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Mooby’s Polish Slog - Team Żubr - TAC2012 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6103 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 1 of 108 04 January 2012 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Time to get this log rolling, hopefully downhill.
My aim this year is to take a big plodding step in maturation from a little cow (Krówka) into a hulking great shaggy bison (Żubr). I've been surviving on a very meagre diet and what I need this year is some solid grammar protein. Serious grammar is something I've been postponing too long already, so it's time to chew on some nice noun declensions. Background I started learning Polish because as a voluntary English teacher I was meeting many Poles and thought I'd try their language out of interest, solidarity and mutual encouragement. So after a few false starts I began in earnest 16 months ago. It's the first serious attempt to learn a language since school, where I failed all my French exams. I quickly realised that Polish required a massive amount of effort from the start, in order to build up the momentum and 'get into orbit' where it gets a bit more comfortable. There's virtually no transparency with English, the grammar is difficult and the pronunciation intially like speaking with a mouthful of wet cardboard. Aims I guestimate that I'm around the A2 level with reading my strongest skill and listening my weakest. I'm aiming to hit B2 by the end of the year. I've got 1844 words on Anki at the moment, which I'd like to grow to 3500. Although I enjoy vocabulary acquistion, I must work on the grammar so that I can play around with the words I already know (in the nominative / infinitive). I also need conversation partners; I've just found one and had my first serious conversation in Polish yesterday (at long last). Latest Word Złośnik = hothead (someone on a short fuse) Good luck to all loggers, especially my fellow bison. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5564 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 2 of 108 05 January 2012 at 12:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Dziękuję Mooby, and may you enjoy the fertile, abundant fields of Polish grammar. There's definitely plenty to get
your teeth into. As I mentioned to Amerykanka, there's a great site absolutely packed with Polish audio books if you're looking for some stuff to listen to. They have all the Polish classics (although it takes some time to find them), contemporary stuff and plenty of translations. Some come with the book in pdf format also. Polish Audio Books Powodzenia. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5965 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 108 06 January 2012 at 4:03am | IP Logged | ||
I love that word! A great word to have in mind as I begin the Polish adventure with the rest of the team: we are going to be big-time bison, I'm sure. A slog? I hope not! I'll be keeping up with your progress. You know more Polish than I do, so don't feel too sloggy! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5726 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 4 of 108 06 January 2012 at 11:18am | IP Logged | ||
Good luck with your studies! Złośnik is an interesting word and very rare. Złośnica is the female form as in Poskromienie złośnicy the Polish title of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| WentworthsGal Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4886 days ago 191 posts - 246 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Spanish | Message 5 of 108 06 January 2012 at 12:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Lol I love that word too :o) what a great one to kickstart the year off with :o)
Thank you Vos for the link - it will be interesting to use I'm sure (albeit rather daunting for me right now!!) Good luck with your studies! x 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6103 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 6 of 108 17 January 2012 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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My log has got off to an embarrassingly slow start (bad bison) partly due to family committments.
I've just about been staying abreast of my Anki reviews and that's been it so far. I do find, that if I'm not studying regularly (and to a plan) inertia kicks in and it takes a huge effort to get shifting again. What I need is a plan. And here's the dilemma. I want to concentrate on grammar for a bit, especially noun declensions. The question is do I: 1) Work my way through just one textbook (I have about six to choose from) and get an overview of grammar. OR 2) Pick an aspect of grammar, say the genitive case (dopełniacz) and glean examples, excercises, drills from all the sources I can lay my hands on? I don't want to burn myself out on grammar so I need other things to chew on. Here's my provisional plan: - Concentrate on the genitive case using a wide range of sources. Not sure how long I want to spend here, probably till the end of the month though. - Finish working through HURRA Po Polsku book 1 and not worry if only half of it sticks because I'll be getting more and more confirmation as I go through all my textbooks. - Finish 'Teach Yourself Polish Conversation' (Michalak-Gray). I'm dreadful at starting a programme and never finishing it. - Start and finish 'Czerwony Kapturek' (Little Red Ridinghood) Audio Book. - Conversation practice with my Polish friend, unfortunately only once a fortnight though. - Try to listen daily to the TV soap 'Samo Życie' about the goings on with journalists working on a newspaper. Got to Odcinek 43 at the moment. - Practice writing even if it's just a sentence or two (ideally daily). - Steadily add to my vocabulary by noting new words as I come to them (as opposed to actively seeking new ones) - Bedtime reading of children's stories. Currently reading 'Kajtuś Czarodziej' by Janusz Korczak. I realise this is quite ambitious but as long as I can reach 15 hours a week I'll be satisfied. Current Favourite Words Śrubokręt = screwdriver (I can't stop saying it! 'shrew-bo-krent') Współtowarzysz = companian, comrade, walking partner. Someone who is a fellow yolk through life's journey or through a difficulty. In other words, my fellow bisons, people like YOU! Latest Jingle Check out this feel-good offering of finest cheese from Alicja Janosz. Lots of hugging to encourge even the most forlorn bison. Do zobaczenia. Edited by Mooby on 17 January 2012 at 9:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5965 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 108 19 January 2012 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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You're not a bad bison, just a busy bison! We all have other stuff that must be done.
That video made me think it would be kind of cool to have a bus for each TAC team, in which we'd drive around having a sing-along in our language(s) of choice. Individual TAC partcipants could have their own vehicle of some kind. We could make it into a really strange, multilingual reality TV show, maybe! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6103 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 8 of 108 23 January 2012 at 12:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Just to keep track of a few things that are measureable, I'm going to record the number of words in my Anki vocabulary deck (I've Anki decks for idioms and expressions, but I'll not bother recording these here). Plus I'll record the accumulated number of hours spent studying. I'd like to put in 1000 hours by the end of this year, which equates to 3 hours a day approximately. It's a tall order, but it gives me something to aim at. I know that impressive statistics won't give an accurate reflection of real progress, and that I will always need to improve learning effectiveness.
Anyway, here's the stats so far: Anki = 1906 words Hours studied = 15 (since records began, 18th January 2012) I've nearly finished 'Czerwony Kapturek' Little Red Ridinghood and gleaned about 50 new words so far, including: Rudy - Ginger, red-haired Chata - Hut, cabin, cottage Potknąć się [Perf.] - to stumble, trip (over something) Słodziutki - Good and sweet (like a kitten, puppy or little girl) Zaspany - Groggy (still half asleep) Also listened to an episode of Samo Życie, but not started much grammar study. Mooby's Advice of the Week Don't look up at the mountain top for too long or you'll be onieśmielony (intimidated). I did a spot of mountain gazing recently and soon felt dizzy. For some reason it's taking a long time for the Polish language's character to sink in. With French or German I can mimic the basic sounds and character even though I only know a handful of words. I suspect the reason is that most of my studies have been passive like reading and listening. Once I get active and produce sentences in speaking and writing my brain should be able to generate 'Polishness' much sooner. I am better able to quell the panic that stems from such slow progress in the shadow of such a mountain to climb. Even if it's only inch by inch. It's sounds like I don't enjoy learning; I do, but now and again my mózg (brain) throws a wobbly. I totally sympathise with the Nazi officer in this movie clip! Tune of the Week Now for something nostalgic to end with. Do widzenia Edited by Mooby on 23 January 2012 at 1:05am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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