Christina

I've studied a little Polish and it isn't difficult if you know Czech, as they have a lot of similarities (I studied Czech first). But I don't think either has any relationship to Romance languages like French, and I know French fairly well.

I never found either Czech or POlish pronunciation to be that difficult, though, things are pronounced exactly as they are spelled pretty much. You just have to learn how to pronounce the alphabet, that's all, but then you can pronounce anything you can read fairly well, even if you don't know what it means (unlike English).

unoduetre

Let me give you some easy cognates (mostly from proto-indo-european, but sometimes borrowings):

prosić ~ (to say) please (when you want something)
siedzieć/siadać ~ sit
lubić ~ like
stać ~ stand
woda ~ water
ja ~ I
ty ~ thou
dwa ~ two
sześć ~ six
(other small numbers are cognates too)
trzy ~ three
szukać ~ seek
wiatr ~ wind
drzewo ~ tree
wilk ~ wolf
kot ~ cat
świnia ~ swine
herbata means tea (similar to herbal)
wełna ~ wool
róża ~ rose
but ~ boot (or shoe)
nos ~ nose
bluza ~ blouse (the polish meaning is hoodie/sweatshirt)
sweter ~ sweater
woda ~ water
kopać ~ kick
leżeć ~ lie
dzień ~ day
noc ~`night
słońce ~ sun
lekki ~ light(weight)
broda ~ beard
ślimak ~ slime
wino ~ wine
słodki ~ sweat
etc.

Daniel_Williams

Thank you so much unoduetre,

As I learn more and more words, I'm finding the word-learning is becoming easier as I start to see the Polish logic of words. I've started to notice some Indo-European patterns also and they do help: "przy" reminds me of the French "près", so your przystanek suggestion amongst others is terrific.

What I'm now trying to force myself into doing is getting those endings right: nominative, accusative, genitive, locative, singular vs. plurals... where the ending changes depending not only on gender (with distinction between groups of men/mixed groups, animate and non-animate masculine nouns) but also on whether there's a hard consonant or soft consonant ending (and in certain cases whether there's a "k", a "g", an "r", or an "iec" ending amongst others) with sometimes spelling changes of endings. ACK! I'm sure it becomes natural over time but it's challenging to keep all the endings straight in my head. It's hard to say even simple sentences without thinking about an ending. The grammar is so foreign to my brain. This said, I feel like I'm making progress, albeit slowly, and am loving every minute of it!

Dziękuję bardzo! Daniel

IMDonehere

For travel purposes, there is really no need to as enough English is spoken, especially by younger people and it is a young country.
_____________________
It is interesting that Poland has one of the worst replacement population rates in Europe. Unless birth, economic, and immigration conditions change dramatically by 2050, Poland will have less people with a significant older population.

Here are two population pyramids, which visual highlight the problem.

http://populationpyramid.net/poland/2015/

http://populationpyramid.net/poland/2050/

quokka

I'm sitting here sighing and grinning at the same time, as I have started learning Polish half a year ago (from German, without previous knowledge of any Slawic language) and am struggling with words and grammar, too...

Cowboy1968

Being half-Polish and blessed with a Polish surname and cursed with a ridiculously little command of Polish I can more than understand those who struggle with pronunciation. But my friends in Warszawa assure me that my pronunciation becomes flawless again once we spent half the night at the capital's (in)famous vodka bars

But, even the smallest and most failed attempt to speak at least a little of the language will take you a long way. While English is the 2nd language of most involved in the tourist industry (hotels, restaurants, pubs) in the major hotspots like Warszawa, Krakow or Gdansk, the most common 2nd language in the so beautiful Northeast of the Mazury lakes district is German.

Anyway.. learning Polish is good, traveling to Poland is better, and getting to know the people is the best!

quokka

>Anyway.. learning Polish is good, traveling to Poland is better, and getting to know the people is the best!

And combining all three is the best of all!
The language is the key to a culture and to getting acquainted with the daily life of people.

Cowboy1968

You sure got that right!

