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Hurra Po Polsku - Wanted to buy?!

posts: 23

Jars777Threads: 15 Posts: 54 Joined: Feb 27, 11 ♀	Sep 21, 11, 19:43 #1
Hello everyone. I am looking to get the Hurra Po Polsku course book. Anyone fancy selling it? I have already bought a course book but it is German-Polish and my teacher can only speak English and therefore the book is pretty useless. So I am wondering if I could get a 2nd hand one?! Thanks Jnaine

LwowskaKrakowThreads: 49 Posts: 504 Joined: Mar 9, 07 MEMBER ♀	Sep 21, 11, 19:50 #2
Hurra Po Polsku is a brilliant language book for Polish. There are 3 levels so far Hurra n° 1, N°2N°3 You may find it on line with Merlin.pl or at some language Bookshops ,there is one near in Krakow( Glowna Ksiegarnia Naukowa on Podwale) anyway that's a great metho and created by an excellent school of Polish in Krakow called PROLOG.

teflcatThreads: 6 Posts: 1,076 Joined: May 29, 11 ♂	Sep 21, 11, 19:54 #3
So I am wondering if I could get a 2nd hand one?! Buy yourself a new one. Do you know how much work goes into writing a coursebook and how little the authors are paid? Don't be such a cheapskate! It's a good book but there are a few errors, which had me tearing what's left of my hair out until my teacher confirmed that they were errors.

LwowskaKrakowThreads: 49 Posts: 504 Joined: Mar 9, 07 MEMBER ♀	Sep 21, 11, 20:16 #4
Teflcat you must be very advanced .What kind of errors ? I follow blindly whatever these books say, i would not know if i am learning mistakes or not.

teflcatThreads: 6 Posts: 1,076 Joined: May 29, 11 ♂	Sep 21, 11, 20:22 #5
Teflcat you must be very advanced Yes, I am very advanced. In English. My dear lady is pestering me to watch the next episode of 'Victorian Pharmacy' so I have to go, but there are one or two errors in the first book. I'll have a look tomorrow.

♂

Sep 21, 11, 23:28 #6

Hurra po polsku doesn't cost so much. It is a good book, but requires much cooperation from the teacher and even from the classmates (all those roleplays). Besides, it has too much of a "modern" look, full of pictures and photos, at the expense of content. I couldn't really learn new words as effectively as with other methods.

The one thing I liked of it were the grammatical tables, not too simple and not too complicated. It was with Hurra po polsku that I finally learned to correctly make the locative (o kim? o czym?), which in itself is a big step in understanding the whole of Polish grammar.

Jars777Threads: 15 Posts: 54 Joined: Feb 27, 11 ♀	Sep 27, 11, 16:02 #7
Hi all. Thanks for your replies. I got my Hurra Po Polsku workbook (ISBN: 978-83-60229-25-5) today and I was a little surprised that it is all in Polish?! Also the instructions on amazon.co.uk weren't great and therefore I bought the workbook and not the textbook. grrrr.... Does anyone have the textbook? Has that English instructions/grammar etc? Thanks Janine

teflcatThreads: 6 Posts: 1,076 Joined: May 29, 11 ♂	Sep 27, 11, 16:06 #8
Has that English instructions/grammar etc? All in Polish. Good motivation!

♀

Sep 27, 11, 16:11 #9

So it is really a book to be used with a teacher and not really a self-learning course book?
Are they any alternatives with English instructions out there?

I have a Langenscheidt course which is superb but it is in German and my teacher doesn't understand it. It would just be helpful to go through something together that both of us understand. We haven't had much structure to the lessons as she is new to teaching and it would really help me to go through the material again after the lesson? Hope that makes sense?!
thanks

teflcatThreads: 6 Posts: 1,076 Joined: May 29, 11 ♂	Sep 27, 11, 16:15 #10
So it is really a book to be used with a teacher and not really a self-learning course book? Yes. Are they any alternatives with English instructions out there? No doubt there are but Hurrah is the best coursebook imo. Perhaps others here can help.

Jars777Threads: 15 Posts: 54 Joined: Feb 27, 11 ♀	Sep 27, 11, 16:23 #11
Ok thank you... I think you have convinced me. :-) Do you think the workbook is essential or would the textbook be good by itself? Thanks

teflcatThreads: 6 Posts: 1,076 Joined: May 29, 11 ♂	Sep 27, 11, 16:25 #12
The workbook is the better element for me. I can revise stuff at my own pace. You could use the coursebook on its own, but it's far better to have the set.

