I want to learn Polish. Where to start?

learnpolishinpoland.com

hy new girl on the block. i too could do with some help as i want to learn this wonderful language but i have very little money

byki.com ... free software you can download

rosetta stone you can obtain free software

check the polish lesson unit videos on this fourm by janusz .. will help you loads esp the alphabet (which is the first thing you should learn)

also read all the language threads :)


no problems ... Doncaster college do a polish course but you would now need to wait until next september as the enrollment for this year has closed year one (second year running) you concentrate on the listening and reading skills and two (year two started this year) concentates on speaking and writing its where i did my course as im in donny :)

also look on gumtree website for sheffield i have an ad on there for assistance with polish learning via skype .. msn etc but there are people advertising :)

I am currently learning from this book. It is good but my problem is finding Poles in Preston (UK) to talk to.

Reading - Improving.
Writing - Getting there.
Listening - Slowly but surely.
Speaking - HA HA HA HA...... :-( That darn Polish 'r' how it mocks me.

But I am stubbern and I have good motivation (her name is.....) so I don't mind.

passed these sections but still working on both


i make standard grammar errors and writing in wrong way or case ending


likewise i struggle with the speaking ... no trouble finding them ie Polish people in donny but its getting them to help lol

:)


likewise .. its called i relish challenges ... :D

Good to hear you are doing well telefonitika, how long have you been learning ?


HA HA now that's the spirit "BRING IT ON !" I say. Polish maybe hard (So I've been told) but if you are stubbern and determind then what's to stop you :-D

since sept/october 2006 through one lesson a week at college and through friends and self teaching by listening to music .. watching tv shows etc


indeed i shall :)

Ah well that is were you have a distinct advantage over me. I've only had about 10 hours worth of lessons.
Any hints and tips for a newbie learner ?

listen as much as you can through hearing it spoken or watching tv dvds or music this helps you gain the listening side .. the numbers are a nightmare lol above 10 hahaha esp well telling the time

also write it how you think it should be written someone will always understand what you have written and also be able to point out any errors you have made to help your learning

something i do all that :)

but keep at it and dont give up :)

Oh you are certainly preaching to the converted here ;-)

As for the other stuff, cheers this gives me yet another reason to listen to COMA and Dźem. :-)

(Hopfully going to see Dźem in 26 days XD )

im going to learn Polish ive bought the Method "Assimil" i hope its a good one..

"Assimil" I have it, but i began it (not finished yet)

here is a thing you can use en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Basic_Polish_language_course

thanks telefonitika itd be useful ive found also this one but its for french;-): lepolonais.free.fr.

a few links that might help, but the best advice is to stay in the country and you'll pick it up sooner or later......

You tube is your friend..........w w w etc youtube.com/watch?v=6s-vMd_pBks listen to the first lesson then check the other 48 or so lessons - absolutely indispensable for practicing pronunciation!

and have this playing in the background when you're working - Polish talk radio............ mms://ml2.gazeta.pl/tokfm

ok txks gdj67 i found in yt also this one:



quite useful, its divided into 2 united:

While looking at the BYKI website I noticed a reference to a book. The review of the book on Amazon summarized how the author feels a new language should be learned. The book specifically recommends Pimsleur for part of the process. Looking at this review, I'm starting to think that someone's best shot at learning Polish may be to use Pimsleur, the Rosetta Stone and the BYKI software all together. That and a native speaker plus a good text book. Ahhh, what price Success???

The Book"
How To Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own

I learned pronunciation by reading about the alphabet online and listening to Polish music...now all I listen to is Polish music=)

If you can find it, an old version of Polish Linguaphone is well worth buying. I just bought one (1991 vintage). It is a serious language course with lots of sounds recordings - i'll be in Polish heaven :D

It'd be a bit dated in content terms - published around 1970 i'd say.

I have a suggestion.

Mp3 player+Pimsluers 30 lessons in MP3 format.

Dependent on need of course, you can then add books like Polish in 4 weeks etc. Also I have picked up Dekalog off the net-Polish films. Add to this any Polish dubbed movies you care to watch.

Theory is this:-In any one day you have to drive, walk, queue and wait around. Get a 1gb Mp3 player or better, one that you like using and is sturdy.

Get into a habit of keeping it on you. Keep playing lessons. Be prepared to repeat them many times.

My need is quite simple. Very very basic yet well pronounced words and short sentences. I work with 2 polish mechanics and they polished my swearing for me :-). The reason I've learnt is that any Polish nationals I've met since I spent six weeks doing this have given me a very warm welcome for having made the effort.

