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Information on Polish textbook Hurra Po Polsku


Szczerbaty 4 | 49
15 Aug 2014 #1
Has anybody used Hurra Po Polsku for teaching/learning Polish? The book and workbook get thumbs up from the reviews I've read, but it's unclear about whether it's strictly written in Polish or if it has English explanations in it as well. This is what people complain about.
Vincent 9 | 892
16 Aug 2014 #2
It seems it's strictly Polish language. Here are some comments from PF members (search for hurra).
Polsyr 6 | 760
17 Aug 2014 #3
I used this book. It was not bad, but someone new to Polish language will need help since there are not English instructions in it.
Sandie
21 Aug 2014 #4
I'm using it now. It's okay but the fact that the instructions are in Polish and there's no translation for the things is kind of annoying. Also it leaves out certain words in the grammar section which forces you to write on the actual book. I don't have any Polish language coursebooks to compare it to but from learning other languages, it's just a typical coursebook. I think they're basically all the same. I don't really like learning from course books I find it boring but I have to for the classes i'm taking.

It's kind of slowing me down actually. The grammar is explained so badly I think.
Dougpol1 31 | 2,640
21 Aug 2014 #5
None better for learning vocabulary at A2 level.
Sandie
21 Aug 2014 #6
I'm only on A1, yeah it's good for vocabulary, I just don't like the way it presents grammar. Is the grammar presented better in the A2 one? Have you got the workbook? I think I'll buy it next week.

I'm gonna buy a grammar book anyway so don't really care about it but it hurts my head trying to understand what they mean.
mcrpolak 6 | 36
11 Sep 2015 #7
it's tough to use without a teacher. Believe me.

I am now on book three but it's taken years of pain and a dedicated mrs. to help for me to get there
Harry
11 Sep 2015 #8
it's tough to use without a teacher. Believe me.

It's not exactly a doddle with a (very good and very patient) teacher. But then Polish has been pretty much custom designed to be all but impossible for outsiders to master.
mcrpolak 6 | 36
11 Sep 2015 #9
Don't give in mate. My head says your right, my heart says we mustn't relent haha.
Wulkan - | 3,203
11 Sep 2015 #10
@Harry
Just because you still haven't mastered it after 20 years doesn't mean it's impossible to achieve, plenty of foreigners who mastered it.
Harry
11 Sep 2015 #11
Personally, after 20 years here, the number of foreigners here that I've met who can pass for Poles in conversation (i.e. have mastered the language) is zero. But maybe the experiences of others is different. I'm sure that when I use a public facility, such as a restroom, I speak good enough Polish to pass as a local.
Wulkan - | 3,203
11 Sep 2015 #12
the number of foreigners here that I've met who can pass for Poles in conversation (i.e. have mastered the language) is zero.

Oh god, so you actually never met any foreigner who speaks Polish better than you? xD

I'm sure that when I use a public facility, such as a restroom, I speak good enough Polish to pass as a local.

How about we have a conversation on skype so I can show you how terribly wrong you are.

Back to the topic please
Dougpol1 31 | 2,640
11 Sep 2015 #13
But there are a lot of threads on this site, and excellent they are too.

Books I use:

Polska po polsku/Wrobel/Interpress 1986
Mowimy po polsku/Bisko/Karolak/Poliglota 1966
Colloquial Polish/Mazur/Routledge 1983
Lets Learn Polish/Bastgen/Wiedza Powszechna 1978
Przygoda z gramatyka/Pyzik/Universitas 2000
A Handbook of Polish pronunciation/Puppel et al/Panstowe Wydawnictwo 1977
Porozmawiajmy po polsku/Awolski/Wydawnictwo Polonia 1989
Polish in 4 weeks/ Kowalska/Wydawnictwo Rea/2008
Teach yourself Polish/Corbridge-Patkaniowska/Hodder and Stoughton 1988Contemport polsi hrammar/ Oscar Swan/Slawica/ 2002
Hurrah po polsku Malolepsza/Prolog 2006
Polski, krok po kroku/Stempek et al/Glossa

Again I have lessons with Pani Iza and she's extremely long suffering and resigned to having my zlotys contributing to her university years.

Now I must learn some vocabulary to be able to talk about the refugee crises and to dismiss her fears about Islam taking over the world (more verbiage required!)

So note to the OP from way back........learn the rubric/instructions, and Hurra Po Polsku is one of the most learner friendly books I have come across - at least far easier than the older ( more traditional approach) textbooks that I have given as a mini bibliography.
Polonius3 994 | 12,367
25 Sep 2015 #14
pass for Poles in conversation

Barring someone with a speech defect or learnng impediment, that is because mostly they have eschewed, lack the circumstances or never even considered the one sure-fire method: total immersion. That means essentially cutting oneself off from one's native tongue and fraternising largely or exclusively with natives. Many expats seek out opportunities to jabber away in English with their Anglo-mates, and that is counter-productive from a langauge-learning standpoint.

To some extent that can be achieved at the Berlitz School which provides 6 hours or more of total immersion a day where it is forbidden to speak English even duing lunch. But it is rather pricey from what I've heard.
delphiandomine 88 | 18,163
25 Sep 2015 #15
That means essentially cutting oneself off from one's native tongue and fraternising largely or exclusively with natives.

I found that working in a mostly Polish-only environment did the trick nicely.

