Posts by emmajo

emmajo

21 Dec 2009

Language / What's the best "Learn Polish" book? [33]

Guest:
Can I recommend Colloquial Polish by my former teacher Boleslaw Mazur?

Yes, for sure. It's the best book for learning Polish I have ever seen.

I already had a couple of books and have just bought this one, and I have to agree with SzwedwPolsce. There were a number of things that I was struggling to get my head around with the others, but I have only flicked through this and looked at the first couple of chapters and it is already starting to make more sense!

emmajo

2 Dec 2009

Language / Grammar Cases - would "revisiting" english grammar help with learning? [7]

I often say that I didn't realize how little I knew about my native tongue until I started to learn another language.

My thoughts exactly, which is why I asked the question in the first place! Although I don't think there are any "magic" English rules that will help me to make sense of noun cases in Polish. Just when I think I know which case a sentence belongs to, I find that I'm wrong because of another rule. I guess it's just a lot of practice, and I always knew that it wouldn't be easy.

emmajo

2 Dec 2009

Language / Grammar Cases - would "revisiting" english grammar help with learning? [7]

Find a good Polish book.

Thanks SzwedwPolsce I do have a couple of books, one of them is Oscar Swans "Verbs and Essentials of Grammar" and it does have some good examples.

I think it's probably because I'm learning by myself, so I'm not going about it in a very structured way...and I'm trying to run before I can walk ;) ;) ;)

emmajo

2 Dec 2009

Language / Grammar Cases - would "revisiting" english grammar help with learning? [7]

Not very much. But in a few ways it can help you. For example the accusative case (without preposition) is usually used when you would have a direct object in English. The dative case (without preposition) is usually used when you would have a indirect object in English.

But apart from this it will not help you very much with the cases. But with other things.

I was having a moment earlier when I asked the question, and have realised the answer since. If I had learnt about cases at school, I'm sure that I wouldn't be having so much trouble with learning Polish cases now.

I think that I just have lots of practise ahead of me! :D

emmajo

2 Dec 2009

Language / Grammar Cases - would "revisiting" english grammar help with learning? [7]

This may seem like a daft question, but is a thought that I have just had.

Would brushing up on English grammar rules help at all with learning Polish grammar rules?

I refer mostly to noun cases as that is something that I am really struggling to get my head around. Obviously, I know that it can't teach me the actual Polish to use, but was wondering could it help me with working out whether something should be genitive or accusative etc?

I remember learning all about grammar at school (English, not Polish!), but that was a long time ago and is something that I hadn't thought about since, until I started to learn Polish.

Dziękuję za pomoc!

Emma

emmajo

30 Nov 2009

Language / Not sure if I will be able to speak Polish [53]

SzwedwPolsce:

In English you need experience to know how words are pronounced, in Polish you don't need this experience, you just need to know how all letters (and 2-letter combinations) in the alphabet are pronounced. It's a big difference.

As a native English speaker learning Polish I have to agree. However knowing how the letters should be said, and actually managing to say them is something completely different!!

I don't have much opportunity to speak Polish, but I suggest that you keep at it Polskiej_Dumy because you will be retaining more than you realise. I took notes in a meeting where there was a polish translator and I was surprised at how many words/phrases I could actually understand - to the point where I was writing down some answers before they had been translated to English!!!

emmajo

19 Nov 2009

Life / IS IT MY NAME DAY IN POLAND TODAY....? [73]

I had been checking it every day and would have missed it because I am on holiday next Tuesday!! :) Perhaps I knew subconciously, that's why i'm off!!!

emmajo

18 Nov 2009

Language / Two questions for people who learn polish [57]

Roublard

I have two questions for people, who learn polish:

What in the polish language is the most difficult and hard for you?
What is interesting and better than in english?

What I find the most difficult are all the different possibilities for word endings, and the way that some word stems change when they have an ending added to them! I am learning by myself with the help of a couple of books and the internet (and PF of course!) and it really is the hardest thing to grasp.

I think that the whole language is interesting...and i've only been learning for a few months. The one thing that I think is better for a learner is the pronunciation. Once you know how to say a letter/combination of letters, you can usually have a reasonable attempt at saying a word. I only get told that i'm saying things wrong (when I actually try to say something that is!) because I say things with an English accent. With English, it's never quite that simple! ;-)

emmajo

18 Nov 2009

Life / IS IT MY NAME DAY IN POLAND TODAY....? [73]

Wow, thanks nincompoop_not, it appears that I have 2 namedays...and one of them is next Tuesday (or, if I can remember what I've just learnt...w następny wtorek!)

I wonder if I can get presents?

emmajo

3 Nov 2009

UK, Ireland / Why do Poles come to England? [514]

Wow! I found this forum and registered last week and keep coming back to have a read of some of the existing posts, and like nincompoop_not after reading laddy and some of the other posts, here I am.

I am English, and proud to be so, but do not have the same problem that some my fellow countrymen (and women) seem to have with the Poles.

We have about 25 to 30 Poles working here, a number of whom have worked here for almost 4 years. In most cases they are more willing and much harder working than their English colleagues. I think that like with every nationality there are unfortunately a small minority that give everyone a bad name. However, those Poles that I have had the experience of working with are certainly not vermin, and it would be a shame if they all had to leave...not good riddance.