Fluent in Polish by summer 2012 | My language mission and my log | Forum
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01:15
February 3, 2012
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My goal:
Conversationally fluent in Polish by June 2012, in anticipation of a trip to Warsaw this summer. Be able to read The Captive Mind (Zniewolony umysł) by Czesław Miłosz in Polish by the end of summer. For both–with very little need to reference my Polish/English dictionary or other resources.
My father's family is Polish. I've been doing genealogical research and I'd like to be able to read Polish language materials on my own, as well as converse and email with the Polish speakers I meet during my research and travels.
11:54
Experienced Language Hacker
July 22, 2011
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Same mission as me, even down to my trip to Warsaw this summer. :) I wish you good luck with it, I think it's an achievable goal, especially with a Polish girlfriend to help me!
I've not heard of that book though, perhaps I should have but… I'll have a look for it. :)
Gaeilge, 
English
Studies:
Polish
On Hold: 
Spanish
Next: 
Italian
Is cainteoir dúchais Gaeilge mé. Same with English. Zacząłem uczyć się polskiego, y ahora, he dejado aprender el castellano.
14:08
Experienced Language Hacker
August 2, 2011
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Fajnie! Jakbyś miała jakieś pytania to jestem do dyspozycji – pytaj na forum albo wyślij mi wiadomość. Czasami jestem też dostępny na skajpie, jakbyś chciała pogawędzić (randybvain.torques).
Cool! If you have any questions I am available – ask on the forum or send me a message. From time to time I am also available via Skype, if you wanted to chat.
03:39
moderator
June 25, 2011
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Welcome to the forums and good luck with your mission!
I hope the following youtube channel will turn out useful:
Focusing on:
Abandoned: 
19:50
February 3, 2012
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Thanks for the encouragement everyone. So far, I'm having fun with this. Benny's approach is just what I needed!
@NKellyEmerald: Great to hear you've got the same goals. I'm jealous you have someone close to you who speaks Polish to practice with! As for Czesław Miłosz–he's the first Polish author I ever heard of and I'm reading an English translation of The Captive Mind, so that's why I'm starting there. And hey…maybe we'll run into each other in Warsaw. :)
@Randyvbrain: Dziękuję. I may take you up on the questions or a Skype chat.
@Lingo: Thanks. These are new resources to me; I look forward to checking them out.
Powodzenia to my fellow Polish language learners!
22:57
Experienced Language Hacker
July 22, 2011
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Manya said:
@NKellyEmerald: Great to hear you've got the same goals. I'm jealous you have someone close to you who speaks Polish to practice with! As for Czesław Miłosz–he's the first Polish author I ever heard of and I'm reading an English translation of The Captive Mind, so that's why I'm starting there. And hey…maybe we'll run into each other in Warsaw. :)
Powodzenia to my fellow Polish language learners!
Yes, fellow Polish learners are a little rare to find by comparison to the more popular languages (they've no idea what they're missing!), glad there's another here on Fi3M with the same goals. Maybe we can se how far we've each come every now and then, would be nice to have someone to compare my results to! :) Aye, it's nice to have someone you love to practise speaking with, you tend not to be so nervous making mistakes! XD Maybe we will bump into each other in Warsaw, if you're anywhere near Legionowo, send me a message! :)
Gaeilge, English
Studies:
Polish
On Hold: Spanish
Next: Italian
Is cainteoir dúchais Gaeilge mé. Same with English. Zacząłem uczyć się polskiego, y ahora, he dejado aprender el castellano.
23:56
February 3, 2012
Offline
@NKellyEmerald,
Yes…let's touch base on our progress every once in a while. It will be fun to keep up with how you are doing. It looks like I'll be ice skating with a local Polish group this weekend. Suddenly, I'm nervous! I'm not sure if everyone will be speaking English or Polish, but I'll lead with my Polish. And hope to meet someone who is willing to meet with me for conversation.
Up to now, I've been studying and have practiced a little with my dad–who was fluent 65 years ago! Plus…I bought a CD of polish kids songs. Very fun. I know now how to say "the old bear sleeps soundly" (stary niedźwiedź mocno śpi). A very useful phrase, you will agree. :)
01:24
Experienced Language Hacker
August 2, 2011
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The children songs are very good to learn simple phrases but they also are the part of our Polish culture. Many of us had been brought up listenining to these songs, so we use some phrases from them up to now. Look for this song on YouTube and you'll find plenty others.
Piosenki dziecięce są bardzo dobre do nauczenia się prostych wyrażeń, ale nie tylko, gdyż są elementem naszej wspólnej polskiej kultury. Wiele z nas wyrosło słuchając tych piosenek, więc nawet do dziś używamy fraz z nich wziętych. Poszukaj tej piosenki na YouTube, a znajdziesz wiele innych.
02:07
February 3, 2012
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@Randybvain
Dziękuję bardzo. Słuchając tych piosenek jest zabawa. Ja też oglądać polską t.v. w Internecie. Mój ulubiony jest Ojciec Mateusz.
10:55
February 11, 2012
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Hey! My Irish boyfriend showed me this community and I decided to sign up just to wish you all GOOD LUCK!
