Hello catsoldier! I have been away from this forum for a long time. Yep, you're quite right, I did do my GCSE Polish, but ended up with a terrible Grade D.
I suppose it wasn't that bad considering I didn't have a teacher and it was all self taught! Ok, I did receive help here and from my polish mates, but, I'm off to London again next May/June to do it all again...
My biggest problem is the writing part, particularly with verbs. I never know if I should be using Perfect or Imperfect...
Anyway, how's the forum been?
Chrzaszczbrzmi (I was formally 'Chrzaszcz' but I had to re-register..).
Well done for remembering I was doing GCSE though!
Hi Robal. anyway, the only help I received with the Speaking part, was to download the information from AQA website I'm afraid. All I know, is that you prepare 3 1-minue presentations based on fthe our topics they outline (from the Specification), or any topic you chose. I chose My family, Hobbies, and Work. The examiner then asks specific questions on your topic. The AQA website does have a list of 'potential' questions they may ask. Unfortunately, I just ran out of time with the preparation. At any rate, for the Speaking part I got a Grade C.
Hope this helps.
I did do the GCSE Polish this year - ended up with a Grade D, but it was all self taught...
Polish is very hard, a grade D isn't so bad, you passed the exam, you are only one of a very few who have done a Polish exam I imagine. The rest of us can tell ourselves that we know more than we do without being found out :-)
Any test I have every done has shown me how little polish I know.
Anyway, how's the forum been?
I think that it there is less happening now for people wanting to learn Polish, I think a lot of the really helpful contributors to the Polish language section have left. There are of course exceptions, some people here are still very helpful.
I remember, I got to my examination centre in London (I had commute by train (3 hour journey) three times for each part of the exam - I live over 200 miles away in the North West - now there's commitment for you - *wink*.
There were approximately 30 students (all polish). Only myself and another chap were English nationals; that was interesting to note.
still, I have another go next year. Tell me, how do you know Polish so well?
I had commute by train (3 hour journey) three times for each part of the exam
That was hard work. If it was me I would stay overnight in London before the exam.
Tell me, how do you know Polish so well?
To be honest I don't know Polish well. When I write on the internet or Polish forums I spend a lot of time thinking about how I am going to write a sentance or question, I check dictionaries and the internet. It is a lot of work to write a few sentances, even then there are a lot of errors. What I do know has taken me years to learn.
My Polish exams were spread over May and June and had to take three separate trips to London. Luckily it was possible for me to stay at my sister's house on all occasions.
sounds like you're very determined to success in Polish. Did you study linguistics?
I was asking a Polish colleague today about Perfective / Imperfective / Conditional verbs ... and will not get the better of me ....
At any rate, I'll need to get a better grasp of it for my GCSE retake next May!!!
At any rate, I'll need to get a better grasp of it for my GCSE retake next May!!!
Best of luck with that. There is an exam for foreigners in Poland also if you are interested. I think that you could do one of the levels.
buwiwm.edu.pl/index.htm
I was asking a Polish colleague today about Perfective / Imperfective / Conditional verbs ... and will not get the better of me ....
I think that you should ask a teacher of Polish rather than a colleague because most Poles don't know Polish grammar just as I don't know English grammar. With a teacher you could probably progress very fast with your Polish as you seem like a person willing to put in the work and focus on a goal.
sounds like you're very determined to success in Polish. Did you study linguistics?
I can't say that I am determined because I study very little, if you were my father you would say that I didn't open a book. I don't open my books often.
I do what I like which isn't always successful, watching films mostly., I don't like grammar books, school/classes etc. Homework gives me stress.
I did do my GCSE Polish, but ended up with a terrible Grade D.
Congratulations!!! Considering you taught yourself, i would say you've done well. IT's a really hard language to learn as everybody on here knows. I certainly wouldn't even attempt GCSE Polish! Don't be so hard on yourself.
My biggest problem is the writing part, particularly with verbs. I never know if I should be using Perfect or Imperfect...
... "if I shoud be using Perfective or Imperfective" is the right formulation and this difference is very imortant, though it may seem minor to many.
Personally, I would vote for the importance of listening (and speaking) compehension in learning a foreign language. That's what I did for learning English a long time ago. However, this exercize should be accompanied by memorizing the entire passages. Memorizing should be done from listening, not from reading, which means looking into the written text. It should be done systematically, but not too much volume at one go. When you master the passage, you may then try to write down what you've learned and what you've remebered. For the human mind, listening and speaking is much more intrinsic than reading and writing. The latter is the invention of culture, the former arises from our biology and evolution and was invented by Mother Nature. Repeating is essential for internalizing the foreign language.