Us English are not noted for our interest in learning anyone else's tongue!!

I'm actually very poor at auditory learning, so this is a long long way round for me. One word can take me 20 repeats to learn. If you are the same way, you need to devote quite a lot of time to repitition, flash cards and talking with Polish folks. Get some friends-ones you can see a lot of.

Oh final tip? Get a taste for polish vodka or beer (vodki, pivo).

Have fun.

Dobranoc :-)

So happy to read that I'm not the only one who can't get a Pimsleur lesson in one shot. Makes me feel better, and I agree, what a person lacks in natural ability can be overcome by perseverance! I just finished up Lesson 19. I usually have to concentrate on a lesson, then play it two more times in the car or whatever, then sit and concentrate one more time. That's four times through before I "own" it! What lesson are you up to?

I've done all 30 at least 5 times each now. The first 20 have been repeated far far more than that.

I studied for 6 weeks just this summer past whilst I had lots of driving to this garage I was working in for a while.

I took a break for a few months and started again this week. Back onto lesson 7 just now.

The only thing thats annoying is that Pimsluer are not offering levels 2 and 3.

I do have Pimsleur Russian 1,2+3 and I've found out that Russians understand Polish quite well :-).

Yes, I know. However they are adding languages, and extending sets every year. For example, in July they are releasing a complete level 1 in Romanian. Obviously the "high revenue" languages like Spanish and French were first. Maybe you could go to there website and inquire as to when more Polish would be available. We need to be sure to vote with our cash too! Instead of doing the bit torrent thing I spent the $150 for the comprehensive Polish. It is well done, so it's money well spent I think. I don't know what I'm gonna do when I'm done with all of the lessons, they really work well for me.

music is good for that one ... i can sing along to most polish artists and bands songs ranging from kasia kowalska, edyta gorniak, komety, feel, jeden siedem(as it appears on the disk), sistars and some others

:)

i dont have the primsleur material ...

I have a suggestion with the Polish Pimsleur for auditory learning.

I created a few variations of the mp3's using Cool Edit Pro.

1 version is simply adding some echo/reverb. Another has a background of binaural beats and another is reverbed a little with various songs as an accompanyment. I tried to make the music level low enough that the fine detail wasn't lost.

Does make for variation, though I kept chopping back to the original to be sure of pronunciation.

I didn't start learning Polish where I could justify spending £100's at all. Technically I still can't. From what I've read elsewhere, even if they did all 3 courses like they do Russian, I'd still need to spend money on a decent college course or something to get reasonable fluency for business use.

Unless someone actually produces a very in depth lengthy digital course of course :-)

Good idea, editing the Pimsleur! After going through it, I may make up a set, just cutting out the English. Kind of like a "repeat what you hear" since I now understand all the vocabulary (through unit 20, which is where I am as of today).

I emailed Simon & Shuster (sp?), the publishers, and they responded telling me that there are no plans for Polish II or III. Kind of stinks! So my plan is to start with The Rosetta Stone after I finish unit 30. I also bought BYKI because you can make your own flash cards with pictures and sound. I put a picture on one side, then when I flip the card I can hear the word or phrase in Polish. I made friends with some really nice Polish people who read into my computer. I then chop up the audio and attache it to a card in BYKI. They make it really easy!

Like you, I'd sign up for a college course, but there are none around me. I'm thinking of doing one of those courses in Poland for two weeks over the summer, but talk about $$$$. We'll see how that goes. BTW, if anyone has done one of those courses, I'd love to hear about it.

which dictionary is that i have two ...


Get the lonely planets one as it has all the phonetics inside as well :) I use these ones .. :)

Hi,
I have worked previously for language schools, including school in US, and Polish is classified as very difficult language. If you want to speak the right way - teach yourself Polish can be only a help. You need to find yourself a professional instructor -trust me - I know what I am talking about.

You can also visit some online dictionaries - here is one I personally like euglossary.com

not true

You probably have never worked with languages before. Consider this - there are 4 levels of difficulties when it comes to languages - number one is the easiest group of languages, and number 4 the most difficult. There are only 4 languages classified as number 4, which means extremely difficult for English speakers. Polish is classified as a level 3 language, which means, that is a very difficult language to learn for English native speakers.

Yes, of course you can study vocabulary and grammar, but most likely you will never be able to be proficient without the instructor.
If you don't believe me, do some research. I know it from my experience working with languages for 5 different language institutions both here in US and also in Poland.