Advice needed for learning Polish Language

I would like some tips for learning the Polish language. I have been trying to learn Polish on my own for some time now, but I would like to know some effective ways to approach learning this language.

There is a lot of information already on the forum in the language threads.
Have a look at these threads and use the search function.

https://polishforums.com/language/collection-learning-resources-31442/

https://polishforums.com/language/useful-tips-learning-48719/

https://polishforums.com/language/learning-links-8328/2/

Merged: How to learn polish? (I'm a young teen)

Hello! I'm 14 years old living in Tokyo, Japan. I love Polish literature and I watch a lot of polish movies with subs. I can speak English, (My family is from America) Japanese, and a bit of spanish. I'm half Japanese. I just joined the forum and I've heard so many stories of Polish being really difficult and I wanted some advice on how to learn Polish. Being younger I don't know if I'll pick it up easier but I would really love to learn Polish and any advice please post it! I have been watching YouTube videos to pick up the pronunciation. It's very hard and to a English native it looks almost like someone mashed random buttons on the keyboard. I would love help from any native speaker ^^ or experiences from learners. Thank you.

Here you have a list of Polish language courses in Tokyo:
tokio.msz.gov.pl/en/bilateral_cooperation/education/language_courses/tokio_jp_a_181

Basically in learning languages the most important is strong will and regular work for few years. If it's your first foreign language, then I don't know if it has sense to start learning it completely by yourself. Check if you can attend classes in some school and if yes then start learning additionally by your own at home.

Also Polish language is useful only in Poland, so it doesn't have much sense to learn in if you don't plane to come living here.

Hi Mayumi. Have you thought about studying in Poland? I guess you know Polish quite ok if you watch Polish films. I assume you know enough Polish to study in Poland. Of course you'll need a Polish course. Did you go to Polish classes in Tokyo? I took a Polish course at polish course. It was quite demanding as it was an intensive course. But it was fun and really helpful. Thanks to it I understood almost everything at the university ;) In case you consider studying in Poland, remember that there are a lot of expats in Poland and the expat community is pretty cool.

Hey there! How's it going?
My name is Kate ( Kasia ) and I'm 28 years old polish native speaker. I graduated Academy of Fine Arts in Poland. I'm going to spend 3 months in Tokyo ( may, june, july ). If You are interested in polish intense course just let me know ! my mail : k.stangrecka@gmail

Merged:

Smarti Words for learning Polish and other different languages

How can you begin to learn new language, especially if you are expat? It is very essential for searching the job or beginning of the study. For me it"s difficult to start with the grammar, much easier to start with memorizing of words. I tried different applications and even initially began with writing the words just on the notebook. Which applications can you recommend? As for me, now I use Smarti Words. May be someone else here use this application? Or anything else which you can reccommend.

As you start acquiring more vocabulary to add to the growing arsenal of grammar aka structure you're naturally learning, I must repeat that watching popular, contemporary movies IN Polish with Polish subtitles instead of English or whatever your mother tongue, will increase your listening comprehension, in the end,

basic fluency, by leaps and bounds:-)

Very good advice. I think that TV soaps such as Klan or AN Other are even better in some ways than film. Short 30 minute bursts with questions and imperatives. Conversational management.

Wholeheartedly concure, Dougpol1! Main thing is hearing the native language 24/7, particularly at the very outset of your studies.

Powodzenia:-) Good luck!

Bingo! That is why I saw no benefit from clinging to Polish in "America". I mean zero.

Contact with Poland need never be limited to physically being in the country itself nowadays!
Ever heard of Skype??

I don't have anyone in Poland anymore.

Surely distant relations, aquaintances, enemies etc.....

Seriously though, when I first started out learning Polish, even before any formal instruction, I would label objects in our apartment, "sciana" (wall), "lampa" (lamp).

"stol" (table), "krzeslo" (chair), "obrus" (table cloth), "drzwi" (door), even the "podloga" (floor).

This reinforced instantaneous cognitive recognition of basic, everyday objects like a charm!
:-)

The craziest part of the languages like Polish is the lack of logic. Try to explain to an American why stol (table) is masculine while noga (leg) that is part of that very same table is feminine. But it gets worse. Krzeslo (chair) right next to that table is, guess what, neither. It's to. Nie ten, nie ta. It's to.

Same with ANY gender-driven/case imbued aka inflected language, Rich!