Daniel_Williams

Hi,

I just wanted to add a latest discovery for those at an early intermediate level in Polish. This guy's videos have sometimes beautiful scenes and I found he speaks in an almost soothing voice; I don't know what his approach is, but I follow much more of what he says than many videos, while learning at the same time (I haven't even been using the transcript). The videos are almost worth watching just to see his precious dog Jobi!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47kgAqgKRzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37xF2Tf_N3k

I've learned a ton of words in Polish and I'm getting used to the grammar bit by bit, but still have a way to go for anything resembling decent listening comprehension (a key intermediate step I find prior to being able to SPEAK on a variety of topics with confidence). While my attempts listening to newscasts and interviews I catch snippets up to now, with Piotr's many seemingly-in-a-natural-voice (but labelled as instructional) youtube videos, I get a much fuller meaning, which has been very rewarding.

Something to check out for those of you that might be at a similar level as myself (quokka, perhaps?)! Cheers, Daniel

quokka

Hi Daniel,

the videos look interesting, I will check them out!

Have you found the "Uczmy się Polskiego" series on Youtube? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SK33iwH1K0 (first lesson) Unfortunately only lessons 1-15 are online. I like watching them - that family is so cute and the stories are often quite funny. There is no transkription available, though.

Daniel_Williams

Thanks quokka!

Funny enough, I have listened to every episode in the "Uczmy się Polskiego" series and I agree that the family was very endearing and so many stories entertaining (Marek being embarrased to have his future girl-crush Marta see him shopping, etc...). I really loved the niemiła sąsiadka Pani Wierzbycka, że nie lubi dzieci; that actress brilliantly portrayed the character that reminds me of some cantankerous people I know of an earlier generation. I was sorry they only used her in two episodes. Anyway, it's fun to talk to someone who's actually seen that series; one of only a few thousand on youtube at least.

I tried the series in the very beginning and found it too hard to follow when I was a true beginner, but I also think it is good for late-beginner/early-intermediate learners. I ended up appreciating Uczmy się Polskiego for reinforcement after I'd finished a great true beginner's book "Colloquial Polish, the Complete Course for Beginners" from Routledge. Even then, I found I'd understand half; while there's no transcription, I learned from them in large part relying on the written texts at the end of the dialogue; the songs at the end are a bit cheesy but I gave them a listen since they included the accompanying text which was great for vocabulary reinforcement. I might give them a re-listen now that my skills have improved some.

Thanks again! Daniel

quokka

LOL Pani Wierzbicka - don't we just love the Pani Wierzbickas in the world...

And the crazy aunt, and her love story with Krzysztof's friend from Lwów. Pity the further sequels are not online, I would have liked to see how it continues.

Have I mentioned that I spent the whole month of August in Wrocław, attening the summer language course at university? I think not... Have you ever done anything like that?

Daniel_Williams

Quokka,

No, you hadn't mentioned going to Wrocław. I've heard such wonderful things about that city and think it fantastic that you were able to do a language course there.

I think of you as being German based on past posts, but maybe I'm mistaken in this regard? If my assumption is correct, I'm envious of the greater opportunities you have to practice foreign languages such as Polish living close-by in Europe. Planning things from Quebec is a bit trickier, although I am seriously mulling the idea of doing a one-month language course in Europe for 2015 (possibly at a Goethe Institut in Holland, to improve my German and Dutch both). As a college teacher, I'm lucky to be able to do such things, having two months free in the summer.

Your Polish must be leaps & bounds better than mine now, what with that immersion experience. I'm only able to spend at best a few hours a week, when life responsibilities and my mental state allow.

Best wishes, Daniel

quokka

Hi Daniel,

you are right, I am German. Poland is our neighbour, but I am living at the opposite end of the country.
Through work and research I got in touch with some colleagues in Wrocław and they told me about this summer course. I am not completely happy with it, though. Trouble was that they put me in a group that was far too advanced, even after changing to a lower level the class was too difficult for me and I was really struggling. It was too much in too short time. All the others were 20-30 years younger and many of them spoke other Slavic languages, which makes things a lot easier. Hence I am rather discouraged now...

annhig

quokka - that's a shame. getting the right level of class in a language school is absolutely vital, IMO. Did you stay with a family or in a hotel? I was lucky enough to be able to spend a month in Germany staying with a family and speaking lots of german when i was 17 and I'm sure that it is why I find german [comparatively] easy now.