For the last several years, I've been learning French mostly through reading and quite rarely through listening. When I went to France this year, I did get on well, but I was annoyed by not being able to formulate my sentences instantly and without the perfect rythm and intonation proper to the language. On my return to Poland, I decided to start learning French in a different way: I watch and listen to the news in French or French films just trying to concentrate on the rythm and intonation of the language, not even trying to understand what is being said. And imagine: words and meanings come to me by themselves; I begin to grasp the forms of words that I come across for the first time ever (later on, I check them in a French monolingual dictionary), all this without even trying to "hear" words or structures in the speech. All this seems to come up naturally and effortlessly when I am well "de-concentrated" on the meaning of the words and phrases being uttered.
In a year, I hope to build up a sufficient collection of words and phrases to be able to pick what I need of them in a given context instantly, without hesitation and with the rythm and intonation characteristic for a French sentence. Will I succeed? One never knows ...
French is easy compared to Polish. In fact, French is easy compared to virtually any language except Spanish. It's just a shame I don't like the French (though I like the Suisses Romands and love the Walloons) - gimme Poles and their awful language any day!
I've always found it easy though I know Poles (and others) who just can't get their heads around the grammar. Also Poles who (incredibly) don't (or pretend not to) like the food and the people.
Thanks for your comment. Yeah, I was hoping to scrape a C. At any rate, I'm starting to re-learn the 14-page list of vocabulary which I didn't complete memorising (perhaps that's why the grade). I believe that was the main problem - if you don't know the words, one will struggle.
Luckily, I do have a few good Polish friends who gave me a lot of help preparing for the Speaking part. For that section I managed a C! It was the writing part where I struggled. I am not quite proficient in using the correct case endings for nouns, indeed, not grasping which case to use!!!!! I think in my exam, I used an awful lot of dictionary-form (would that be the nominative case????) words - peppered with a few accusatives I think.
Anyway, thanks for your kind comments.
chrzaszczbrzmi
thanks ziemonit!
for myself, I do struggle with memorising words/phrases which are spoken. From experience, I find it much easier to visualise the word or phrase, and see it as a sort of 'picture'. I had a Polish mate in England. He professed a good grasp of English. In conversation, when coming across a new word, he would ask me to say it twice or three times and he remembered. He, for some reason, could not remember the word 'nurse'. He would always ask me to to repeat over and over.... Mind you, the polish word is just as difficult for myself!
are you Polish? I admire your perseverence with French (Zut alhors!). I really didn't take to French or German. I got a Certificate in Japanese (really quite basic stuff), and writing Hiragana/Katatana. Russian too. Again basic level, but I do like dipping into languages, and being hit with linguistic nuances and 'false friends'. Only last year I discovered that the French word for 'paperclip' is Trombone (picture of the instrument).
French must be easy for the English. English is French spoken badly. By learning French the English get the chance to speak their language properly.
English was a Germanic language before the Norman invasion FYI and is closest to Friesian, with French words added later, was that comment just a wind up or what?
I took a look at that Polish GSCE, bit of joke putting Polish kids in for it to raise the school's results rreally.
When I did my GCSE Polish this year, in London, there were approx 25 school kids (Polish) with myself doing the exam. They looked so nervous though! I was told that they do this exam - most get As and A*s - a year early, so they get a decent GCSE under their belt before the other 10 they do the following year.
Yeah, and it probably does look good on school league tables!
chrzaszczbrzmi
French must be easy for the English. English is French spoken badly. By learning French the English get the chance to speak their language properly.
...I'm still thinking on this one! I'm intrigued!!!
French must be easy for the English. English is French spoken badly. By learning French the English get the chance to speak their language properly.
Where to start with that one??/ A LMAO would be rude but genuine :) There are words adapted from early *french* in use in English,beyond that there is very little to compare the languages. English,as Roz has already stated most definatly did NOT come from french but from more germanic roots with a mix of *celtic* Brithonic and later Norse making far more of an impact on the language than French.
