Leopejo
18 Apr 2012
Language / Business Polish -need to learn fast! [4]
Marzena Kowalska, "O biznesie po polsku", is aimed at your B1/B2 level.
Marzena Kowalska, "O biznesie po polsku", is aimed at your B1/B2 level.
Leopejo
18 Apr 2012
Language / Does 'Pimsleur Method' work? [4]
It works well if you want an introduction to the language. It gives you a sense of the structure of the language and a good pronunciation. If you have 15 hours to spend before starting studying actively, go for it.
Take into account that a 3 level 90 lesson course gives you only some 400-500 words, so Pimsleur Polish (1-30) probably no more than 150 words.
Michel Thomas Polish introduces, in less time, more grammar, but other than that it's quite bad. The Polish teacher has a pronunciation defect and the two students are irritating in their hopelessness.
It works well if you want an introduction to the language. It gives you a sense of the structure of the language and a good pronunciation. If you have 15 hours to spend before starting studying actively, go for it.
Take into account that a 3 level 90 lesson course gives you only some 400-500 words, so Pimsleur Polish (1-30) probably no more than 150 words.
Michel Thomas Polish introduces, in less time, more grammar, but other than that it's quite bad. The Polish teacher has a pronunciation defect and the two students are irritating in their hopelessness.
Leopejo
11 Oct 2011
Leopejo
11 Oct 2011
Language / Narzędnik - Liczba Mnoga (Instrumental - plurals) - table attached [24]
The instrumental is perhaps the easiest case there is, especially the plural. Remember that in the plural there aren't the usual masculine/feminine/neuter genders, but only "personal masculine" (men, etc.) vs. the rest (feminine, neuter, and masculine things and animals). Besides the distinction has meaning only in nominative, genitive and accusative plural, while the other plural cases are the same regardless of gender.
nouns: -ami
adjectives: -ymi or -imi
The usual ending for adjectives is -ymi, but you have to use -imi with adjectives ending in -i, which usually means adjectives ending in -ki or -gi, but also for example "tani" (cheap). So you get (wysoki) wysokimi, (drogi) drogimi and (tani) tanimi. Gender has no role in the choice between -ymi and -imi. Remember that K and G always require I after them, never Y, whatever the word or grammatical case.
Instrumental plural has a few irregular forms, for example dziecko -> dziećmi and pieniądze -> pieniędzmi.
I get the -ami part. But not the rest. I think I'm reading too much into this! I'll have another bash tomorrow.
The instrumental is perhaps the easiest case there is, especially the plural. Remember that in the plural there aren't the usual masculine/feminine/neuter genders, but only "personal masculine" (men, etc.) vs. the rest (feminine, neuter, and masculine things and animals). Besides the distinction has meaning only in nominative, genitive and accusative plural, while the other plural cases are the same regardless of gender.
nouns: -ami
adjectives: -ymi or -imi
The usual ending for adjectives is -ymi, but you have to use -imi with adjectives ending in -i, which usually means adjectives ending in -ki or -gi, but also for example "tani" (cheap). So you get (wysoki) wysokimi, (drogi) drogimi and (tani) tanimi. Gender has no role in the choice between -ymi and -imi. Remember that K and G always require I after them, never Y, whatever the word or grammatical case.
Instrumental plural has a few irregular forms, for example dziecko -> dziećmi and pieniądze -> pieniędzmi.
Leopejo
10 Oct 2011
Language / pisać-pisanie, jeść-jedzenie, what is the rule for jeść to jedzenie? [9]
What if you take the third person plural (oni, one) of the present tense, and form from there? As mentioned above, jeść -> jedzą -> jedzenie.
Anyway there are some rules on when to use -nie (verbs in -ać, for example), when -onie, when -ęcie (verbs in -ąć) and when -cie (pić, myć,... -> picie, mycie,...). Check your grammar.
What if you take the third person plural (oni, one) of the present tense, and form from there? As mentioned above, jeść -> jedzą -> jedzenie.
