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How to remember Polish words?

posts: 11

madelineniamh

Dec 30, 10, 08:27 #1

I'm having trouble remembering Polish words I learn. Like, I'll see a word, have no idea what it is, look it up and then realize that I knew it all along. Does anyone know any websites or tips that help you remember? For example Black=charred=czarny/czarna.
Or do I just have to do repetition?

Also when you have ę at the end of a word how do you pronounce it? And the same with y - is it eh or ee?

I've been trying to teach myself Polish. It's fun but hard (and confusing) so I appriciate any help. Thanks/Dziękuję :)

♂

Dec 30, 10, 09:23 #2

madelineniamh:

And the same with y - is it eh or ee?

Similar to the sound /i/ in, for example, the word hit.

madelineniamh:

tips that help you remember?

You can learn words while using them in practice. You can learn the whole groups of worlds, related etymologically, thematically, by association, or you can put them on cards with the English equivalents on one side and with the Polish words on the other. First of all, you must have motivation and patience.

chazaThreads: 49 Posts: 266 Joined: Dec 21, 09 ♂	Edited by: chaza Dec 30, 10, 09:26 #3
hi madelin im sure i will be corrected, but it is just a cse of repatition, i too am learning polish on my own and your right it is hard. as for the ę, it is pronounced 'en' although when my polish cousin speaks it, it sounds more like 'enw'. the 'y' is pronounced 'ee'. any corrections greatly recieved. you can achieve a lot by going over some of the other relevant posts here. chaza

♂

Dec 30, 10, 09:33 #4

The best method I've worked out so far is to assocciate the actual word to its imagination in my mind as hard as I can. The trick is to forget its "intermediary", that is its English meaning, almost completely. For example, you should repeteadly try to associate 'czarny' with the colour itself rather than associate it with the English word 'black'. The method takes some time and effort, but it works. After a time, the image of an object will provoke an easy "coming up" of its name in a given foreign language.

There are a lot of such words in my vocabulary of English. Most of them I acquired while living in Britain with my English friends for a while. One of them them is the verb "to splash". The association was so strong that to this very day - about 20 years have passed since then - I feel the verb as one with which I am much more "familiar" than with its counterpart in my native language. There are, of course, English words that I have learned in Poland; in the process of remembering them I was using my imagination which this way "replaced" a stay in a foreign country.

Lyzko

Dec 30, 10, 23:16 #5

For me, as another adult foreign learner, hearing and then using words or expressions in contextwas key. Movies were (and still are) a boon. I watched "Popiół i Diamanty" (without subtitles) years ago while I was studying Polish. One of the characters was speaking and said "No, tak czy owak." I was able to listen to the context and made a mental note of it. I then tried to visualize the context in which I saw as well as heard this phrase applied. Sure enough, when the time came to use among native speakers my first time in Poland, I got it right!

♂

Dec 30, 10, 23:29 #6

Try mnemonic techniques. My co-teacher wrote a Master's paper on the efficacy of them and I corrected it. She was exploring them for English words but also had a small chapter on Polish words. Go with associations. It's like a PIN number, you have some kind of mechanism to remember. I can recall the musical notes EGBDF. Every Good Boy Deserves Football (or Fanny was the adult version, LOL). Seriously, mnemonic techniques work for many.

Lyzko	Dec 31, 10, 22:23 #7
Seanus, sort of like 'pełny' sounds a little like a Brit pronouncing the English 'pony', or something like that and remembering a new word this way? Or do you mean more direct phonemic association(s)?

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Dec 31, 10, 22:28 #8
Maybe snooty folk pronounce it that way ;) Whatever works, Lyzko :) They are versatile as a tool.

AdamKadmonThreads: 38 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Apr 23, 10 ♂	Edited by: AdamKadmon Dec 31, 10, 22:34 #9
Seanus: pełny Iwona Enter the word pełny into the box and then press czytaj. Also wiktionary.

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07 ♂	Dec 31, 10, 22:36 #10
It sounds like pełny funnily enough :)

emhaThreads: - Posts: 180 Joined: Nov 24, 10 ♂	Dec 31, 10, 23:04 #11
AdamKadmon: Also when you have ę at the end of a word how do you pronounce it? Try with a clothes peg on your nose.

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