 10, 07, 07:51 #11
It's never too late. If I could advice you something, come to Poland for summer and study intesively with native Polish during summer classes. I have known Australians (the same story as yours) who came for two week classes to Warsaw to study Polish and were really delighted about this stay. They attended to Centrum: webpage: learnpolish.edu.pl Good luck Agnieszka

♀

May 10, 07, 07:59 #12

Quoting: Michal

It is really a wast of your time though as the language is dying as so many of the young are moving out of Poland.

Sorry, but are you out of your mind? There's 40 milion native speakers of Polish in Poland itself, plus many Poles abroad. The language is very, very far from dying out ;)

And Freedom - of course it is never too late - I've started Czech from scratch half a year ago and doing fine at the age of 26 :D Good luck!

♂

May 10, 07, 08:36 #13

There are not 40 million people in Poland and I was in Radom recently and the streets on a Saturday, which used to be full are now almost empty as people have gone abroad to work and very few now return. Czech is an even smaller country though their economy is in a better shape-the language is just an old fashioned version of Polish. Languages have never been very important in the U.K but there are lots of languages in Eastern Europe not only Polish. There are many Polish people working and living abroad-where do you all think that WE come from!! We come from Czestochowa and are now in Surrey.

♂

May 10, 07, 09:57 #14

It's never too late to start learing a language. And Polish is far from dead.
For dead languages try Livonian (A Finnic language, very few speakers if any left, and much more difficult than Polish to learn), or Manx (easier than Polish, but zero speakers left, though I think they've revived it.)
Polish has a long way to go before it's endangered, in fact it's spreading faster than Irish in Ireland...!

sparrowThreads: 4 Posts: 307 Joined: Apr 24, 07 ♂	Edited by: sparrow May 10, 07, 11:21 #15
Latin is a dead language & is still being thought.. its -never- too late :) Let us know how it goes

szarlotkaThreads: 14 Posts: 3,340 Joined: Feb 20, 07 ♂	May 10, 07, 11:23 #16
Quoting: sparrow Latin is a dead language.. Not if you're a priest or a gardener

sparrowThreads: 4 Posts: 307 Joined: Apr 24, 07 ♂	May 10, 07, 11:30 #17
It's still being used e.g. medicine but it's a dead language

szarlotkaThreads: 14 Posts: 3,340 Joined: Feb 20, 07 ♂	May 10, 07, 11:35 #18
Quoting: sparrow It's still being used e.g. medicine but it's a dead language Not for me.... there's this 2000 year old Italian girl I'm interested in.... On the original topic it is never too late to learn any new skill in life. I was skiing with a 75 year old bloke this year. His first try at it. The time you stop learning is the time you start decaying.

sparrowThreads: 4 Posts: 307 Joined: Apr 24, 07 ♂	May 10, 07, 11:36 #19
Quoting: szarlotka Not for me.... there's this 2000 year old Italian girl I'm interested in.... Hahaha :-D

♂

May 10, 07, 12:36 #20

Quoting: General Patton

got one more enemy in your life and it

Quoting: General Patton

Stop spreading lies. This guy wants go back to roots, and you can`t stop him. Wanna spit on polish language? Fine. But you got one more enemy in your life and it is me. You are stupid a s s h o l e.

It is not very nice being called an ******* but the truth is is that we have many Polish people in England now-they say that we have something like 600,000 in the U.K and Ireland. As he has Polish roots then of course he can study Polish and he is free to do so. However, why so many Polish want to come to England is strange. When I was a student in Russia twenty years ago, the Polish (and there were many in Moscow at the same time) never had a single good word to say for the English. Churchill sold Poland to the Russians and so on and so on. Juz wystarczy...

♂

May 10, 07, 12:48 #21

Quoting: Michal

However, why so many Polish want to come to England is strange. When I was a student in Russia twenty years ago, the Polish (and there were many in Moscow at the same time) never had a single good word to say for the English.

Well, those polish people are now 40+years old. Now ask yourself a question. What is the average age of a recent polish immigrant? Is it 40 years old, or maybe rather 20+?

♂

May 10, 07, 13:16 #22

Quoting: szarlotka

Not if you're a priest

Il faut que pretre vive de l'autel. :)

Quoting: szarlotka

there's this 2000 year old Italian girl I'm interested in....

Forget the latin, too much effort mate.
Get yourself a chariot. Preferably with a fancy black horse. Prance about on the Forum. (not this one, that's despararte and dateless territory) You're bound to get into her toga before you can say thank Bacchus it's Vendredi.

♀

May 11, 07, 05:36 #23

Quoting: Michal

There are not 40 million people in Poland and I was in Radom recently and the streets on a Saturday, which used to be full are now almost empty as people have gone abroad to work and very few now return.

you base your opinion on a visit to Radom on a Saturday? Well, I think then that the Brits are dying out, because in Chickerell, Dorset I could wander around for hours on a Sunday and not meet a soul! This is ridiculous, sorry.

Quoting: Michal

Czech is an even smaller country though their economy is in a better shape-the language is just an old fashioned version of Polish.

Sorry, mate, but apparently you have not much idea about Czech language, or you fall under a widespread Polish impression that Czech is just "funny Polish". Well, it is not, and I find it actually a challenge to learn.

horunPolandThreads: - Posts: 127 Joined: Apr 4, 07 ♂	May 11, 07, 05:47 #24
yes ladystardus you have right for example piwnica in polish mean cellar piwnica in czech mean shop :) there are many somethink like this polish language is more similar to slovak language not to czech one

ladystardustThreads: 1 Posts: 84 Joined: May 7, 07 ♀	May 11, 07, 05:51 #25
Quoting: horunPoland piwnica in polish mean cellar piwnica in czech mean shop The other way round, rather :D sklep - in PL shop sklep - in CZ cellar

Newbie	May 11, 07, 06:55 #26
As a complete novice, can anyone suggest and exercise books from which I can test my progress. I have purchased BYKI deluxe and find it useful, but would like more. Any suggestions would be appreciated. BTW I'm in my 30's and learning from scratch (without any Poles to converse with locally) so learning at 20 should not be a problem Freedom.

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07 ♂	May 11, 07, 08:27 #27
Quoting: ladystardust you base your opinion on a visit to Radom on a Saturday? Well, I think then that the Brits are dying out, because in Chickerell, Dorset I could wander around for hours on a Sunday and not meet a soul! This is ridiculous, sorry. How can the Brits be dying out? Czech is just an old fashioned Polish country language. It is very easy to learn.

ladystardustThreads: 1 Posts: 84 Joined: May 7, 07 ♀	Edited by: ladystardust May 11, 07, 08:31 #28
Quoting: Michal How can the Brits be dying out? Czech is just an old fashioned Polish country language. It is very easy to learn. You know, you must do that on purpose, that "naive/I-know-everything" attitude. Then ha-ha-ha, very funny guy you are. If not, I am really sorry, I cannot help you, if you cannot read with understanding more than just a sequence of letters, mate.

szarlotkaThreads: 14 Posts: 3,340 Joined: Feb 20, 07 ♂	May 11, 07, 08:37 #29
Quoting: Michal How can the Brits be dying out? Too much Guinness! It's an irish take over plot I tell you

MichalThreads: - Posts: 2,408 Joined: Feb 27, 07 ♂	May 11, 07, 12:41 #30
Some years ago I met a lady who came from the Czech Republic as a guest of one of my friends in London. I spoke Polish and she spoke Czech as well as German (which I do not speak) and we had no problem in understanding each oother. After about twenty minutes I was understanding easily 80 per cent of all her words.

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