Anyway there are some rules on when to use -nie (verbs in -ać, for example), when -onie, when -ęcie (verbs in -ąć) and when -cie (pić, myć,... -> picie, mycie,...). Check your grammar.
Leopejo
10 Oct 2011
USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]
Quite a bad opinion of their (ex) countrymen, if they think PO won because of media influence.
Quite a bad opinion of their (ex) countrymen, if they think PO won because of media influence.
Leopejo
5 Oct 2011
Food / Coffee in Poland: cheap and undrinkable / expensive and good [89]
And still no Pole I know wants to try Italian moka or espresso, as it is too strong for their taste.
And still no Pole I know wants to try Italian moka or espresso, as it is too strong for their taste.
Leopejo
5 Oct 2011
Language / Help me understand Polish imperfective vs perfective verbs? [64]
Ziemowit
This is what makes it difficult for a foreigner, and not only regarding verbs. While the first form people learn when starting a new language is the present tense -and therefore, imperfective in Polish - and usually the imperfective is the "basic" form as well (robić, to which you add a prefix to make it perfective, zrobić), it is actually the perfective that is used the most, I think, both in the past, in the infinitive and in the (positive) imperative. Besides, most common adjectives derived from verbs are more "complicated", as they are derived from the perfective verb: jestem zmęczony, znudzony, przestraszony, ...
Ziemowit
So I was trying to encourage the learner to "give preference" to the perfective aspect in the process of learning. In other words, I was trying to tell him: "Try to think of the perfective as basic, while of the imperfective as rather peculiar (or less common).
This is what makes it difficult for a foreigner, and not only regarding verbs. While the first form people learn when starting a new language is the present tense -and therefore, imperfective in Polish - and usually the imperfective is the "basic" form as well (robić, to which you add a prefix to make it perfective, zrobić), it is actually the perfective that is used the most, I think, both in the past, in the infinitive and in the (positive) imperative. Besides, most common adjectives derived from verbs are more "complicated", as they are derived from the perfective verb: jestem zmęczony, znudzony, przestraszony, ...
Leopejo
3 Oct 2011
Study / Ever meet a non-Polish teacher at a Polish university? [15]
In my experience there are plenty of countries where there are almost exclusively native teachers; and plenty of others, where it's full of foreign teachers. As for reasons, I agree with teflcat (pay) and gumishu (language). I'd add a third, though I have no idea of Polish universities. In some countries, nepotism aside, the typical path to professorship is 1. student; 2. Ph.D. student, with teaching (and being the professor's slave) responsibilities; 3. teaching position; 4. professorship of some kind - all of these steps in the same university and under the wings of the same professor(s). In such a country, it's difficult to be a foreigner and apply for a teaching position, unless you have clearly better aces in your sleeve than the locals.
In my experience there are plenty of countries where there are almost exclusively native teachers; and plenty of others, where it's full of foreign teachers. As for reasons, I agree with teflcat (pay) and gumishu (language). I'd add a third, though I have no idea of Polish universities. In some countries, nepotism aside, the typical path to professorship is 1. student; 2. Ph.D. student, with teaching (and being the professor's slave) responsibilities; 3. teaching position; 4. professorship of some kind - all of these steps in the same university and under the wings of the same professor(s). In such a country, it's difficult to be a foreigner and apply for a teaching position, unless you have clearly better aces in your sleeve than the locals.
Leopejo
2 Oct 2011
Language / Polish filler words? [24]
Some people have an obsession with "nie?", used not as a question tag but as a filler in neuter intonation a couple of times per sentence.
Other people instead use the real question tag "prawda?", with stress and unusually long duration on the last syllable.
Some people have an obsession with "nie?", used not as a question tag but as a filler in neuter intonation a couple of times per sentence.
Other people instead use the real question tag "prawda?", with stress and unusually long duration on the last syllable.
Leopejo
28 Sep 2011
Food / Coffee in Poland: cheap and undrinkable / expensive and good [89]
Which coffeemaker type are you talking about? Italian moka or home espresso, I suppose, as using Lavazza for drip brewing wouldn't make sense.