Don't let's confuse grammatical vs. natural or biological gender assignment, 'cuz for the former, there AIN'T no logic:-)
"Dzien" (day) though does tend to follow the general rule for most Indo-European tongues which assign the masculine gender
to the concept of "day" as opposed to "noc" (night) which is nearly always feminine. The day is normally associated with a masculine
god, whereas the "queen of the night" in legend, is never anything but a woman.

Go figureLOL

Which is stooopid. This and the other examples.
No wonder I had to leave Poland.

Here is the explanation:
- the majority of masculine nouns end in a consonant: stół
- the majority of feminine nouns end in -a: noga

The majority doesn't mean "all of them" (special explanation to AmAms).


No, it doesn't get worse:
- the majority of neutral nouns end either in -o or in -e: krzesło


No wonder that nobody shed a tear after you.

Sarcasm and obstinance won't help you learn a language! Ethnocentrism is the enemy of learning.

In every European language I know or with which I am passingly familiar (and that's quite a lot), German, Polish, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch etc., the word for "day" is ALWAYS masculine.

Language learning often requires a knowledge of both mythology as well as linguistics, and as an adult learner especially, merely combing through a textbook, listening to movies with Polish subtitles, will only help.....SLOOOOOWWWLLY!!!

:-)

Bingo, Ziemowit!

Explanation how to recognize is not the same as justify.
What you did was gave a quick course how the noun genders can be spotted. Illogical and stupid is still illogical and stupid.

No, Ziemowit gave a nicely cursory overview of what is expected in the Polish language. Rules aren't "stupid", merely those too stubborn to attempt to understand them!

"Stupid" stands for more complicated than necessary just because...
If English can become the world's primary language without getting into the sex life of the kitchen table, any language that must is, therefore, inferior. Or like dziura and patyk.

Same with the 26-letter alphabet that has just one a, c, and one z instead of three.

Languages don't have to follow the logic. Take double negative etc.

Orthography of English is a prime example how something can be both stupid, illogical and yet works decently fine.
Englishs' dominance in the world of science has as much to do with politics as with its "superiority"

That is the sort of comment someone makes when they don't understand something. If what you say is true and you are originally from Poland, my guess is that you never got to grips with the grammar and stuck your head in the sand with the attitude of " It's too hard, I can't do it, therefore I don't like it".

Teenagers often display this type of attitude.
Personally, I find it staggering that you apparently lived In PL until your early twenties, and have 'forgotten' the language completely.
There is nothing illogical about the language, you just have to learn the rules and apply them correctly. Of course, there will always be exceptions to the rules, but this is probably the same for most languages.

I never got to grips? How do you graduate from a high school and, then, from Politechnika without it? Would you want me to post my diploma again?

What the Polish linguistic super patriots here cannot accept is that, like with every single thing out there, nothing is ever equal. Including languages. As an adult, I had a first-hand experience with both; English is head-and-shoulders easier and better. While in Holland, I tried German. I might as well go for Chinese.

I didn't spend five minutes studying English in Poland or in the US. I did Russian because I had to and, like a fool, Latin because I was told it would be good for me - in case they want to make a pope, I guess.

Yet, after I retired, I wrote a book. It's on Amazon. It was ripped by the stupid libs for its contents but not because it was written in bad English, clearly by a foreigner.

The lesson here remains that it's always better nevertheless to learn to communicate effectively in the target language of the country in which you are a resident, because

relying on the public relations impression of "fluent" English in the end is like a trompe l'oeil; it looks like a door, but when you get close to try to open it, you realize it's nothing more than a (frustrating) mirage:-)

lol

I went through all the stages. I remember how scared I was making my first phone call in "America". Now, they can't shut me up because I am way past being merely effective. I actually enjoy my self-taught proficiency the same way as some enjoy playing piano to the point of not being afraid to do it publicly.

American English is music to my ears. Polish, with all those czcze, chszaszcz (?) and kurwa, is torture.
Sorry. I forgot Szczecin.

American English with all our barely distinguishable vowel combos, slurred consonants allowing words to run together to the point of virtual unrecognizability, not to mention all but untranslatable verbal short hand isn't torture for Poles as well??

"Difficulty" cuts both ways, my man, and don't you believe the politically correct adulation abroad of American English.

It's like Dillinger himself is quoted as saying before the Feds busted him: "I go where the money is!"

AMERICA = MONEYLAND!!! End of speech:-)

I gave you examples of my torture. Give me some examples of what is torture to the Poles.

Both American English and real English has been massively downgraded recently by the youngsters habit of mumbling.
Too lazy to open their mouths and actually speak!