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Posts by Forest625  

Joined: 27 Jan 2015 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: -
Threads: Total: 2 / In This Archive: 2
Posts: Total: 5 / In This Archive: 5 		From: USA, Connecticut
Speaks Polish?: Learning polish

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Forest625   
27 Jan 2015
Language / Correct grammatical use of mogę and mógłbym? [3]

I am currently learning polish and right now when I learn phrases I feel like I am memorizing them and not learning proper grammar. For instance, "Czy mogę poprosić menu?" and "Czy mógłbym poprosić trochę wody?" both translate to May I have a menu and May I have some water?

What is the difference between mogę, mógłbym, and other variations? Or is there a difference?
Forest625   
10 Feb 2015
Genealogy / How Polish am I? What is the correct formula? [58]

I think people are arguing one of two things. Some are arguing ethnicity, while some are arguing nationality or citizenship. If someone was born in the US and their "blood" is 100% Polish, then their nationality or citizenship is American and their ethnicity is Polish. Meaning depending on the question he/she can say he/she's American or Polish without anyone getting upset.

What is an American ethnicity? Unless you're Native American your family immigrated to the US from somewhere else. Meaning that Native American is an ethnicity, while American is not.
Forest625   
11 Feb 2015
Genealogy / How Polish am I? What is the correct formula? [58]

If you do the math I'm 3/4 Polish, I also try to learn the culture and the language for the sole purpose of being able to visit Poland. I'm also in contact with some of my family still in Poland. Am I wrong in saying I have Polish ancestry or should I just forget about my heritage and say I have an "American" ancestry. I accept my nationality is American and if I do go to Poland I won't be claiming that I'm Polish to everyone who asks.
Forest625   
13 Feb 2015
Language / How many words does it take to be fluent in (the Polish) language? [21]

I've been learning Polish for over a month now and I am making great progress. Recently I've been wondering how many words does it take to be fluent in a language. I searched online and found what I think is a great article that gave me my answer and everything else you may want to know about languages and language learning. (I've posted the links below) Using English as an example, the author says that if you know the 3,000 most commonly used words, you'll be able to understand 95% of common texts and be able to effectively guess the other 5% based on the context. Essentially if a person "memorizes" these 3,000 words they will be able to be conversational in English. Granted that doesn't consider grammar, idioms, etc.

The last part that I found eye opening was that for a person to be fluent in English (knows 3,000 most common words) they only need to know 1.75% of all English words (170,000 total) listed in the Oxford-English dictionary. While the average native speaker has about 40,000 active words in his vocabulary.

The author shows that rigid learning (learning by looking up definitions in a dictionary) is a poor way of learning a language. Instead learn the most commonly used words and then learn by guessing/assimilation. Whether it's by talking, speaking and/or listening you start to pick up the nuances of a language by simply learning from the context.

Part 1: lingholic.com/how-many-words-do-i-need-to-know/
Part 2: lingholic.com/how-many-words-do-i-need-to-know-the-955-rule-in-language-learning-part-2/
Forest625   
14 Feb 2015
Language / How many words does it take to be fluent in (the Polish) language? [21]

I understand what you're trying to say, but I don't agree with the fact that because I don't live in Poland I can't learn the language. I know at a certain point I will hit a brick wall, but I am hoping to be able to break through. Whether that means finding someone who's a native speaker to converse with or take advanced classes.

I think all languages have their individual challenges. The biggest advantage I have is previously learning Spanish all the way up through high school, so I have prior experience with conjugating verbs and don't get caught up with it as easily as someone who is learning a language for the first time.

I also don't give up that easy ;)
Forest625   
14 Feb 2015
Language / How many words does it take to be fluent in (the Polish) language? [21]

Thanks! I understand Spanish being a romance language and Polish a Slavic language they can be quite different and I have noticed many differences between them. If learning Spanish has taught me anything is that is tough, but it can be done.