How to remember Polish words?

I'm having trouble remembering Polish words I learn. Like, I'll see a word, have no idea what it is, look it up and then realize that I knew it all along. Does anyone know any websites or tips that help you remember? For example Black=charred=czarny/czarna.

Or do I just have to do repetition?

Also when you have ę at the end of a word how do you pronounce it? And the same with y - is it eh or ee?

I've been trying to teach myself Polish. It's fun but hard (and confusing) so I appriciate any help. Thanks/Dziękuję :)

Similar to the sound /i/ in, for example, the word hit.


You can learn words while using them in practice. You can learn the whole groups of worlds, related etymologically, thematically, by association, or you can put them on cards with the English equivalents on one side and with the Polish words on the other. First of all, you must have motivation and patience.

hi madelin
im sure i will be corrected, but it is just a cse of repatition, i too am learning polish on my own and your right it is hard. as for the ę, it is pronounced 'en' although when my polish cousin speaks it, it sounds more like 'enw'. the 'y' is pronounced 'ee'.

any corrections greatly recieved.
you can achieve a lot by going over some of the other relevant posts here.

chaza

The best method I've worked out so far is to assocciate the actual word to its imagination in my mind as hard as I can. The trick is to forget its "intermediary", that is its English meaning, almost completely. For example, you should repeteadly try to associate 'czarny' with the colour itself rather than associate it with the English word 'black'. The method takes some time and effort, but it works. After a time, the image of an object will provoke an easy "coming up" of its name in a given foreign language.

There are a lot of such words in my vocabulary of English. Most of them I acquired while living in Britain with my English friends for a while. One of them them is the verb "to splash". The association was so strong that to this very day - about 20 years have passed since then - I feel the verb as one with which I am much more "familiar" than with its counterpart in my native language. There are, of course, English words that I have learned in Poland; in the process of remembering them I was using my imagination which this way "replaced" a stay in a foreign country.

For me, as another adult foreign learner, hearing and then using words or expressions in contextwas key. Movies were (and still are) a boon. I watched "Popiół i Diamanty" (without subtitles) years ago while I was studying Polish. One of the characters was speaking and said "No, tak czy owak." I was able to listen to the context and made a mental note of it. I then tried to visualize the context in which I saw as well as heard this phrase applied. Sure enough, when the time came to use among native speakers my first time in Poland, I got it right!

Try mnemonic techniques. My co-teacher wrote a Master's paper on the efficacy of them and I corrected it. She was exploring them for English words but also had a small chapter on Polish words. Go with associations. It's like a PIN number, you have some kind of mechanism to remember. I can recall the musical notes EGBDF. Every Good Boy Deserves Football (or Fanny was the adult version, LOL). Seriously, mnemonic techniques work for many.

Seanus, sort of like 'pełny' sounds a little like a Brit pronouncing the English 'pony', or something like that and remembering a new word this way? Or do you mean more direct phonemic association(s)?

Maybe snooty folk pronounce it that way ;)

Whatever works, Lyzko :) They are versatile as a tool.

Iwona

Enter the word pełny into the box and then press czytaj.
Also wiktionary.
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pełny

It sounds like pełny funnily enough :)

Try with a clothes peg on your nose.

[Moved from]: Add (Polish words) to favourites

Polish TV is broadcasting from time to time public-sevice messages urging people to add to favourites (dodaj do ulubionych) time-honoured Polish word that are being forgotten. As examples they give serwus, birbant, etc. This seems a backlash against the contamination of Polish with all the wows, sorki, high fives, dwa w jednym and other Anglo-crapola.

My favourite word is 'Foka'. We were at the zoo and I love to say 'Look at that stupid foka.'

The mention of foka reminds me of how some Poles pronounce the English word sheet. For instance in a hotel they migth say: 'I'd like sheet in my bed.'

Label everything (nouns) in Polish. Label your lamp 'LAMPA' and your table 'STO£.' It takes a bit of time to do. My mother did it for me in French and English when I was little... and I'm doing it at 22 as an adult. Might seem childish, but it totally works. :D I think it's picture association... taking out the English words work the best. :D When you see the item, look at the card and say the word (out loud, or not) it will just pop up in your head eventually!

I used to have the exact same problem with English words. It'll pass.

"How to remember Polish words"
Good advice FOR MAN is to open video with a beatiful woman and try to translate it. The best is DVD with Polish subscriptions.
Footage from YT: CHCĘ ZOBACZYĆ WSZYSTKO
[3 x W dot]youtube.com/watch?v=LpKRftoEr7M

I wasn't expecting her to give us a link to a film, I thought that the horses in the background were going to do something and that she wanted to watch. Marta Żmuda Trzebiatowska chce zobaczyć wszystko.

I was a little disappointed that did didn't happen because it would have been funny.

In the feature film, did they end up together in the end? I watched the film but I don't know :-)

Film
chcezobaczycwszystko.net

She loves horses, she loves riding. Probably that's why she was caught at the stud where she stays frequently.


Well... The last boy's lines means: "Just don't grab my nose"
Marta's character is very misterious and I really don't know what to thing about her.

"Snooty" Brits?? That's a good one there, Seanus old man. Spoken like a dyed-in-the wool Scot. Rock on, laddieLOL

So true. Undoubtedly the average Brit sounds more like Russel Crow in everyday speech than Alan Corduner in 'Topsy-Turvey', what?
:-)

When I learned a few nouns (statek, samalot, pociąg) I read them and said them out loud with their English counterpart (before bed). Repetition works the best for me, but of course, it is very boring

for me using that word in a sentence in real life(with Poles) helped cement it into my memory.