Polish is one of the most difficult languages but it is possible to learn! I've met lots of foreign people who learned Polish in a short period of time – for example my Ukrainian friend speaks fluent and it took him six months to learn! I know Ukrainian and Polish are similar, although our grammar is more difficult, we have lots of different words and our alphabets are not the same as well.
NKellyEmerald and Manya, you have great chances because you're both going to Poland :) NKelly is even staying with me :D there's no better chance to learn my language! I think we can meet up someday in Warsaw :) good luck to you all! Greetings from Poland!
15:17
Experienced Language Hacker
July 22, 2011
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Thanks for the wishes! Welcome to the forum, Karo! :) x
Gaeilge, English
Studies:
Polish
On Hold: Spanish
Next: Italian
Is cainteoir dúchais Gaeilge mé. Same with English. Zacząłem uczyć się polskiego, y ahora, he dejado aprender el castellano.
15:32
moderator
June 25, 2011
Offline
While searching for free pronunciations in various languages (like forvo.com, swac-collections.org), I unexpectedly discovered a seemingly ideal Polish resource for importing to LWT:
http://www.wolnelektury.pl/katalog/audiobooki/ (English description)
Apperently, it features a vast amount of audio + transcripts.
Focusing on:
Abandoned:
17:56
Experienced Language Hacker
July 22, 2011
Offline
Oh God, Lingo! That's actually an amazing resource, thanks for that. :) Will definitely be using that a lot.
Gaeilge, English
Studies:
Polish
On Hold: Spanish
Next: Italian
Is cainteoir dúchais Gaeilge mé. Same with English. Zacząłem uczyć się polskiego, y ahora, he dejado aprender el castellano.
18:21
February 11, 2012
Offline
Noel, thanks, thanks xx
Lingo, that's a nice website with our fairytales and poems we rearn during our Polish classes :) Recently, I've had to read ''But w butonierce'' :)
19:49
February 3, 2012
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@radiant.as.the.sun Dziękuję bardzo. I am having so much fun. I look forward to possibly meeting you some day soon…and practicing my Polish!
@Lingo Great link. Thank you for sharing.
20:23
February 11, 2012
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Przyłączam się do propozycji polskich użytkowników – zapraszam na maila, PW lub Skype'a :) Będę zaszczycona, mając swój wkład w Waszą naukę języka. Uważam, że to duże wyzwanie i gratuluję jego podjęcia!
I'm joining the offer of previous Polish users – feel free to contact me via email, private message or Skype. I'd love to play a role in your learning Polish:) I consider it a huge mission and congratulate picking up the challenge!
I have myself been in Ireland now – learning English.. or maybe more having holidays AND trying to improve my English;) I would like to learn Portugese as well, but I am really hopeless in starting and keeping such things (there were German, Italian as well, all gone now). But at least I know one of the most difficult (it is said so anyway) languages in the world so others should be easy cakes for me 
Oh, and what's great here for me? What problems people learning Polish have. Because I know things are sometimes quite obvious for us but foreigners can cast a new light on them and I LOVE it, I love playing words. It's really fascinating:)
20:53
February 11, 2012
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Manya, nie ma za co :) Let me and NKellyEmerald know when you're in Poland! :) We're arrange a meeting or something :)
21:27
Experienced Language Hacker
August 2, 2011
Offline
While searching for free pronunciations in various languages (like forvo.com, swac-collections.org), I unexpectedly discovered a seemingly ideal Polish resource for importing to LWT:
http://www.wolnelektury.pl/katalog/audiobooki/(English description)
Apperently, it features a vast amount of audio + transcripts.
Yes, but be warned: these are examples of our literature of old written with very obsolete language.
00:26
February 3, 2012
Offline
What I did today
Met with some Polish people living in Boston to go ice skating
Pros
* Met a new group of people (which is hard for me in any language)
* Spoke a little bit of Polish, learned one new phrase (bardzo zabawne!)
* I kept going even when I felt like an idiot inside
Cons
* The native speakers often did not understand my Polish
* I knew words, but not enough phrases for a real conversation, so my conversations were mostly in English (among themselves they went back and forth between English and Polish)
* I did not understand most of the Polish that was spoken to me (and as soon as I said "nie rozumiem," the speakers switched to English)
* I let my frustration get to me a couple times
What I learned
* I need to improve my vocabulary–learn more words, more quickly
* I want to find a teacher to work one one one–this will give me real life practice with listening to the language spoken a little more slowly, as well as help me learn more vocabulary and grammar
* To remember that this was my first time trying to speak with native speakers and not to let my frustration get me down
Naprzód!
02:17
Experienced Language Hacker
August 2, 2011
Offline
Did you notice the way we speak English? We put our tongue forward whereas the English needs the tongue kept rather deeper in the mouth. Try to speak English with Polish accent, thus you may faster accomodate to Polish way of speaking and so understand spoken word better.
Czy zauważyłaś w jaki sposób mówimy po angielsku? Wysuwamy język do przodu podczas, gdy angielski wymaga języka trzymanego głębiej w ustach. Spróbuj mówić po angielsku z polskim akcentem, w ten sposób możesz szybciej przyzwyczaić się do polskiego i lepiej zrozumieć wymawiane słowa.
You may listen to my attempt to explain the difference among Polish sz and ś and English sh here.
Możesz posłuchać mojej próby wytłumaczenia różnicy między polskimi sz i ś oraz angielskim sz tutaj.
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