As long as the coffee is of the right grind (moka or espresso for the respective machines), I haven't found much variation in quality between different brands. With a home espresso machine some brands tend to "clog" the machine and I avoid them. I haven't tried Tchibo yet though.
Which coffeemaker type are you talking about? Italian moka or home espresso, I suppose, as using Lavazza for drip brewing wouldn't make sense.
As long as the coffee is of the right grind (moka or espresso for the respective machines), I haven't found much variation in quality between different brands. With a home espresso machine some brands tend to "clog" the machine and I avoid them. I haven't tried Tchibo yet though.
Leopejo
27 Sep 2011
Language / Help me understand Polish imperfective vs perfective verbs? [64]
You are not the first to tell me that ;-D
you should be more careful Leopejo
You are not the first to tell me that ;-D
Leopejo
27 Sep 2011
Language / Help me understand Polish imperfective vs perfective verbs? [64]
Oops! What was I thinking? Shamelessly edited.
In addition, I wouldn't introduce iterative verbs to the OP, or he'll abandon Polish immediately... Imperfective vs. perfective should already keep him busy for some time.
For example zdawać egzamin means "to take an exam", while zdać egzamin "to pass an exam".
Oops! What was I thinking? Shamelessly edited.
In addition, I wouldn't introduce iterative verbs to the OP, or he'll abandon Polish immediately... Imperfective vs. perfective should already keep him busy for some time.
Leopejo
27 Sep 2011
Language / Help me understand Polish imperfective vs perfective verbs? [64]
To make it as simple as possible:
past, future, infinitive (to + verb):
- perfective means completing something one time: napisałem list, przeczytałem książkę - I wrote the letter, I read the book as in I completed reading it.
- imperfective means either being doing something, where the action is more important than the (attained or probably not attained) result, AND/OR when something is repeated: pisałem list, czytałem książke - I was writing a letter, I read a book (all day long)
present:
- you have only imperfective, as in the present you ARE doing something, you can't complete something exactly now.
imperative:
- as a very rough rule of thumb, positive imperatives are usually perfective, negative ones imperfective: zrób to! nie rób tego!
While one aspectual pair usually corresponds to one only verb in English, sometimes there are two different verbs in English, which might let you understand the difference better. For example zdawać egzamin means "to take an exam", while zdać egzamin "to pass an exam".
As for verb formation, it roughly goes like this:
- from a given imperfective (gotować) you get the perfective by adding a prefix (ugotować).
- you can also form other perfectives with other prefixes and with different meanings: przygotować
- the new perfective may in turn form imperfectives, often adding -yw-, -aw- or -ow-, as in przygotowywać
Though often imperfective/perfective pairs are formed otherwise. For example the imperfective might end in -ać and the perfective in -ić or -yć; other times in -ąć. Sometimes there are bigger changes, sometimes no relation at all (wziąć/brać, -kładać/-łożyć)
To make it as simple as possible:
past, future, infinitive (to + verb):
- perfective means completing something one time: napisałem list, przeczytałem książkę - I wrote the letter, I read the book as in I completed reading it.
- imperfective means either being doing something, where the action is more important than the (attained or probably not attained) result, AND/OR when something is repeated: pisałem list, czytałem książke - I was writing a letter, I read a book (all day long)
present:
- you have only imperfective, as in the present you ARE doing something, you can't complete something exactly now.
imperative:
- as a very rough rule of thumb, positive imperatives are usually perfective, negative ones imperfective: zrób to! nie rób tego!
While one aspectual pair usually corresponds to one only verb in English, sometimes there are two different verbs in English, which might let you understand the difference better. For example zdawać egzamin means "to take an exam", while zdać egzamin "to pass an exam".
As for verb formation, it roughly goes like this:
- from a given imperfective (gotować) you get the perfective by adding a prefix (ugotować).