Jars777Threads: 15 Posts: 54 Joined: Feb 27, 11 ♀	Sep 27, 11, 16:27 #13
Ok thank you!

LeopejoThreads: 6 Posts: 154 Joined: Sep 16, 09 ♂	Sep 27, 11, 16:28 #14
"Almost" all in Polish, as some explanations in lesson 0 or lesson 1 are in "latin" (international terminology). But as I said, it is not suitable for self learning.

♂

Sep 27, 11, 18:37 #15

All in Polish. Good motivation!

When my Polish friend who teaches Polish to non native speakers from all countries recommended hurra po polsku, she said that all the beginning English books we use in my school are entirely in English.

She told me to think of it as a beginner's book in Polish. It's harder than, say, Polish in 4 Weeks (ha!) but better than Czesc, jak sie masz?. It's better with a teacher, but can be used by itself if you don't have one and you're willing to work at it.

♂

Sep 27, 11, 19:01 #16

There aren't that many books around for learning Polish, and the ones that do exist are pretty much an abomination:

1) Polish in 4 Weeks: Follow the cheating slut Alicia as she dumps her boyfriend for Waldek, gossiping about both men with her lesbian roommate while attending the opera. Filled with useful everyday vocabulary.

2) Czesc Jak Sie Masz: A stilted coursebook written in the Eighties with lots of classic examples of Communist Polish, which will give you some solid basics but some very clumsy conversational phrases

3) We Learn Polish: One of the worst travesties of Communist Publishing, this book rams Nobel Laureate poetry, a visit to the doctors and contrived written complaints about your future wife at you before you've even learned Monday-Sunday or the basic numbers. The only thing that has changed in this book since its initial 1971 print is the photo of Warsaw.

4) Hurra! Po Polsku!: The perfect example of what happens when you throw EU money at a project. A glossy colourful volume with some charming tables, but very little actual language acquisition exercises. A pleasant step forward in the industry, but still way behind proper materials.

5) Basic Polish and Intermediate Polish: Probably the best resource out there for attacking Polish's frustrating grammar. These books explain IN ENGLISH how the language operates, and gives sensible, practical examples. There's little dialogue, but you will learn more verbs in five minutes than you will in the other four options together.

♂

Sep 27, 11, 19:07 #17

5) Basic Polish and Intermediate Polish: Probably the best resource out there for attacking Polish's frustrating grammar. These books explain IN ENGLISH how the language operates, and gives sensible, practical examples. There's little dialogue, but you will learn more verbs in five minutes than you will in the other four options together.

Sounds good. Do you have any details about the author or publisher?

Jars777Threads: 15 Posts: 54 Joined: Feb 27, 11 ♀	Sep 27, 11, 19:12 #18
Gosh... this is so difficult. I wish there was something like this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Langenscheidt-Praktischer-Sprachlehrgang-Poln isch-Audio-CDs/dp/3468803753/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1317143474&sr=8-4) but in English. :-(

antheadsThreads: 13 Posts: 306 Joined: Jan 21, 11 ♂	Sep 27, 11, 19:13 #19
Polish for Foreigners from Jagielonska Uni is pretty good too..

VincentThreads: 15 Posts: 1,708 Joined: Sep 9, 07 ♂ [Moderator]	Sep 27, 11, 19:24 #20
Do you have any details about the author Dana Bielec. There is also a third book called Polish: An Essential Grammar. Another good book, which may be a bit hard to find is, Concise Polish Grammar (for foreigners) by Magdalena Foland-Kugler, Published 2006.

teflcatThreads: 6 Posts: 1,076 Joined: May 29, 11 ♂	Sep 27, 11, 19:25 #21
Thanks Vincent.

♂

Edited by: Leopejo Sep 27, 11, 21:03 #22

RichFilth's analysis is good, I think. I must add I find 4 weeks (the second, intermediate) part very good.

For a free course in English (and plenty of other wonderful material), check [url=polish.slavic.pitt.edu]polish.slavic.pitt.edu[/url].

I have become a fan of Supermemo. If you buy the book and mp3 (for some 32 złote) you get a quite good free course in English. In addition you get two months free of their internet course and spaced repetition system. Together - that is, textbook & mp3, and internet course - they make quite an effective packet.

LwowskaKrakowThreads: 49 Posts: 504 Joined: Mar 9, 07 MEMBER ♀	Sep 27, 11, 22:29 #23
4) Hurra! Po Polsku!: The perfect example of what happens when you throw EU money at a project. A glossy colourful volume with some charming tables, but very little actual language acquisition exercises. I disagree because i bought the exercice book too so it has tons of exercices + its own cd.

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