The french spoken at the time of the Norman invasions was mostly confined to the Court and *high sociaty* (and would also be hard for most modern french speakers to understand),the French speakers became English speakers over time in the same way a Polish speaker in 19 th century America would eventually speak English but still include some Polish or mock polish phrases and words, terms for Foof for instance, kilebasa instead of sausage,that sort of thing, it has added to the American English language but hasnt exactly made it simple for most Americans to speak Polish outside ordering in a deli :)
They looked so nervous though! I was told that they do this exam - most get As and A*s - a year early, so they get a decent GCSE under their belt before the other 10 they do the following year.
I imagine that some of them have been in the UK for a while which would affect their confidence a little about doing well in the exam. They wouldn't have as much practice reading and writing Polish as someone who has just come from a school in Poland.
French must be easy for the English. English is French spoken badly. By learning French the English get the chance to speak their language properly.
...I'm still thinking on this one! I'm intrigued!!!
I wrote this as an answer to the English persons who replied how easy French is for them. The quote "English is French spoken badly" has been taken from the PF where someone once put it as a saying by a known English writer whose name I've forgotten. According to estimates, some 50 % of the contemporary English vocabulary is of Norman origin.
Are you Polish? I admire your perseverence with French
I am Polish living in Poland. Perseverence is the right word in learning a foreign language.
For myself, I do struggle with memorising words/phrases which are spoken. From experience, I find it much easier to visualise the word or phrase, and see it as a sort of 'picture'.
IMHO, it is a very good method. That's what I did all the time when I was learning English, but it is what I tend to forget these days when I learn French. For example, I didn't remember the words coquille and escargot when I once saw them isolated in contexts other than the most typical one for them: coquille de l'escargot.
I wish you good luck with your perseverance in learning Polish, although perseverence has little to do with luck, and luck has little to do with perseverance.
thanks for your kind comments. I misunderstood your "French/English" comments. It was more a case of half a story on my part.
I am still perservering with Polish. I've got an excellent book by Diana Bielec "Basic Polish - A Grammar Workbook". There's an awful lot of content in this book, but slowly working through it is doing the trick.
You must be fairly good a French too?! All these Polish users here seem to be pretty fluent in English. I just wish I was just the same in Polish - but I will still try...
Which is more difficult to learn? English or French? and Why?
Merged: Tips for the GCSE Polish Language Oral Exam (United Kingdom National Qualification)
Hi, I was hoping that there are some AQA GCSE Polish Students / Former Students on PolishForums that may be able to help me.
I have my oral (speaking) mock tomorrow, and the official exam the following week. As I am not a native Polish speaker (only been learning for approx. 2 years), I am understandably quite worried about how the exam will go. I can speak reasonably good Polish, however I think that the exam will be based less on conversational language, and more on a textbook style language. Unfortunately, I still haven't managed to master the grammar at all, and in certain situations I end up using the wrong word ending/conjugation. I haven't been given the exact theme yet, but if it is anything like previous years (and other courses) I expect it to be based on either 'Lifestyle- Health, Relationships and Choices' or 'Leisure- Free Time, Media and Holidays'.
I would be extremely greatful if somebody that is studying/has studied this course could give me a few pointers in regard to what kind of questions will be asked, and some exemplar answers. Also, If anybody has any general pointers for the exam then they would be greatly appreciated.
With other languages there seem to be textbooks specifically written for the exams. With the Polish GCSE exam it is proving very difficult for me to find a textbook that is geared specifically towards the exam board's test.
I wrote to AQA, but they have told me that they can't make any textbook recommendations. Great.
From browsing the forum I know that some of you have done this exam. Just looking for textbook recommendations.
Hey Otomcio, the following textbooks are all recommended learning material from AQA.
· Ewa Lipińska, Z polskim na ty, Universitas, Kraków 2006 · Magdalena Szelc-Mays,Coś wam powiem, Universitas, Kraków 2002 · Ewa Lipińska,Nie ma róży bez kolców, Unversitas, Krakow 1999 · Piotr Lewiński, Oto polska mowa, Wrocław 2001 · Izabela Kmietowicz, Tematy cz. A, B, C, PMS, Londyn · Izabela Kmietowicz, Tam w moim kraju, PMS, Londyn · Barbara O'Driscoll, Ćwiczenia z języka polskiego, cz. III, cz. IV, PMS, Londyn · Ewa Lipińska, Anna Seretny, ABC metodyki nauczania języka polskiego jako obcego, Universitas
