Pimsleur's Polish Lessons

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Edited by: giovannile07 Dec 25, 08, 01:58 #1

Is Pimsleur's Polish Lessons any good, I learned the first lesson where it says:

Excuse me. Do you understand English? No, I don't understand English. I understand Polish a little. Are you American? Yes.

I'm pretty sure it's right, but they don't have the vocabulary on actual pages I believe, so it's hard to know how it's spelled and I checked other sites, but how some of the stuff is spelled looks way different from how it sounds... So, I have no idea! Basically, I'm asking if the listening program is good and is it possible if you could rewrite that in Polish. Thank you in advance! =] If you aren't willing to it's alright.

Lechu's girl	Dec 25, 08, 20:50 #2
I think it's good. My guy bought this for me last Valentine's day. I've used it and think it's great.

giovannile07Threads: 6 Posts: 41 Joined: Dec 25, 08 ♂	Dec 26, 08, 03:53 #3
Oh okay. That's cool. Yeah it seems like it's effective I just hate that there's nothing to reference for vocabulary only speaking and yeah... :/

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Dec 26, 08, 06:06 #4

It was one of the first CD's I used and I thought it was pretty good to learn the basics (although it's tediously slow at times). I agree that it's not so effective without a reference book so you should use it in conjuntion with other materials.

Here's my translation attempt, (apologies if i've made any mistakes):

Przepraszam, Czy Pan/Pani mówi po angielsku? Nie rozumiem po angielsku. Trochę rozumiem po polsku. Czy Pan/pani Amerykaninem(m)/Amerykanką(f)? Tak

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Dec 27, 08, 21:27 #5

carlb:

Yesterday, 06:06 #4

It was one of the first CD's I used and I thought it was pretty good to learn the basics (although it's tediously slow at times). I agree that it's not so effective without a reference book so you should use it in conjuntion with other materials.

Here's my translation attempt, (apologies if i've made any mistakes):

Przepraszam, Czy Pan/Pani mówi po angielsku? Nie rozumiem po angielsku. Trochę rozumiem po polsku. Czy Pan/pani Amerykaninem(m)/Amerykanką(f)? Tak

Oh thank you what's mowi? Is that suppose to be understand? Oh also is the ro in rozumiem is it sounded out strongly? Oh and final question the czy is it suppose to sound like te? Haha thank you I appreciate your translation it looks almost all correct. :D

giovannile07Threads: 6 Posts: 41 Joined: Dec 25, 08 ♂	Dec 28, 08, 03:19 #6
Oh I found another mistake it should be angielski and polski.

♂ [Moderator]

Dec 28, 08, 06:59 #7

The translation that the member did for you above, is correct.

giovannile07:

Oh thank you what's mowi? Is that suppose to be understand?

mówi means speak. It is how you would ask someone that you don't know very well if they speak polish or english?. czy mówi pan(pani) po polsku ( po angielsku).

giovannile07:

Oh and final question the czy is it suppose to sound like te?

czy sounds like chi

giovannile07:

Oh I found another mistake it should be angielski and polski.

when you talk about languages from a country it is po polsku, po angielsku

You really should get yourself a polish phrase book to help you,as all of the above is just basic polish and you need to see how the words are spelt and written down.

good luck with your course.

RJ_cdnThreads: - Posts: 323 Joined: Sep 10, 07 ♂	Dec 28, 08, 08:06 #8
carlb: Czy Pan/pani jest Amerykaninem(m)/Amerykanką(f)?

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Edited by: byronic Dec 28, 08, 08:54 #9

I'm slowly working my way through it, maybe I'm exceptionally dumb, but I think that listening to each lesson just once, at a rate of one per day is too fast for me. I find it better to listen to each lesson 2 or 3 times 'til it gels. Apart from that it's an excellent way to learn, as far as listening and speaking goes. Opinions seem to be divided on whether one should learn to speak first, read first or learn to speak and read simultaneously. Pimsleur seems to suit me the best out of all the methods i tried, but everyone's different!
P.s. i think they recommend that you don't attempt to try to read at the same time, precisely because it will probably look so different to how it sounds.

giovannile07Threads: 6 Posts: 41 Joined: Dec 25, 08 ♂	Dec 28, 08, 21:39 #10
Thanks for the information, especially Vincent I understand now. =]

blindside70Threads: 3 Posts: 15 Joined: Jun 6, 07 ♂	Jan 1, 09, 08:16 #11
I'm not a big fan of pimsleur. but i do know you're supposed to go on if you understand most of it because it repeats on its own. I prefer the Michel Thomas method better...

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Jan 1, 09, 08:27 #12

blindside70:

I'm not a big fan of pimsleur.

Me niether.

I came across this audiobook narrated by Jolanta Cecula using the Michel Thomas method of learning and I have learned more in a few hours than I have in weeks using other products.

Before anyone says anything I am in no way affiliated with anything to do with the book or the company who sells it, I'm just offering advice!

