Do Polish Movies Help learn the language?

Do you think by watching Polish movies it will help you learn the language more?

what do you think?

I don't know I'm not very familiar with the language yet, so I won't be able to piece everything out so easily...

I've seen a few Polish films, but that was when I really didn't know very much Polish and I wasn't even trying to learn. Films are not a particularly good way to start, but they can be good if you don't normally have many different Polish speakers you can listen to - films can give you a good feel of how the language sounds.

Actually, I have been subjected to a bit of Polish TV over recent days. The films all have Mr. Ple-Ple-Ple talking over them (can I call him that?) but the cartoons are dubbed but I still find them much harder to follow than normal conversation.

It's easiest to learn/improve one's language watching the telly, if the subject matter is somethign you know and are interested in. For instance, a news buff who already knows what Sarkozy said about this or that and aware of the details of recent Middle East flare-up violence will tend to catch more than someone totally turned off by and oblivious to politics. Frequent viewing and listening will cause the comprehension gaps to decrease. At first, the learner may catch only every 10th or 12th word, then every 5th or 6th and eventually most of what is being said.

I think it is, but.................................

I have been to the cinema in Poland a few times and of course the films are in English with Polish subtitles.

So, for me it is brilliant watching and listening to the films whilst also reading the subtitles.

I liked and found it beneficially.

I'm sure you are meaning films that are being spoken in Polish.

Perhaps this would be ok if you have a few years of learning behind you.

You can buy the latest dvd's in the uk which have Polish subtitles for example

The fim '21' about the poker is one.

So you dont have to go to the cinema

Na razie

The best programs for improving language ability.

Soap operas.

The language is usually day to day standard, enunciation is usually clear, the plotlines are generally guessable, and there's tons o' repitition

Beata : I have to talk to Magda about her boyfriend.
Beata : Magda, I have to talk to you about your boyfriend.
Beata : I spoke to Magda about her boyfriend.

Magda : Beata came to talk to me about Jacek.

Jacek : Magda, did Beata say anything to you about me?

Also there's lots of interesting cultural information hidden away in the story lines and the things that the characters take for granted.

News depends as journalistic language tends to be full of weird usage that people don't use on a daily basis.
Comedy is the worst as it is liable to depend on linguistic creativity and the humor is liable to go missing even when a viewer from another culture understands the language.

I think yes, I am downloading Polish movies or English ones with Polish subtitles I really find it helpful for picking up some verbs and picking up on word order.

Plus it's alot more fun than reading or using a computer programs.
:)

But be careful. I hardly see an English language movie with Polish subtitles where there aren't serious problems of translation.
Basically, what I've read elsewhere is that the people in charge don't care about quality and consistently go for low bidders who work fast, rather than people who know what they're doing.

Polish to English subtitles also have problems, not in content so much as style. There's a tendency toward stilted, unnatural or dated usage.

One quick example (paraphrased except for the relevant part):
"Like my nana used to say "you need to get laid"."
"You're nana used to say that?"

translated:
"As my nanny used to say "you need sex"."
"Your nanny used to say that?"

Nana is actually an informal word for grandmother and the humor of inappropriate grandmotherly advice becomes kind of creepy paid caretaker advice .... babcia would have been a better choice than niania.

I believe that when Kieslowski worked on Three Colours White, he was very careful with the translations. Maybe working with both French and Polish meant that his later films had a more international audience and therefore had to be well presented to international audiences. Also, he was a great film-maker with a good level of control over what he could produce. Many other film-makers are either not looking towards so much of a market outside of Poland or at least have less control over the finished product.


I think I've only seen one film in English with Polish subtitles amongst the many I have been sat in front of (usually with copious amounts of food, alcohol and large families often with children or dogs). It made a nice change to be able to actually take in all of the film with odd little Polish lessons at the bottom of the screen. Z tym filmem, pamiętam że uczy się "pamiętam". Obviously I still have a long way to go remembering everything I learn.

I notice the old lektor chap doesn't always like all the swearing in English dialogue.

Yep. In Poland it's OK to show movies on TV where people are being raped, slaughtered and decapitated as long as the bad guys mind their language. ;)

Also there's a tendency to raise the register. I remember people getting upset at the lektor using crude language (no matter that the original was crude, the Polish version was supposed to be nice and ladylike). That was a while ago and while I disagreed at the time, I do wish more people worried about crude language now.

Well interesting you should say that... My girlfriend is a English teacher and is qualified in translation and she told me just the other day that when you translate something especially for movies it is shortened and made simple, I am not very good at Polish but I can understand a little bit and sometimes I think the translations are crappy!


This is the problem I have, after spending 2 months in Poland I've heard lots and lots of Polish but it never seems to sink in! When I learn I have to write and read back to myself then it seems to sink in....the problem is this may take one hell of a long time!!!

:)

Yes both subtitles and mr. lektor require that most dialogue be shorted by about a third on average.

The translation method that allows for the best translations _as_ translations is dubbing, but Polish people are prejudiced against that.

Don't like it. Confuses me to hear two sets of speech at the same time....but....I am trying to learn so I am biased ;)

Huh? With dubbing you only hear one soundtrack. It's not the original but it's one. It's the dreaded lektor that gives you two unintelligible soundtracks at the same time.

The topic is wandering.

There are already a few threads on the famous Polish 'lektor' as well as 'subtitles in Polish/English movies'.

Okay I'll gently steer it back .....

When I was still actively learning Polish I found that movies in languages other than English with subtitles helped me a lot more. With a movie in English I could tune out the subtitles but if the movie was in Chinese or Hungarian I really had to depend on the subtitles to make sense of what I was seeing.

Oh, and I also thought the dubbed version of Friends on Canal Plus was good for language learning.

Sorry I guess I'm confused!


True, Sorry.

I used to watch "Kasia i Tomek", which is a Polish comedy series (based on a Canadian comedy, I think).
It is simple to understand and I always fancied Kasia :)
I also like the humour in it.
Kasia i Tomek - Kawusia

It is amazing now looking at these because I can understand them :)
Back when I first watched them I could get the gist.

haha... i loved that one... i got it from friends in PL and watched all the time... too bad it's not on anymore :(

WHATS WRONG WITH THAT?

thats the beauty of it, you have to THINK!!!!!!!!!!! :))

Nana does not mean 'niania', it means 'babcia'.
That's what's wrong with translating 'nana' as 'niania'.

porn polish movies help a little

Really? I thought anyone could learn to say "Oh tak, oh tak, oh taaaaak" ;)

haha... so if you want to learn the really basic Polish phrases, start from watching porn? ;)

Yes, hearing a 50+ year old chainsmoking guy mumble "wsadź mnie .... mocniej ... mocniej" is ..... an experience (not one that I ever want to repeat, but an experience).

Woah so many posts already. Polish porn uhh sure lmao... I'm not sure if I'll be able learn Polish from movies thoroughly without a little more experience actually a lot more... I just started a while ago and I don't think I really got much to work with. Are there any good Polish movies/t.v. shows that you guys easily understood once you started learning Polish? Or like show programs that are designed for your learning like in my French class last year we used MUZZY! =D

I watch English language movies with Polish subtitles.
It's er, a good way to study.

I have a few Polish movies with English subtitles also, which is better.

Any stimulus helps.