Just curious about how do u guys learn polish. take a polish class? use software from internet? well, i have my own polish book, i made it by myself. cant believe it? haha. ok. when i want to know how to say such such in polish, i ll write the english version then show it to my polish friend, they complete the polish part for me. :)
but then i realize that i even don't know how to pronounce it!!!
I used to live with a guy for Hong Kong, who was using hyypia's method, it was working for him, but than again, I had to repeat every word few times before he could pronounce it (and write it down in his private pronounciation code: that looked really funny).
well..... i did ask my friend to repeat thousands of times (may be not that much :)) but i swear that i dont have any funny looking code in my book! i remember everything in my mind and i also know a little bit about polish alphbet
There are audio links in here. Ypu just have to find them. Search "audio" or something. You can always ask here too. We'll help you find easy word associations.
hi there, it's nice to hear from another Aussie on this forum......how are things in the capital these days? I'm from the most liveable state......you know the one.....
...by listening like H_ _l to native speakers and by making the time to do it! I often have occasion to interact with Poles, because of my accent, I sort of "blend into" the crowd and I hear conversations among Poles which they might not ordinarily have with a foreigner!
I also READ, READ, READ and then READ some more, everything from the Polish classics (mostly prose however) to the sports news of the local Nowy Dziennik!
The former is key to ease in conversational fluency, while the latter is essential for developing the accuracy needed to speak on other than a tourist level.
No, Hyypia! I'm not a Pole I only play one on TV... he-he :) :)!! Just kidding.
When I was in Poland, many Poles did in fact mistake me for a Pole momentarily. Some would even say, "Wstyd sie Pan, ze nie chce byc Polakiem!" = Shame on you, for not wanting to be a Pole!
I'm following two courses on my own; a First year University course I downloaded (FREE! :) ), and a book "We Learn Polish", which has been around for a long time. Also I have a teacher, an invaluable resource if you don't live in Poland and want to learn the language in any sort of reasonable timeframe. I'm translating a little at a time a children's book from Polish to English and another from English to Polish which my teacher then corrects with me. This builds vocabulary and the Polish book serves as reading practice also.
For sounds practice I recently got Rosetta Stone which is good for basic sounds practice. Though with my teacher I find I don't need sounds recordings.
All of these things trundle along slowly together and will hopefully build up into a solid knowledge of the language.
My aim is to have a steady exposure to the language all the time. I now have the courage to chat to Poles I meet - and there are lots here in Dublin these days.
I find Polish to be generally an easy language to pronounce and spell once you know how to say the words and how they work. The only letter I don't hear is "j", and will write it as "i". Also I find words containing the sound "sze..." like "szes'c' " are difficult to get exactly right.
I'm learning on my own at the moment, I've a few assorted books and some software. The best software I've found so far is from byki.com
I've been to Poland 10+ times so picked up quite a bit on each of my visits.
I'll be attending the Sopot Polish school for a few months this summer to get myself to a good enough level to manage for the rest of the year (I'll be staying on in Gdansk or possibly Gorzow for a while).
I can just about get by with my level of Polish at present but need much improvment and learning the verbs is a nightmare!