You can find out more on one of the links below.

michelthomas.co.uk

audible.co.uk/aduk/site/audibleSearch/searchResults.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie =Yes&ms=1320&uniqueKey=1225468025038&N=2506&Np=-37443&Ns=P_Release_Dat e|1&ms=1320

:)

giovannile07Threads: 6 Posts: 41 Joined: Dec 25, 08 ♂	Jan 3, 09, 02:31 #13
Thanks! I'll check it out. Oh also, just wondering I'm still a bit confused by it's polsku and angielsku instead of polski and aingielski?

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Jan 3, 09, 04:14 #14

giovannile07:

Thanks! I'll check it out. Oh also, just wondering I'm still a bit confused by it's polsku and angielsku instead of polski and aingielski?

That's a good question and one that highlights the difficulties of the Polish language quite well.

I'd like one of our regular helpers to tell us.

I'll help them out with the layout at least:

Anglia -
Angielsku -
Angielski -
Angielskim -
Angielskiego -
Angielskie -
Angielska -
Angielsko -
Angielszczyzna -

Phew! All they all grammatical variants? or did I mess up?

next...

Polski -
Polska - Poland
Polak - Polish Man
Polka - Polish Woman
Polonia -
Polskiego -
Polskie -
Polsce -

Not my best attempt at a question I know but this is rather confusing :P

:)

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Edited by: sorbino Jan 6, 09, 06:24 #15

I'm starting to learn Polish with Pimsleur and I think it's great.

I already speak and use professionally six languages, and from my experience I reckon this method is the best way to learn, even if it is annoyingly repetitive! The trick is not to try to learn a language too fast, but to get several phrases completely under your skin, without worrying about how they are written down initially, so you can use them automatically without thinking. Each language has its own particular music and cadence, and getting really familiar with that is the key to speaking and understanding it confidently, helping you to avoid translating literally from your own mother tongue.

From knowing Russian I can tell you that "polski" becomes "po polsku", because the "po" causes a different ending (case) to be applied to the following word. though I don't know what the cases are called in Polish yet; Russian has six of the buggers and I'm hoping Polish doesn't have any more.

Michael Thomas is also good, if you don't mind picking up his accent, though he doesn't do Polish as far as I know.

cjjcThreads: 37 Posts: 463 Joined: Jul 26, 08 ♂	Jan 6, 09, 06:40 #16
sorbino: Michael Thomas is also good, if you don't mind picking up his accent, though he doesn't do Polish as far as I know. FYI It's a native Polish woman doing the Polish course. :)

GaryTThreads: 1 Posts: 2 Joined: Jan 2, 09 ♂	Jan 7, 09, 13:31 #17
I've been using Pimsleur polish 4 a while now and think it's good..

cjjcThreads: 37 Posts: 463 Joined: Jul 26, 08 ♂	Jan 7, 09, 13:33 #18
Everybody is different. :)

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Jan 8, 09, 02:39 #19

cjjc:

That's a good question and one that highlights the difficulties of the Polish language quite well.

I'd like one of our regular helpers to tell us.

I'll help them out with the layout at least:

Anglia -
Angielsku -
Angielski -
Angielskim -
Angielskiego -
Angielskie -
Angielska -
Angielsko -
Angielszczyzna -

Phew! All they all grammatical variants? or did I mess up?

next...

Polski -
Polska - Poland
Polak - Polish Man
Polka - Polish Woman
Polonia -
Polskiego -
Polskie -
Polsce -

Not my best attempt at a question I know but this is rather confusing :P

:)

So, it's just depends who the people are or depending on how is the sentence structure for the most part?

♂ [Moderator]

Jan 8, 09, 04:49 #20

giovannile07:

or depending on how is the sentence structure for the most part?

Nouns, pronouns and adjectives change their endings to show their relationship to other words in the sentence.

If you haven't found out yet, polish nouns have different forms for expressing grammatical case, related to the function of a noun in a sentence. A polish noun also has one of 3 genders, masculine, female or neuter. The 7 cases are , nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative in both singular and plural.

So a noun like sklep ( shop/store) may look like this in case form..

Nom. sklep
Gen. sklepu
Dat. sklepowi
Acc. sklep
Instr. sklepem
Loc. sklepie
Voc. sklepie

and their plurals, sklepy,sklepów, sklepom, sklepy,sklepami, sklepach and sklepy.

If you have just started to learn polish, then this may be a little too advanced for you but there is no need to rush. I would advise you to start of, learning the letters of the alphabet and then the spelling and grammar rules with them. Learn the basic phrases like hello, goodbye, thank you , I would like a coffee etc, build up your vocabulary then later on, get to grips with the 7 cases.

Above all take your time and have patience, after all you are trying to learn one of the top five hardest languages :)

spierettiThreads: 5 Posts: 177 Joined: Sep 25, 08 ♂	Jan 8, 09, 05:03 #21
I found the pimsleur course infuriating - probably because I'm not American and therefore having to listen to "I am American", "I am from America", "I have x dollars", I have American money" over and over again a total waste of time.

cjjcThreads: 37 Posts: 463 Joined: Jul 26, 08 ♂	Jan 8, 09, 05:26 #22
Vincent: Vincent Thank you, interesting read. :)

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Jan 8, 09, 06:09 #23

Vincent:

Today, 04:49 #20

Nouns, pronouns and adjectives change their endings to show their relationship to other words in the sentence.

