Hi guys, I live in Hull, England. I have recently met a wonderful polish girl who I now meet up with on most days. The only problem is she speaks very simple english, she knows a few basic phrases and some words but it is hard for her to put a sentence together. She has taught me a few polish words and phrases but again it's hard for me to put a sentence together. So I would like to ask for your advice, obviously we would both like to learn each other's native language but would it be easier for me to learn polish or for her to learn english. And how should we go about learning. Would it be best for her to go to night classes for instance or for me to try and teach her?
Without being a smartass, but seeing as you are both living in England then it would probably be more beneficial for her to learn to speak the language of the country she's living in.
If you were living here, then the opposite would be the case. Trust me though, Polish is extremely difficult to learn, I've been learning for about 3 years and I still sound like a retarded turnip. I'm getting there though, Rome was built....etc.
Ultimately her learning English will occur much easier than you learning Polish. I've seen people learn English from watching television and movies. Another aspect people ignore is that there are sooooo many variations of English. British, American, Australian, even in the USA alone you have different styles and accents. So expectations and standards are very low. English is basically the immigrant language. This just isn't the case with Polish but fortunately it is changing and you will receive nothing but encouragement and help from Poles seeing you try.
She's in England and you aren't in Poland. It would be far more useful for her to learn English, but of course you should take in to account your respective skills at language learning.
Polish is a complete bugger to learn - 18 months in and I can only manage to read with any comfort ... get someone to translate, then I read ... I am working on vocabulary, but verbs and stuff are very had work as is anything approaching correct grammar.
Why not see how things go with this girl - you've not said how serious things are - then spend some time on alternate days learning English or Polish, so you each get to learn and you each get to teach. And nyou each see how hard it is to learn a language. Do some research into courses and books/CD/downloadable courses.
Thanks for your replies. I thought it would be best for her to learn english like you guys say, as it would be more beneficial. In your opinion would night classes be the best way to for her to learn? She has tried picking up some things from watching tv but finds it hard to follow sometimes I have said I would help her as well but I don't want to teach her all my grammatical bad habits etc.
"Best" is what's best for her. I once did an immersion course in France - stay with French family, classes every day, outings with the class - and absoutely loathed it. One of the best French teachers I had was with the Open University, but that would be way too slow for your g/f. I'd say classes, because that has a structure and a timetable, etc - all things to help you make yourself do the work. That pus some reading - nothing too hard, just something with a story - Enid Blyton is a bit old fashioned, but she was a very good writer for kids and her adventure books are still good form someone wanting to develop their language.
Yes I know that Monitor. As I said before we both want to learn but we just want to find the easiest way for us to be able to communicate more at first.
He would however have to learn Polish - far less useful for them since they live in England and much more important (and easier) to do things one at a time.
Plus language learning can be stressful - better he supports his lady.
Personally I'd opt for learning Polish, at least at the beginning. While it is clearly incumbent upon your girl friend living in England to eventually learn the target language, knowing some basic Polish certainly can't hurt. Just so long as a bilingual household doesn't become a crutch for her siphoning benefits off of the state and remaining a perpetual dependent:-)
Hm, as a Pole that had to learn English- the classes are a must but also TV, music, talking to you and so on. Just let her "bath" in the language at every opportunity (which won't be too hard since you are in UK) and DON't make it easy on her not to communicate in English- don't do stuff for her.
Try to teach her. Initially try to imitate an American accent.
Butt hurt :DDD
dantun22 where you from? If you are from say New Castle and talk to her with heavy Geordie accent it could be the reason she struggles to communicate with you. Talking slowly with accentless English like for instance Hugh Grant does would be helpful.
Why? Because people could understand it well. So he can impress her how nice is the sound of his Geordie, Brummie, Cockney or where ever he is from accent or he can make himself more understandable, whatever is his interest.
There IS however a sort of middle-ground English accent somewhere between a working-class Russell Crowe (an Aussie however, not a Brit!!) and a super-efite Alan Corduner as Sir Arthur SullivanLOL
Delphiandomine, most immigrants, as opposed to visitors or exchange students, may never get their new language up to speed. This isn't their purpose. They prefer to "communicate", period. Let the chips fall where they may!
And wulkan I am from Hull. So not as far North as Newcastle. There is an accent around here but I don't speak with such a strong accent as maybe the more uneducated locals.
I do ask her to read road signs when we are in the car and so on. But that's just reading words isn't it, not actually understanding the language. Like when she sings along to the radio in english it's more an imitation of the singers voice than actually understanding the words.
I have been looking into night classes for her. And we've decided when she has completed the classes she will start to help me learn polish.
Reading but not understanding is ok for now. Let's do it that way- when we are born we do not comprehend any language yet we learn it by listening and so on. Just remember- let her ask for directions, buy stuff and things like that. Even if she's going to have some problems it will bebefit her. Classes are a must
When I started learning Russian after a month of classes I decided I don't improve enough so I watched some stupid soap opera (they are the best for easy language :) ). Even though I understood only singular words I kept doing it- after 3 months I was the best in my class in vocabulary and comprehension. Classes were giving me the basic skills and the series developed it.
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