stj1127 Newbie United States Joined 4993 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 1 of 6 26 March 2011 at 10:15pm | IP Logged |
Hello everyone! It is my first time here.
I'm currently learning Polish on Rosetta Stone and it seems to be going well. Aside from the fact that I'm not learning things that are practical, I am getting a grasp on the way that the language generally works, I think. I have a Polish-speaking friend who is also guiding me through it.
There is a lot of grammar that I don't always understand though, and I think it might not be a bad idea to buy/order some sort of workbook or something. Does anyone have any suggestions? Might it be a bad idea to mix learning tools like this?
Thanks,
Joe
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tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin
| Message 2 of 6 26 March 2011 at 10:45pm | IP Logged |
It is generally not a bad idea at all to mix learning tools, quite the contrary. If you use a tool like Rosetta Stone,
which doesn't explain the grammar at all, it is in fact necessary to get some additional tools. I have never studied
Polish, so I can't give you any specific recommendations.
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hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe
| Message 3 of 6 27 March 2011 at 1:49am | IP Logged |
stj1127 wrote:
There is a lot of grammar that I don't always understand though, and I think it might not be a bad idea to buy/order some sort of workbook or something. Does anyone have any suggestions? Might it be a bad idea to mix learning tools like this?
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I've been at Polish for about a year now. I can tell you what I used, which may or may not be useful to you.
I started with MMichel Thomas Polish Foundation. It was a decent course. Taught me basic present, past and future tenses and basic grammar and sentence formations. It did not cover cases at all - something which you will probably have problems with, if you're like me.
The next thing I got was Teach Yourself Polish. This did cover cases as well as a pretty well rounded grammar. But it wasn't all that engaging. I had to slog through it. And I still had trouble with the concept of cases. But I got to a point where it clicked. Truthfully, I think the reason it clicked is because I'd seen and heard enough examples to, I don't know, sort of absorb it oraganically (although I still make plenty of mistakes with cases - probably for years to come :-)).
Sometime during my time with TY Polish, Michel Thomas came out with an Advanced Polish course. I bought it. It covered cases. And I remember thinking "Gosh, I wish this had come out before I got the TY Polish course", because it seemed to me that the way cases were handled was intuitive, contrary to any book I'd seen. In retrospect, I don't know if it seemed easy because it had already clicked for me (through TY Polish) or not, so if you go that route, keep that in mind - it may not really be as simple as I found it to be.
Regardless, you're going to have to deal with cases, which will probably be the most difficult thing for you as a native English speaker.
I've not used Rosetta Stone, so I don't know the program at all. But I certainly don't see a problem in supplementing it with another course.
R.
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Edited by hrhenry on 27 March 2011 at 1:50am
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stj1127 Newbie United States Joined 4993 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 4 of 6 27 March 2011 at 3:49am | IP Logged |
I am having trouble with cases, though I had to google them just now to see what they were because I had no idea. It's funny the way that Rosetta Stone teaches because it doesn't tell about Grammar at all, though it DOES present the grammar correctly.
I think it would help to learn the grammar too. I'll definitely take your suggestions and look into them.
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stj1127 Newbie United States Joined 4993 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 5 of 6 27 March 2011 at 3:51am | IP Logged |
To be sure that I have the correct book:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=341329969 580+
That is the "new" Advanced Book that you mean? It is not very expensive here, and I could likely find it cheaper somewhere else. This makes me happy! Haha. I won't buy it right away though; I'd like to look for more feedback, though I really appreciate yours!
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hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe
| Message 6 of 6 27 March 2011 at 7:39am | IP Logged |
stj1127 wrote:
That is the "new" Advanced Book that you mean? |
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That's the MT Advanced Polish course, yes. But it's not a book. It's an audio-only course. In the course, you won't get rules explained to you. It'll be revealed through usage, which isn't necessarily a bad thing (as I said in my previous post, I wish I'd had MT Advanced Polish before I got TY Polish). But you won't have the rules explained outright to you in this course. One other thing to be aware of is that the MT Advanced course is a contination of the Foundation course. You would likely be lost andd frustrated at the method used if you jump in the middle.
If you want the rules explained on paper, you'll find something like Teach Yourself Polish of more value. And it'll be a better supplement to other courses, IMO.
R.
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