If you haven't found out yet, polish nouns have different forms for expressing grammatical case, related to the function of a noun in a sentence. A polish noun also has one of 3 genders, masculine, female or neuter. The 7 cases are , nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative in both singular and plural.

So a noun like sklep ( shop/store) may look like this in case form..

Nom. sklep
Gen. sklepu
Dat. sklepowi
Acc. sklep
Instr. sklepem
Loc. sklepie
Voc. sklepie

and their plurals, sklepy,sklepów, sklepom, sklepy,sklepami, sklepach and sklepy.

If you have just started to learn polish, then this may be a little too advanced for you but there is no need to rush. I would advise you to start of, learning the letters of the alphabet and then the spelling and grammar rules with them. Learn the basic phrases like hello, goodbye, thank you , I would like a coffee etc, build up your vocabulary then later on, get to grips with the 7 cases.

Above all take your time and have patience, after all you are trying to learn one of the top five hardest languages :)

Haha thanks a lot yeah I'm a beginner, so that made no sense haha. Yeah trying to know the basic phrases. I'm also trying to look for the alphabet and how to say them. Like I tried learning the Russian alphabet pretty hard, but when you got most of it you can probably grasp some of a word through the letters. :]

VincentThreads: 15 Posts: 1,606 Joined: Sep 9, 07 ♂ [Moderator]	Jan 8, 09, 06:15 #24
giovannile07: I'm also trying to look for the alphabet and how to say them. here you are the best on the internet, right here on polish forums :) http://www.polishforums.com/polish_lessons_units-41_10526_0.html

EmmaT2008Threads: 8 Posts: 35 Joined: Dec 28, 07 ♀	Jan 8, 09, 17:31 #25
I have just purchased the Michael Thomas Foundation CD as I tried the demo and it really helped. :)

giovannile07Threads: 6 Posts: 41 Joined: Dec 25, 08 ♂	Jan 8, 09, 22:16 #26
Vincent: here you are the best on the internet, right here on polish forums :) http://www.polishforums.com/polish_lessons_units-41_10526_0.html Yeah! Thanks I appreciate it a lot. :D EmmaT2008 is the Michael Thomas Foundation CD that good? Like how do the lesson plans usually go?

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Jan 9, 09, 02:47 #27

I have only just bought it it hasn't came yet to tell you. I have bought the introduction to the foundation one as it is a two hour cd and I want to see how that goes before I spend a lot of money. If you go on the website there is a secton where you can listen for about 20-30 mins on how they teach you and then they start going through some things. Like a native woman of Poland speaks and she says what words are in Polish, and then asks you to put them in a certain sentence. Example. - How would you say. I want a taxi to the theatre etc. You can then pause and say how you think and then she will say the correct way. It is a bit like a lesson where you are asked questions and memorise things.
It depends on what way you find helpful to learn.

cjjcThreads: 37 Posts: 463 Joined: Jul 26, 08 ♂	Jan 9, 09, 13:11 #28
giovannile07: is the Michael Thomas Foundation CD that good? It is good but the womans attitude and voice grinds me after a while I found using the equaliser on your media player makes her sound better.

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Jan 10, 09, 22:08 #29

EmmaT2008:

I have only just bought it it hasn't came yet to tell you. I have bought the introduction to the foundation one as it is a two hour cd and I want to see how that goes before I spend a lot of money. If you go on the website there is a secton where you can listen for about 20-30 mins on how they teach you and then they start going through some things. Like a native woman of Poland speaks and she says what words are in Polish, and then asks you to put them in a certain sentence. Example. - How would you say. I want a taxi to the theatre etc. You can then pause and say how you think and then she will say the correct way. It is a bit like a lesson where you are asked questions and memorise things.
It depends on what way you find helpful to learn.

cjjc:

It is good but the womans attitude and voice grinds me after a while I found using the equaliser on your media player makes her sound better.

hmmm... The Pimsleur's one really helped me learn the first lesson easily just the writing screws me over since it doesn't have it and it's more likely I'll be writing in Polish than actually speaking it to someone.

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Feb 20, 09, 13:03 #30

I just started the michel thomas course a week ago and I think it's better than the pimsleur. The method is more or less the same, start with a single word, add another, build a web of words, then add a verb, add a conjugation, add a noun, build a bigger web...but MT is definitely more useful. The teacher gives you better instruments to put together your own phrases and explains the difference between to and tego and such.

And, when I chatted with a friend and randomly put together some of the phrases I learnt during the 30 pimsleur lessons, she started laughing...

(in english because I write too slowly in polish):

-hello, where is your wife?
-oh my wife, she's in washington...
-really?
-yes, would you like to have a drink?
-gladly, but where?
-in the restaurant in ulica street?
-no, in the hotel in square zamkove.
-how much does it cost, 30 dollars?
-no, that's not enough. 50 dollars.
...

a part from picking up a hooker I also learnt how to buy a hat, and tell people how many children I have.

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