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Posts by Andy1845c  

Joined: 22 Oct 2009 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 1 Apr 2010
Threads: Total: 1 / In This Archive: 1
Posts: Total: 4 / In This Archive: 3 		From: Mankato, Minnesota, USA
Speaks Polish?: Not well - I am learning

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Andy1845c   
13 Jan 2010
Language / I need some encouragement from Polish language speakers! [30]

Hello all. I am fairly new here. About 3 months ago I met a Polish girl in an online chat room, and became quite good friends with her. Shes quite fluent in English, but being the curious type, I decided to explore her language a bit, and have found I find Polish very interesting.

I also find it incredibly complicated. For the past 3 months I have been trolling around here, listening to Polish music, bought a PL/ENG dictionary and a book on basic grammar, have been pondering the banner ads on Gadu Gadu, ect. ect. No formal study, but I feel like I am picking up new words at a fair pace for the amount of time each day i can devote to studying.

But the declension. The word order. And other grammar rules just have not started to sink in.

Things like all the different words for "you" ciebie cię tobie tobą ect. Just doesn't make sense yet....

Should I not worry about these things until I know some more words and basics? Or is it imperative that I learn the grammar rules as I go?

I spent 2 hours this evening reading the Grammar artical on this site - polish.slavic.pitt.edu/

Very little makes sense and I just find myself discouraged.

I am just kinda wondering if I just casually study Polish for a while and soak up new words and phrases, will the grammar get clearer?

Thanks

Andy
Andy1845c   
13 Jan 2010
Language / I need some encouragement from Polish language speakers! [30]

Wow..... Thank you all so much for the replies and advice!

I feel a little better now.

I have never studied a foreign language before, so I don't know exactly how one normally starts out. Right now I enjoy the language when I can pick up a new word, remember all the days of the week in Polish, count past 10, ect. But the grammar overwhelms me so much that it takes all the fun out of it.

One thing I will say, as has been said on here before, learning a 2nd language makes you look at your first in a whole new light. Some days I feel barely fluent in English. It was never my best subject in highschool, and I never attended any college courses. After getting my feet wet in Polish, I think I actually have gone out of my way to improve my English grammar. lol

FRD - No romantic possibility with my Polish friend. :) Shes just a friend. I kind of lost my train of thought last night when I posted. My point is, she is the one that introduced me to the language. I don't have Polish family members or anything. Theres really no reason to learn the language, except for fun and the possibility of a more meaningful visit to Poland someday.

I'd love to meet a Polish friend in my area. No idea how to search for one though. There is a Polish Cultural center in Minneapolis, MN - but thats a 2 hour trip by car - one way...... and they have Polish classes too. :(
Andy1845c   
6 Feb 2010
Language / I need some encouragement from Polish language speakers! [30]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to pop back in and say I haven't given up, and the more I explore the language, the more has begun to make sense.

I sure wish I had a native speaker to practice with, but at least there is so many great resources online about Polish.
Andy1845c   
4 Apr 2010
Off-Topic / An English Version of Gadu-Gadu? [105]

As an American interested in learning Polish, I wouldn't want a English version of gg. Having all the controls in Polish forces me to translate. And The banner ads are good practice/exposure to the language. :)