Polonius, do you find yourself using Polish words when there are no easy English equals? For instance, I use świetlica.
Polonius3 994 | 12,367
25 Sep 2015 #16
świetlica

Definitely. BTW how would you translate świetlica: after-school club, youth club, day room, day-care room, televiswion recreation room... If it was in an old people's home it could harldy be called a youth or after-school club.

One word I have repeatedly had trouble with is wychowanie and derivatives.
Szkoła powinna nie tylko uczyć ale przede wszystkim wychowywać (rear, raise, upbring, train, eduate???)
Nie powinniśmy zaniedbywać pracy wychowawczej. (?)
Wychowawca klasy is something like a home-room teacher in the US - is there a British equivalent?
Are you familiar with "Difficult words in Polish-Enlgish translation" (PWN 1998)? Fairly good as far as it goes but lacks wychowanie for one.
rozumiemnic 8 | 3,861
25 Sep 2015 #17
s there a British equivalent?

Form teacher?
delphiandomine 88 | 18,163
25 Sep 2015 #18
Definitely. BTW how would you translate świetlica

It's a very difficult one to translate, because you also get (for example) świetlica socjoterapeutyczna which also doesn't translate too well. I suppose "recreation room" could work, but that doesn't really explain what it is. "Common room" is another possibility - but not really.

Wychowawca klasy is something like a home-room teacher in the US - is there a British equivalent?

Form teacher in England, but class tutor in Scotland (and the two are not the same thing - ours just check attendance in the morning, with pastoral duties being handled by specialist teachers). I think wychowawca and form teacher are more or less identical, though.

Are you familiar with "Difficult words in Polish-Enlgish translation" (PWN 1998)

No, I'm not, but thank you for the heads up - I'll try and find a copy here in the university library.
Polonius3 994 | 12,367
25 Sep 2015 #19
pastoral duties

To me "pastoral duties" suggest religious care. Is that part of their task?

Back to the "textbook" topic please
dariaga - | 2
4 Oct 2015 #20
There are 2 titles used for teaching Polish as a foreign language nowadays - Hurra! Po polsku 1-3 and Polski krok po kroku. They are both designed as course books - meaning you actually need to have a teacher who can help you to work with them. Both are very nicely organised and pictured but written entirely in Polish which may cause problems for complete beginners learning all by themselves. However, from my 13-year long experience as a Polish teacher here in London I'd say that there are no better course books for group courses (or individual lessons with a teacher).

If you're looking for something written in simple English check out Polish for Dummies.

Daria Gabryanczyk
Dougpol1 31 | 2,640
4 Oct 2015 #21
I'd say that there are no better course books for group courses (or individual lessons with a teacher).

There must be something better available in the US surely for teenagers of Polish extraction there?

Both these books (Hurra and Krok na kroku) are average at best. Where is the role playing and the pronunciation exercises such as in the English File series for TEFL? Hopeless methodology really and culture bound in that way (no discussion points - only reading and writing, with very limited listening exercises).

Poor stuff.
Pan Zbigniew
7 Nov 2019 #22
This book is not good. Just works well for teachers who are interested in spend time to make more money. There is plenty of better Polish textbooks than this one.

There's a problem in Poland, all schools use the same books. Very few people are interested in learning Polish, that is the main reason teachers don't publish better course books, like it happens in other languages. If you want to learn English there are tons of books. Not the same to Polish language. I hated this book. They put me in a class full of mediocre students, and the teachers used to speak English in the class most of time.
Lyzko 45 | 9,346
7 Nov 2019 #23
All that may well change as Poland takes on an ever greater role in the EU!
Poland is, next to Spain and France, the third largest country on the European continent, not including millions of Polish citizens living and working abroad.

It has a population, still largely non-English speaking, as compared with France, Germany among others, nonetheless eager and willing to take part in the larger European workforce.

Learning Polish will thus become of immense importance in the not too distant future.

Looks fairly interactive to me as a foreigner, Pan Zbigniew:-)
I used two Polish-language textbooks with listening component, the more recent being "Wsrod Polakow" (1999).
Although I was learning one-on-one with a Polish native speaker, I regreted only the lack of more authentic material in Polish, instead of translated excerpts in often somewhat fractured EnglishLOL
antheadss
8 Nov 2019 #24
what is the best book for b2/c1/c2 advanced stuff?
Lyzko 45 | 9,346
8 Nov 2019 #25
As I can now vaguely recollect, there is or was a series with different cover colors. I believe it was "Mowimy po polsku" or somewhere in that series, but it was a paperback edition with a dark blue jacket and was an advanced text/"primer".

There's another such book, also all in Polish, (doubtless reprinted numerous times, or maybe by now long out of print) entitled "Brak mi slow", which had countless tips for vocabulary building, with exercises, but no CD.
Szkocji
10 Nov 2019 #26
@ Pan Zbigniew

Can you recommend any better books?

I'm currently using Hurrah Po Polsku 1. It's pretty hard going, even with a lesson or two a month with a private teacher.
Lizbet
31 Jan 2021 #27
what is the translation in English of the title: Hurra Po Pulsku
jon357 74 | 21,770
31 Jan 2021 #28
Hooray in Polish.

Some phrases in a language don't translate well word for word to other languages. Not all book titles are that great either.
Lyzko 45 | 9,346
31 Jan 2021 #29
That's true. Believe I can recall a recent course title on some site "STO LAT!" Literally, ít sounds odd in English as a title.
Poloniusz 4 | 693
31 Jan 2021 #30
sounds odd in English

So does "mazel tov!"


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