Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

YEP!! :)
Have never thought about that actually....
Danuta - DanutO...
But if you say Danusia (instead od Danuta), then vocative would be DanusiU... !
Wow! It seems I've just found another rule :P Let's check if it works:

Anna --- Anno but Ania --- Aniu
Aleksandra --- Aleksandro but Ola --- Olu
Barbara --- Barbaro but Basia --- Basiu
Katarzyna --- Katarzyno but Kasia --- Kasiu
Jolanta --- Jolanto but Jola --- Jolu
.....
hmm.... Seems it works in most cases! :D

Language / Coming back to Polish language studies [8]

Yes! Good luck!! And I'm here if you should have any doubts or questions! :)

Take care,
Oli

Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

Sure! Plus Italians! :) They have only 5 vowels :P :) But still this is my fave language ;) [maybe because of that? :P] Hmm... Ok, maybe Finnish and Turkish are also my fave :P I can't choose just one of them! ;)

Turkish do have long (i) i and short i (without a point upon it) in their language but, still, yes - they keep misspronouncing it. Hmmm... strange ;)

p.s. My name in Vocative is Olimpio ;)

Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

Just to help U a little:

Polish ----------- like in American English:

A ------------- Lost /la:st/ or Wow /wau/
B ------------- Ben
C ------------- Waltz
D ------------- Doll
E ------------- Every
F ------------- Fall
G ------------- Goal
H / CH -------- Hell
I -------------- Beat /bi:t/
J -------------- very long i /i:/ or like in Yes (jes)PLUS makes diphtongs with vowels, ex. mój /mui/, fajne /'faine/
K -------------- Can
L --------------- Level
£ -- ---------- Wow
M -- ----------- Money
N --------------- None
O -- ----------- like in British English lost /lost/
P -------------- Place
R -------------- need to roll your tongue, tap it a couple of times on your alveolar ridge, like Scotts do ;)
S -------------- Scott ;)
T -------------- Table
U / ó -------------- you /ju:/
W ------------- Very
y -------------- it, miss, list, stick (short i)
Z ------------ Zorro ;)

ą, ę, ż / rz, ź, ń, ć, ci, ń, ś, si.... need to think more to explain it well :) It'd be good to hear it and see what Poles actually do with their mouth when pronouncing these :P

Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

Marek is right - pronunciation is sth that people usually ignore while learning a language. We tend to misspronounce words. But there's an explenation for it: we can only hear these sounds which are natural for us, which exist in our native language. Thus, we need TO LEARN TO LISTEN TO new sounds because we simply cannot hear them. For example, in Polish we have only one way of pronuncig 'i' and it's LONG 'i', just like in English word "feel" or "see". In English, however, there are two ways od pronuncing this sound: long 'i' and short 'i' (like in 'it') which sounds much like Polish 'y'. During my first 'phonetics' class at University I got shocked - I thought I was pretty good and fluent in English... and then my teacher made me aware that my pronunciation was faaaaar from English!! However, he also mede me HEAR these sounds. Once I learned to hear them, I started producing them :) It took a year of practice and I got a very nice 'American' accent (that's what my native-teachers said) :)

I don't want to say that I sound '100% American', of course I don't. I am Polish and I will always be. What I want to say it that people who have never studied a language or have never been told how to teach others are not even aware that pronunciation of vowels and consonants may differ and that pronunciation is a critical element in the whole process of learning a foreign language.

Tomorrow I start Yoruba lessons :P Well aaa...
Possible takes a day, impossible takes a week (or 10 months :P) - when u know WHAT to learn.

Food / How to find Halal Food in Poznan (Muslim food in Poland) [55]


Try in Stary Browar in the city center (a huge red buildig ;]) (trams, for example 2, 6, 9, 12, 10). There's an excellent Turkish restaurant run by a Turk so the food they serve there's "safe" ;)

Have a nice stay in Poz' :)

Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

Hi Joan,

Should you have any questions, just e-mail me.
I studied English (American pronunciation!) so I might be helpful :)
May even record sth for you and e-mail it, if you wish.

And don't get discouraged! There is plenty of languages even 'worse' than Polish when it comes to pronunciation! ;D