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Site I've been using to learn Polish--what do you people think?

Plusa10Threads: 3 Posts: 41 Joined: May 22, 10 ♀	Jul 8, 10, 00:26 #1
http://grzegorj.w.interia.pl/kurs/index.html just putting this out there--it's the site I've been using to teach myself Polish for the past few months. I want to know what you guys think of it? I haven't been able to find any better site..and I haven't really looked around here to see what there is to learn from...

james2	Jul 11, 10, 17:32 #2
Good site (even though a little hard to navigate).

sobieskiThreads: 80 Posts: 1,121 Joined: Jun 1, 08 ♂	Jul 11, 10, 19:43 #3
You cannot learn any language from a website or a book. Grammar is a cold and merciless aspect of any language. Not any website can teach you that. Take evening classes... get frustrated, and later gradually more satisfied as you master the basics and later the medium level of that horror called the Polish language. In my experience the only way to do it.

Plusa10Threads: 3 Posts: 41 Joined: May 22, 10 ♀	Jul 11, 10, 20:21 #4
..... guess I'm out of luck until I actually go to Poland... great. the closest thing to Polish my college offers is Russian = no help at all. oh well.

EurolaThreads: 6 Posts: 2,647 Joined: Dec 2, 06 ♀	Jul 11, 10, 20:54 #5
Plusa10, do you know any polish speaking people? You could practice what you learned on line. BTW, it's a pretty good website.

plgThreads: 23 Posts: 315 Joined: Jul 9, 06 ♂	Jul 11, 10, 21:58 #6
livemocha.com..............

Plusa10Threads: 3 Posts: 41 Joined: May 22, 10 ♀	Jul 12, 10, 00:40 #7
Eurola: Plusa10, do you know any polish speaking people? You could practice what you learned on line. BTW, it's a pretty good website. I do know a few people who speak it, but I tried this already..it didn't really work out. plg: livemocha.com which I have never heard of before. and they haven't even added Polish yet; I saw it as an option in a poll as to what new language they should add..

bombelku56Threads: 2 Posts: 25 Joined: Dec 9, 09 ♂	Jul 12, 10, 05:34 #8
Plusa10: which I have never heard of before. and they haven't even added Polish yet; I saw it as an option in a poll as to what new language they should add.. I have been studying Polish at livemocha.com for about eight months. The site and the people there have helped me a lot!

Chicago PollockThreads: 10 Posts: 638 Joined: Apr 10, 10 ♂	Jul 12, 10, 06:11 #9
My opinion. Have you tried this website: http://polish.slavic.pitt.edu/ I like this guys attitude. He recommends studying conversational Polish first. I agree with that and once you master the conversational aspects than go onto grammar, reading and writing.

♂

Jul 12, 10, 06:12 #10

came across this site yesterday not sure how good it is yet... www.learn-polish.pl but so far i been using, tapes, cds, dvds, websites, and whatever books i can source from local bookshops but best way i learn anything new is from the girlfriend and her family and talking to them... i find its the only way to tune your ear to the sounds... i thought russian was hard learning but this takes the cake! good luck!

Plusa10Threads: 3 Posts: 41 Joined: May 22, 10 ♀	Jul 12, 10, 08:07 #11
thanks you guys... livemocha is down at the moment I checked, hope it's back up soon. the other two sites look promising, will look through them more thoroughly tomorrow.

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,410 Joined: Aug 29, 07 ♂	Jul 12, 10, 09:31 #12
http://say.expressivo.com/?lang=pl

irishdeanoThreads: 11 Posts: 480 Joined: Oct 23, 07 ♂	Jul 12, 10, 11:22 #13
interesting sites, livemocha is also full of weird people

♂

Jul 12, 10, 14:00 #14

Chicago Pollock:

http://polish.slavic.pitt.edu/

Oscar E. Swan - yes, I agree. His writing is quite useful.

plk123:

http://say.expressivo.com/?lang=pl

This is handy for working on pronunciation. It does fairly well for a computer.

Plusa10:

livemocha is down at the moment

Site maintenance is scheduled for today. It should be back up soon.
I met many very helpful people on LiveMocha. Some of us use Skype, and our interaction there has been very helpful to me, and to them.

Polish In A Nutshell

Freely available book in "pdf" form, the prototype for his printed book:

Polish Verbs & Essentials of Grammar Oscar E. Swan

This is an excellent reference - 138 pages full of useful information

Also, the "Michel Thomas" (sometimes "Michael Thomas") CD courses were helpful to me, and at reasonable cost from Amazon. Also in Barnes & Noble.

"Immersion" is a key concept in my learning plan. I listen to Polish radio, music, watch Polish television (dropped all my American channels for Polish-only on satellite), read newspapers and books. Try crossword and other word games - these can be very challenging!

Some claim "you've arrived" once you can say this well:

Chrząszcz

and have a look at this, too:

tongue twisters

Plusa10Threads: 3 Posts: 41 Joined: May 22, 10 ♀	Jul 12, 10, 16:36 #15
looks like I have a lot to look through today, which is great! I think the other sites may be much easier for me to understand then the one I've been using so far..I've also been learning some via singing (listening to a song many times then looking at the words and singing with it).

♂

Jul 12, 10, 17:25 #16

Plusa10:

listening to a song many times then looking at the words and singing with it

I have done this, too - most recently, with Kosmofski's "Dzień po dniu, od lat" from "Tytułu BRAK." Unfortunately, I could not find the lyrics online, but a friend helped me:

Dzień po dniu od lat, oglądam TV Świat
i dzień po dniu co rok widzę jak dzień zamienia się w noc,
wśród objawionych praw, ku słońcu zwracam twarz
pośród pustych świąt widzę jak dzień zamienia się w noc

Kiedy już nie będzie nas i nie będzie zła
Czy będzie tam ktoś, kto opowie ten świat

Dzień po dniu od lat, gdzie nie wypiera tak
a ogień traci moc widzę jak dzień zamienia się w noc

... I think he did a good job with this (any typos are mine!), and I like the song for several reasons, including that fact that it moves slowly and is clear enough to hear well. It also fits the register of my voice - very low.

I was also cautioned by the same friend that listening to music has limited value for learning Polish, because the constructs are often poetic, and pronunciation may be different than usual speech. I understand this, but still find it useful.

♀

Jul 12, 10, 23:25 #17

bombelku56:

I was also cautioned by the same friend that listening to music has limited value for learning Polish, because the constructs are often poetic, and pronunciation may be different than usual speech. I understand this, but still find it useful.

I was told the same thing, but I still think it useful. I particularly like IRA's "Parę Chwil"--it's easy, though the pronunciation may not be entirely correct to spoken Polish...