Where did you start or the best techniques for learning Polish.

POLAND . The Unofficial Guide

Czarne OczyThreads: 21 Posts: 75 Joined: Feb 7, 08 ♀	May 6, 08, 20:10 #1
What are the best techniques for learning Polish, from personal or second-hand experience? I don't mean by lessons or by books, I mean where did you start/what did you find the most difficult? Is there a certain strategy/way of organizing all of the rules that you have?

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May 7, 08, 02:18 #2

First, inflectional endings for nouns, pronouns and ajectives are the most important. The case system is really the backbone of the language and getting those endings right (except for numbers - see below) is the most important single thing in learning to speak/understand Polish.
The point isn't always getting the right ending (hard even for Polish speakers some times) but getting a _plausible_ ending. So if you remember that the inanimate masculine genitive is -a or -u, even if you have to guess and get it wrong (which will sometimes happen) you'll still be understood. Don't waste time memorizing which nouns take -a or -u just remember that either -a or -u will be understood and let practice and exposure be your guide in choosing.

Verb endings are important but much easier generally and there's a lot more leeway for understanding and being understood even when they're not so accurate (the challenge of verbs isn't the endings but choosing which verb to use. I'd say verb selection is the second most important thing).

Light at the end of the tunnel time: In English, it's relatively easy for learners to pick up how to make simple sentences. What's really hard is combining sentences (sequence of tenses, dropping relative pronouns, different kinds of completments, nominalized dependent clauses etc). In Polish the reverse is true; making simple sentences is hard (all those endings!) but putting sentences together couldn't be easier so the transition from textbook to realworld Polish is a lot easier (here the only real limit is vocabulary) than the same transition in English which is typically long and painful.

Things you really should worry your pretty little head about:

numbers - easily the most uselessly difficult part of the language and even Polish people don't like to think too hard about getting the right form, I made a principled decision early on to pretty much not think about number endings and hardly anyone ever noticed, eventually I started picking up some of the right forms by osmosis.

constituent order - sometimes called 'word order' but here I mean order of subject, verb, object, adverbial. Really not worth worrying about until much later. While constituent order isn't as 'free' as some might have you believe, ordering subject and verb and object in even the most unlikely ways will not usually get in the way of communication. For now, just remember that Polish speakers tend to order sentences going from old/known information to new information (but you don't have to yet).

adjective position - before or after? who cares? well some people do, but it should be pretty far down on your list of priorities.

telefonitika	May 7, 08, 08:50 #3
i started at home then enrolled at a local college 15mins from my front door on a year one polish course and i am currently doing a 15 week evening course as well in polish ......

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Sep 21, 08, 12:52 #4

Me I was born into it. (well I can speak and read some..please talk slowly..dzienkuje. The writing part is the hardest but I Skype with a cousin in Poland and she doesn't know English so learn from her by listening and coping her text...heheheh) Not all colleges have Polish as a language. I assume that it is a given for UK members to find classes since so many Poles have moved there so I am thinking it is easier to find a class. Some Polish churches have Polish classes. There are many software for learning a language.

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Sep 28, 08, 14:32 #5

The quickest and most efffective is the total-immersion method used by the Berlitz School of Languages, but it suffices to get a non-English-speaking Polish girlfriend or boyfriend to speak it with constantly.
At the school, people sing up for a several-week or several-motnh course but spend from 6 to 10 hours there a day, during which all English is verboten! If you ask "where is the gent's" or say "please pass the salt" (insetad of "proszę o sól") at the lunch table, you won't get it. In other words, this is closest to the way a young child learns a language. It is quite pricey though.
The bf/gf variant presupposes an English-free environment. It works due to the psychological pressure in such a relationship -- not only the desire to communicate but also not to come off as a complete dolt, hence a strong incentive to learn and retain.

alpacino88minThreads: 1 Posts: 7 Joined: May 22, 10 ♂	Jun 4, 10, 23:28 #6
Thread attached on merging: i wanna learn polish language hi everybody im a new member in this respectable forum.i just want to ask abt procedures in the institut wich teach polish language and how they trest things to accept foreign to join it . thanks u so much zack.

internaldialogThreads: 9 Posts: 425 Joined: Apr 25, 10 ♀	Jun 4, 10, 23:44 #7
use the search function and the language threads and you'll find your answers there :)

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