- you can also form other perfectives with other prefixes and with different meanings: przygotować
- the new perfective may in turn form imperfectives, often adding -yw-, -aw- or -ow-, as in przygotowywać
Though often imperfective/perfective pairs are formed otherwise. For example the imperfective might end in -ać and the perfective in -ić or -yć; other times in -ąć. Sometimes there are bigger changes, sometimes no relation at all (wziąć/brać, -kładać/-łożyć)
Leopejo
26 Sep 2011
Language / Help me understand Polish imperfective vs perfective verbs? [64]
I don't know if the first two are very good examples. Chodzić and iść are both imperfective, though the first iterative. Ten koncert bardzo mi się spodoba would be future, wouldn't it?
Ola chodzi do szkoły. = Ola goes to school (attends regularly) vs. Ola idzie do szkoły. = Ola is going/walking to school (right now).
Klasyczna muzyka podoba mi się. = I enjoy classical music. (always) vs. Ten koncert bardzo spodoba mi się! = I really like this concert a lot!
Kot zawsze przemyka każdego wieczora. = The cat always flits by every evening. vs. Nagle przemyknął kot! = Suddenly, the cat flitted past!
Klasyczna muzyka podoba mi się. = I enjoy classical music. (always) vs. Ten koncert bardzo spodoba mi się! = I really like this concert a lot!
Kot zawsze przemyka każdego wieczora. = The cat always flits by every evening. vs. Nagle przemyknął kot! = Suddenly, the cat flitted past!
I don't know if the first two are very good examples. Chodzić and iść are both imperfective, though the first iterative. Ten koncert bardzo mi się spodoba would be future, wouldn't it?
Leopejo
24 Sep 2011
News / Damien Perquis Football player granted Polish citizenship insulted by the PIS ? [30]
I read yesterday in the newspaper that Poland ranks second lowest out of 30 countries (EU, USA, etc.) in immigrant rights. As an example, they brought out that in Poland a foreigner cannot be a candidate in any elections, nor can he vote in parliamentary elections. Only EU citizens, resident for more than three years in Poland, can vote in administrative elections.
I read yesterday in the newspaper that Poland ranks second lowest out of 30 countries (EU, USA, etc.) in immigrant rights. As an example, they brought out that in Poland a foreigner cannot be a candidate in any elections, nor can he vote in parliamentary elections. Only EU citizens, resident for more than three years in Poland, can vote in administrative elections.
Leopejo
24 Sep 2011
UK, Ireland / Why do so many Polish guys in the UK have a crew cut or buzz cut? [106]
In the rules I deviced some time ago on "how to recognize a Pole?", short hair is rule number one, as follows:
- almost all men have very short hair
- women too have short hair as soon as they turn some age (30?)
- some Poles will have a peculiarly Slavic hair cut: short hair, but with a strip of longer hair running down the whole back side of the head
- the above doesn't apply to artists and people in the entertainment industry.
;-)
In the rules I deviced some time ago on "how to recognize a Pole?", short hair is rule number one, as follows:
- almost all men have very short hair
- women too have short hair as soon as they turn some age (30?)
- some Poles will have a peculiarly Slavic hair cut: short hair, but with a strip of longer hair running down the whole back side of the head
- the above doesn't apply to artists and people in the entertainment industry.
;-)
Leopejo
18 Sep 2011
Language / Polish regional accents? [141]
According to Wikipedia (confirmed by other sources):
The change from the old pronunciation of ł to the modern one (like English w) predates WWII (or WWI?).
According to Wikipedia (confirmed by other sources):
The /w/ pronunciation dates back to the 16th century, first appearing among peasants. It was considered an uncultured accent until the mid-20th century when this stigma gradually began to fade. As of the early 2000s, /ɫ/ can still be used by some speakers of eastern Polish dialects, especially in Belarus and Lithuania.
