My struggle learning the Polish language

Hello everyone..

I have a problem with Polish language as most of learners of this language..

Here is my story: I've arrived here knowing only 4-6 words in Polish, 3.5 years ago. I've tried to learn Polish, But I won't lie and say I went with all of what i got, But i did try. Problem is, I have no idea where to start. I understand what people say to me, But I can't talk or reply back.

Any tips or something that could help me improve ? it would really be a life changer for me.

I'm living in Poland at the moment.

Thank you all and I'm glad to be part of this community :).

Perhaps you can attend a college/university for the Polish language for beginners?

You can try some online websites/programs to learn it.
For example Rosetta Stone you can get it the legal way (expensive) or the easy way (torrents)...

But does it help ? My mom is 100% Polish.. So I'm not THAT bad in Polish.. But I cant call it perfect.
Rozumiem ale nie moge mowic :|

Lucky one!
When living in UK I can talk or reply back but don't understand what people say to me.
They hurry up somewhere like speaker in a radio commercials and fade words endings ;)
To be honest I prefer American English.

Hi AJ,

Maybe you need to slow down, speak very clearly, don't speak too fast, some people also just have a block when they hear a foreign accent or if you say something out of context they think that you are saying something else when what they hear is actually what you are saying but they don't get it.

I wanted to buy bus tickets in a shop and she didn't have a clue what I was saying(she thought she didn't).

I went accross the road to the kiosk, said the same stuff and I got my tickets no problem.

@Peter: You're right there.. English people tend to swallow some letters..American english is way easier.

@catsoldier: Yea, Most of the times it's like that.. i dont want them to think im dumb or something :\..Polish people do that ? I hope not xD

Try language exchange or find good polish language teacher who is giving private lessons and working as freelancer. Watch polish Tv, lessen polish music, meet with polish people and speak as much as possible in every situation.

I Do not recommend polish language school located in the center as in most of them are working girls just after University, having no ( or very little) experience in teaching. Those schools are focused on making money, so they pay pinuts to the teacher and finally only teachers without experince are working there

Hi Aj,

I started learning Polish about 4 years ago and I still don't think I'm much good to be honest. However I do understand a lot and know lots of vocabulary and can get by as long as nothing unusual happens (in shops for example). It's an incredibly difficult language for anyone who's primary language is English to learn. We don't think the same way in terms of how we use verbs and grammatical cases are a complete nightmare!

When you say you can understand, do you mean you can understand everything? I'd be very happy with yourself if you can!

I'd recommend some resources to get you going which have really helped me (and believe me when I say I've tried lots of things!).

Buy the book 301 Polish verbs by Klara Kanecki. This was a revelation to me in terms of how Polish verbs look as when you open the page to any verb you can see all of it's forms and realise how verbs conjugate.

Also I'd recommend you try an audiobook namely the Michael Thomas series starting with Foundation Polish. Get yourself a notebook and sit listening to the audiobook as the format is that of a teacher with 3 students and you being the third student.

Also if there is one thing I've learned it's that learning a language is a lifelong goal and unless you want to dedicate all of your time to it then don't expect miracles! Just being able to answer some simple questions is an achievement in itself.

If you feel like it then feel free to send me a private message and we can exchange email addresses and I'd be happy to chat with you in greater detail.

Pozdrawiam (regards) i powodzenia (good luck),
Chris

Yep, that's a really excellent book, extremely clear. I used a book from the same series when I was learning Spanish: 501 Spanish Verbs..

Great post. Positive, constructive and full of empathy.