Language / How hard is it to learn Polish? [178]


I'd hate Polish to use only U or only Ż and dispense with Ó and RZ. Or even, more drastically, to write devoiced consonants as such: 'tesz' for też, 'pszepraszam', 'buk' for buk, Bóg and Bug.

I do actually like the Polish ortography - I personally prefer it to Czech or Croat, for example. Not to talk about those ugly Cyrillizations of a language which doesn't suit (anymore) to Cyrillic.

Language / How hard is it to learn Polish? [178]

Nah, if you know Russian well you will learn it very fast, as both are quite similar both for grammar and lexicon. All those mysterious word changes (D -> D-, T -> Ć, R -> RZ,...) will make sense in view of the palatalizing rules of Russian, as when adding -Е in the locative case.

I'd suggest to use resources in Russian for Russians, as they will probably bring out well the differences between the two languages.

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]

What a discussion came out! Thank you all.

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]


Your examples are exactly how I thought it.

Strange only that also my Polish friend would have said kieliszek instead of kieliszka.

She adds she lately heard on television: "to co..napijemy się kieliszeczek naleweczki?"

Language / cookery, word usage question [19]


Not only in Poland.

Language / How similar is the Italian accent to the Polish accent (when speaking English)? [34]

Polish and Italian both use quite open vowels and are mostly stressed on the penultimate syllable. I find both very "normal", "prose" languages, as opposed to the more poetic/emphatic Russian and French respectively.

Language / Pimsleur v Rosetta stone [27]

I was going to reply... until I noticed I already replied a few lines above (though over a year ago)...

I stand by: Rosetta Stone completely useless, Pimsleur a good (but looong) INTRODUCTION, Assimil, especially Assimil Polish by Barbara Kuszminder, fantastic. In English Polish in 4 weeks is somewhat similar to Assimil.

For vocabulary acquisition, if you want to go the hard (and inefficient, in my opinion) way of single words instead of context, instead of Rosetta Stone try wordlists or a Spaced Repetition Software, like the good and completely free ANKI.

Language / Why x.xx$ in Poland? [20]

The only "oddity" I have found - at least in Polish textbooks - is the use of "deka", as in decagrams, for buying food as in cheese or ham. Is this common?

Not that I find odd at all our use of "etto" (100 grams) in Italy for the same reason...

Language / A Polish female name (anna) [18]


Well the "Anna Nowak" I heard in one course, and to a lesser extent the "Anna Borowska" I heard in another, are definitely not as in Italian.

Language / A Polish female name (anna) [18]

When I first heard, in a Polish language course, something like Nazywam się Anna Nowak, I was sure it was Annina or Annyna...
For geminate (?) consonant users like Finns or Italians, Polish double consonants are difficult.

Language / The Polish accusative case [32]


Sure! Polish is already difficult enough...

Seriously, from the little Russian and Polish I know, Russian cases seem easier and more regular to me.

Language / The Polish accusative case [32]

Thank you.


So it's only grać w.. ? I was having nightmares of "double forms of accusative" and other tragic grammar happenings.

Language / The Polish accusative case [32]

I hope I can ask in this thread.

Some masculine inanimate nouns have accusative in -a, at least in some expressions:

grać w pokera, grać w tenisa, ...

Is there a rule on this? And whose "fault" is it, of the verb grać or of those nouns?

Language / Pimsleur v Rosetta stone [27]

Pimsleur is just a (very good) introduction to the language. It is very useful to get "a feel" for the language and correct pronunciation.

But a normal 90 lesson Pimsleur introduces no more than 500 words. The Polish 30 lesson one probably stops at 150-200.
Not much grammar is introduced - IIRC, no informal speech (ty instead of pan/pani); no verbal aspects at all besides "Chciałbym pojechać do Krakowa. Jak dojechać do Krakowa? Proszę jechać prosto"; and cases also introduced lackingly.

If the Polish Pimsleur will be extended to the full 90 lesson course, at least it will cover pretty much of the usual grammar and you really get a feeling for the language - though again, just as an introduction. This was my experience with Pimsleur Russian.

***

On Rosetta Stone I have only bad things to say. It is good to solve word puzzles and that's it. It's evident that it is the same for each language, which means that it sometimes is pretty awkward. Besides, the complete lack of feeling for the target country, all those pictures of multiethnic people in Washington DC or being cowboys kills it for me.

***

If you can get Pimsleur for free (library?) and have free time in 30 minutes chunks, then go for it just as an introduction. If you like audiocourses (you can't really read or write while commuting), try also Michel Thomas - again, just as an introduction, and with plenty of bad sides too (awful students, too many idiotic mnemonic rules, no repetition value: who wants to listen to those three again!).

But find a good textbook with audio and use it as your primary study method. Listen to the dialogues plenty of times before reading and translating them. There is the free one at russian.slavic.pitt.edu, there are Teach Yourself and Colloquial and all others mentioned in these forums. If you are lucky to know French or Italian, find Assimil Le Polonais (new) or Assimil Le Polonais sans peine/Il polacco senza sforzo (old).