Leopejo
16 Sep 2011
Life / Which sim card to buy in Poland? [30]
On topic for the thread title, off topic to the original request:
They suggested me to get a Play prepaid in two steps: first, get a Orange 5 zl prepaid, then change to Play prepaid keeping your Orange number, because Play gives you 60 (?) zl free sms/calls if you come from other operators. Can it be so easy or is there a trap somewhere?
On topic for the thread title, off topic to the original request:
They suggested me to get a Play prepaid in two steps: first, get a Orange 5 zl prepaid, then change to Play prepaid keeping your Orange number, because Play gives you 60 (?) zl free sms/calls if you come from other operators. Can it be so easy or is there a trap somewhere?
Leopejo
4 Sep 2011
Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]
I officially thank Wroclaw too, for the clear explanation.
I officially thank Wroclaw too, for the clear explanation.
Leopejo
4 Sep 2011
Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]
Ok, that makes sense.
In short: blocking the passage of pedestrians on the sidewalk/pavement is illegal.
Ok, that makes sense.
Leopejo
4 Sep 2011
Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]
Could someone explain the 1,5 meters from a building law?
Could someone explain the 1,5 meters from a building law?
Leopejo
4 Sep 2011
Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]
Because they love the place where they live. Which is also the reason why they criticize its bad sides.
Why don't they go back to where they came from?
Because they love the place where they live. Which is also the reason why they criticize its bad sides.
Leopejo
3 Sep 2011
Leopejo
3 Sep 2011
Travel / My trip to Krakow and its ups and downs. [70]
Who wouldn't, after the kind of answers he received?
Ah, but he started getting abusive afterwards.
Who wouldn't, after the kind of answers he received?
Leopejo
3 Sep 2011
Leopejo
31 Aug 2011
Language / Prefixes - resources (books?) describing ranges of meaning they add when deriving verbs [7]
I also suggest exploring the whole polish.slavic.pitt.edu/
Can you provide a link? Thanks.
I also suggest exploring the whole polish.slavic.pitt.edu/
Leopejo
30 Aug 2011
Language / Prefixes - resources (books?) describing ranges of meaning they add when deriving verbs [7]
Most grammars of Polish should at the very least have a table with the most common meanings of each prefix. For example O.E.Swan's legally downloadable "A grammar of contemporary Polish", from page 281 on.
Besides most textbooks, at least if advanced and/or focusing on verbs, do address the issue.
Most grammars of Polish should at the very least have a table with the most common meanings of each prefix. For example O.E.Swan's legally downloadable "A grammar of contemporary Polish", from page 281 on.
Besides most textbooks, at least if advanced and/or focusing on verbs, do address the issue.
Leopejo
19 Aug 2011
Language / Tips on learning the Polish language! [25]
Uczę się...
Się uczę polskiego na uniwersytecie
Uczę się...
Leopejo
21 Apr 2011
UK, Ireland / Holding a British passport. Married a Polish woman. Applying for Polish passport? [21]
On the Certyfikat Polski website it mentions a few other cases, though nothing in relation with citizenship:
* Employers may require a B1 certificate in jobs where the language is needed (health care, nurses, etc.).
* For a job in Civil Service a B2 certificate is required.
* B1 or B2 may be required by Universities, at least to avoid preparatory courses.
* A licence for "real estate business activity" is granted only with the submission of the C2 certificate.
(see: certyfikatpolski.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=114&lang=en)
But yes, in case knowledge of the language became a requirement, the certification exam would be the way to go. At the moment exams at B1, B2 and C2 levels are offered.
On the Certyfikat Polski website it mentions a few other cases, though nothing in relation with citizenship:
* Employers may require a B1 certificate in jobs where the language is needed (health care, nurses, etc.).
* For a job in Civil Service a B2 certificate is required.
* B1 or B2 may be required by Universities, at least to avoid preparatory courses.
* A licence for "real estate business activity" is granted only with the submission of the C2 certificate.
(see: certyfikatpolski.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=114&lang=en)
But yes, in case knowledge of the language became a requirement, the certification exam would be the way to go. At the moment exams at B1, B2 and C2 levels are offered.