I decided to get a book, because I don't have my computer around all the time, although it did help to learn a few words and phrases.
Are there any Polish learning books that you (especially those that have tried to learn it from English) recommend? (other recommendations are welcome as well).
Also do they come with supplementary CDs or AUDIO?
For a language book, I'd recommend the "Hurra" series from Prolog. I think they are the most up-to-date on the market.
hurra.edu.pl
Every part comes with a Student's Book (Podręcznik studenta + 1 CD) and a Student's Workbook (Zeszyt Ćwiczeń + 1 CD). You won't need the teacher's handbook.
These are good for self-study as they are mono-lingual and don't present you a massive stream of vocabulary and grammar at the first sight. I'd suggest you should go to a language school, though, if you have no language-learning experience. Watching films can be a help as well. And listening to radio stations (hint: radiostacje.com).
I think you can use the internet for all your suggestions on a good book for learning polish.There are services like hand-raising, chat and Q& A strategies to make it a wonderful experience on the internet.
Polish in 4 weeks - a lot of info packed into a really small space, gives you a bit of headache, but there are some hilarious dialogues - the two girls talking about Waldek had me in fits. :) It's the best book for vocab I've read yet as well, there's a quite hefty list of vocab in every section that I try to write out and then pin to the fridge or something - takes about a week to properly learn the vocab and gives you info on grammar as well.
301 Polish Verbs by Klara Janecki - very very helpful, a must buy
Hurra po polsku is a much more informative, gentle paced book. My teaching in Poland basically taught me from it - has some quite helpful tables for learning cases better as well. Best bet would be find someone who's going to Poland to get it for you, or to get it from a web shop. It costs about 95zl in Poland for the podręcznik studenta and ćwicień, but they were trying to charge me £40 for it in the UK (over 160zl)! You can get it from eksiegarnia.pl in Krakow, and they delivered it to the UK for me.
Lessons are definately the best way though, gives you more motivation to learn - fear of the nauczyczelka! Teacher's are usually able to explain grammar to you much better than books - but the books are a good reference.
Haven't read any of the others yet, so can't comment.
Basic Polish:A Grammar and Workbook by Dana Bielec 301 Polish Verbs by Klara Janecki Oxford-PWN English-Polish dictionary* Oxford-PWN Polish-English dictionary* *(Two volumes. Very heavy, about £75 for the pair) Collins Polish-English/English-Polish pocket dictionary. (Because the above Oxford volumes are so large a lighter paperback is useful. I actually use my £5 Collins volume for 95% of the time. Maybe even possible to get by just with this dictionary, upto a certain level).
All the above are available at Amazon.com. Possible bargains at Abebooks.com
Lets all keep each other informed. There are precious few English speakers attempting to learn Polish so a small community of us could prove invaluable for suggestions, practise and moral support.
I bought "czesc, yak sie masz" because i heard it was quite good. However...
I cant really get used to it, because of the university-degree way of talking to you in english. As soon as you open the book, you are given huge tutorial on pronounciation The book starts with extensive Grammar (!)
in all, its a good book, but very difficult for home-study (even my Polish girlfriend was horrified when she first tried to help me), its more of a classroom/teacher material. I feel that a book that could start with general vocab, with some more simple grammar excersises would be more useful for people like me who have no idea about the language
I have the rosetta stone software, its quite good for picture-word association, although i think it would be better if you had some sort of target to work towards. It has its "exam" mode (if i can call it that) but i think it could be better to allow you to progress instead of jumping to different levels at the click of a button
I am going to try that website that was mentioned, but i was wondering if anyone could give me some more info on the hurra books, and if there is any great tips on word-case situations :)
Bondi, I emailed them and they quoted me 138 PLN delivered to the UK (£32) but they said I had to fill out a form with my credit card details and it didn't look very secure! So I'm a little dubious about it. He also said it isn't designed for self teaching, it's designed for use with a tutor?!? How are you finding it?
I ordered mine from the eksiengarnia site, didn't seem to have any problems. It's great if you already know some polish - if you're an absolute beginner you probably need someone to take you through it. I'm finding it really useful to brush up on my grammar. I'm alright at conversational Polish, but, according to my Polish teacher, my grammar is another story :). Just been going over narzednik again in the latest lesson. I reckon it's best used alongside other materials - like Polish in 4 weeks.
Chrisscole - I managed to get through the order form even tho it's all in polish, but it has come up as the same price for delivery 2 poland, that can't be right, surely? It asks for a province too even tho we don't have provinces here lol! Help!