So far I've only managed to spend a week at a time in italian language schools; i'd like to spend longer at a time as I'm sure that 2 weeks together would be better than 3 separate weeks, but I can't spare the time so one week is better than nothing, especially as this time i will be staying with a family in Venice.

quokka - can you find someone to give you some private lessons? [if there's no-one locally sometimes you can find teachers on line]. I "teach" a friend italian every Saturday, and it's amazing how much progress she has made, and how much she has helped me too.

Daniel_Williams

Annhig-- That's terrific that you've found someone to teach. That, as a teacher, I can say is one of the best ways of solidifying the material. How stellar that you're going to Venice for your language-training (and I hope for just downright general fun, too).

Quokka-- I'm sorry the course was too challenging; sometimes it IS tough to find just the right level, even when selecting language instruction books. Having 5-year-olds as fellow classmates must have been fun though, as they do pick up languages easily (referring to your comment "all the others were 20-30 years younger"). I hope you benefitted tangentially from the immersion even if it didn't turn out quite as you hoped and enjoyed the culture of Wrocław.

nukesafe

I cannot tell you how comforting this discussion has been!

I must confess that when I was going to Croatia a few years ago I tried to learn some of the language, since I make it a point of honor to have at least enough of the language to be polite anywhere I go. In this case I failed miserably. The words and phrases simply would not stick in my head, and when faced with trying to greet or order I would just be struck dumb. Most uncomfortable, and I thought Mr. Al Heimer was making an early appearance.

That others find the Slavic languages difficult gives me some comfort and will help me fool my dear wife into believing that I am really not losing it quite yet.

annhig

nukesafe,

I can say with some modesty that french, german etc come quite easily to me, but the slavic languages are a closed book. I find that I just can't get a handle on any of the vocabulary, not even on the common phrases [please, thank you, etc] that usually go in simply due to repetition. There is one, however, that has stuck, which some may recognise:

Dwa piwa prosze.

Beer anyone?

quokka

Tak, proszę też jedno zimno piwo dla mnie. Dziękuję!

Daniel - thanks for compliments. My fellow students were university students between 18 and 28;-)
I have no idea how I scored all those points in the placement test. Perhaps I guessed a few too many;-) They had just one test for all levels so the results were not too meaningful. Many others had to change class, too. I am not bad at grammar but have little vocabulary. Understanding what the teacher was saying (the lessons were entirely in Polish), understanding the content of the text I had in front of me, understanding what we were supposed to do with it AND thinking about the grammar, all at the same time - that was simply too much. No chance. And the teacher did not really care about individuals' problems.
Almost all participants were staying at a student dorm which was empty for the summer.

I am comparing this experience to the intensive classes in Italian at a private language school in Florence, which I took some years ago - these were lightyears better in organization and structure.

Apart from myy study problems I enjoyed Wrocław very much and saw a lot, also thanks to my local colleagues at university. I got some private tours guided by experts of unbeatable knowledge, think visiting the university museum with the museum director in person, for example. In that respect my stay was absolutely worthwhile.

I am attending an evening class here once per week now and I'm slowly slowly repeating what we did at the university class, hoping the stuff will 'sink in' some day...

Daniel_Williams

Hi quokka,

I can definitely see how the class would have been too much.

There's a certain philosophy in language teaching that one needs to be thrown 100% from the beginning into a foreign language setting (with no instructions in one's mother tongue) and that one will pick up the language. I think this approach might work for adult beginners, but only for languages that are reasonably close (in my experience and opinion) to one's mother tongue or other mastered spoken languages. (Immersion at a certain intermediate/advanced level however I believe is vital.)

I think about the courses I took at the Goethe Institut here in Montreal for the past two summers. Although I still have room for improvement, I'm at the point where I can follow a newscast in Dutch. This gave me an enormous advantage following the teacher in my German class over my classmates, as I could so often intuit meaning due to a vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structure advantage that my anglophone or francophone classmates did not have: e.g., gestern=gisteren; einkaufen= aankopen; hoesten=husten, verb placed second in sentence, etc, etc... I knew exactly what the teacher was talking about with the trennbares Verben and how they work in present and past tenses, while my classmates really struggled with those. Even English is tremendously helpful when trying to understand German (as one of my francophone classmates commented). Ultimately, what I'm saying here is I can see how your classmate Slavs, even if they'd only studied Polish as much as you, had an enormous advantage as they could likely more often intuit meaning.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Wrocław with such terrific guides, though!

Best, Daniel