Given that some immigrants/expats/whatever have lived here for decades and speak nothing else at home, plus read books, write lectures and function entirely in Polish for long periods, you bet right, people do "know the alphabet". And yes, some people here "really speak it". It isn't exactly an obscure or rarely learnt language like Basque, Wymysorys or Caucasian Gothic.
First there is no such thing as learning or studying Polish "easily" unless your first language is another Slavic language.
Your first language and any foreign languages you know and your learning style all have to be taken into consideration.
What are your languages (native and learned) and how do you learn things? (are you more analytic? intuitive? can you make inference or do you want everything to be explicit?
Learning a language such as Polish, unlike French, Spanish, even basic German, requires nearly monastic concentration and almost laser focus, especially at the beginning!
Whereas with certain of the above three other languages I mentioned, it's remotely possible to pick up the occasional vocabulary, phrases etc. while, say, listening on a CD while in the shower, over morning coffee, driving to work or some such deal, Polish ain't gonna afford most such luxury of learning leisure:-)
For a rank novice such as what most beginners are, I'd stress simple yet consistent dictation practice, right from day one!!! Like calisthenics for dine tuning one's body, dictations will strengthen your comprehension as well as oral skills at the very start, Slavic sounds often being so, so different from Western ones.
Mind-numbingly repetitive as this advice sounds, it worked for me, as no other language actually prepared me for the Haunted House ride that was Polish until at least a year of serious study.
If you're an aboslute beginner, you can also try labeling certain basic objects in your house/apartment in Polish, for instance ściana" (wall), "drzwi" (door), "stół" (table),"krzesło" (chair) etc. and this way everyday things will become anchored in your brain:-)
Good idea but should be expanded. In a notebook (or on the computer) set up different categories: family members, vehicles, fruits, livestock, wildlife, buildings, occupations, emotiosn, ideologies, countries, -- the sky is the limit. And as you run across a new word add it to the proper column. That is an excellent way of vocabualry building.
Agree, Polonius! Furthermore, it goes without saying that such labels should ONLY contain the Polish word, zero translation, otherwise the poor learner will continue to do little but keep translating back into their native language and won't really learn to think in Polish:-)
Famous Russian-American language buff/pedagogue, Boris Shekman, just passed yesterday. What I as a career language instructor found fascinating in his obit. was his method of getting ordinary Joes, along with top US-diplomats, to converse in "real" colloquial Russian, something they never learned in college courses.
He stressed the "be thrown into cold water head first" approach, that is, being tossed into a solely target-language speaking situation where NOBODY speaks or understands English.
That's called the Berlitz total-immersion method. At lunch if you don't say "Darf ich um den Pfeffer bitten" or "Czy można poprosić o pieprz" you eat a bland and insipid lunch. Or find yourself a non-English-speaking girlfriend which is doubly motivaitng. You don't want to come off as a moron so you really try. Except that their wives didn't appreciate such advice! (LOL)
Two semesters at grad school behind me, knew squat before I went over to the country, and had a good enough accent I guess so that literally NOONE in all of Goteborg spoke to me in English for nearly the entire week of my initial stay:-) My conversational ability took off like a rocket and remains fairly active until today.
By the time I got to Poland, some ten years later, I was savvy enough to have learned both the language as well as the basics of the culture. There though, the difference was that I had to communicate in Polish as nobody in Szczcecin at the time would even admit to speaking English (or German)!
Speak Polish with the Mrs, English with our son and German, French and Russian with others as needed. And when I'm back in Polonia I say things like: Nasza nejberka klinuje ofisy, a jej mąż wczoraj zostawił karę na hajłeju bo mu gazoliny zabrakło. Also: Bojsy się fajtują na sajdłoku. 'Oh yes, I speak Swahili with the "daughter" your guru LL claims we've got (LOL)!
Nasza nejberka klinuje ofisy, a jej mąż wczoraj zostawił karę na hajłeju bo mu gazoliny zabrakło. Also: Bojsy się fajtują na sajdłoku.
I find it quite amusing. But a Polish person who doesn't know English will find it uncomprehensible.
That reminds me of those Silesians who speak Silesian with many German words in it and claim it is a Silesian language. Likewise, many non-Silesian people may not understand it, but I doubt it will be the Silesian language because of those German words in it.
It's called "Ponglish". Nobody calls it "Angielpolski". I know you are an expert about "all things Polish" but sadly you're mistaken (yet again...).
To someone who loves Polish it sounds awful. I can just imagine it sounds same for Anglophones. Ponglish basically is a mutilation of both languages that together create that abberation.
Indeed it does! For this reason, I "go ballistic", as the saying goes, whenever I read your, Crow's, Ironside's or Wulkan's English-language posts because they are typically littered with mistakes which they claim are not important:-) I at least admit to error when I'm at fault, even in my mother tongue(s).
Learning correct English requires the same degree of diligence as learning Polish. The former being an analytic language, simply reduced the morphological complexity of a language like Polish.
As I've often said, another excellent learning aid is watching Polish TV without English subtitles, but instead, with Polish captions in order to see what the speakers are saying!!
@Delph, thanks! I meant to indicate with "Silesian" any and all formerly German-speaking regions of Poland in which spillover loan translation words were/are still used.
I've done same for other languages and it really works.
Crow's, Ironside's or Wulkan's English-language posts because they are typically littered with mistakes which they claim are not important:
all those three speak/write excellent English. Have to agree with Notty here. It seems really provincial and arrogant to complain about this kind of learner making a few errors.
In Montréal there is a sign on a cemetery fence: Défense de trépasser as a translation of No trespassing. In normal French it means "no dying allowed".
There you go! Such faux amis are the stuff which make language learning both fun and practical.
I must have mentioned my own similar (yet less invasive) false friend pickle I found myself in when in Czech Republic some years back, whereupon I totally innocently remarked, thinking in Polish, that I thought my host's beer was stale and that his house smelled:-)
Both never quite got over that one, but rest assured, yours truly never made the same mistake AGAIN!!!
@NoToForeigners, Sir, you are nothing other than a contrarian. Certainly my Polish could stand continued improvement, yet so could the English of both yourself and some others here on PF. DIfference being that I'm grateful for correction, while you aren't.
DIfference being that I'm grateful for correction, while you aren't.
Rofl. How do you even know that? You have never tried to do it. Never seen you trying to explain things to the three you mentioned either. All you do is trying to insist that mine and the others English is poor by pointing out our errors which in fact are considered just minor by many Anglophones even in this thread while making HUGE and FUNDAMENTAL errors in Polish that make you barely understandable (like basically translating from Polish word-to-word. "Jaki jest kolor bluzka?" or "Prętkość nie oznaczy jakości").
I really doubt that Crow or any one else of the three would have any problems with "What color is that blouse?" and wouldn't ever confuse "Speed doesn't mean quality" with "Speed won't mark quality".
