Polish: another attempt (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Polish: another attempt
Tags: Listening-Reading (L-R) \| Polish
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Volte
Tetraglot
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Switzerland
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Message 153 of 154

25 May 2008 at 2:01pm | IP Logged

Lingual Scholar wrote:

Thanks. Depending on the phonetics of the language, I think it makes sense for some people to do it that way
(especially if they aren't strong visual learners). I will experiment, but I personally find that seeing the spelling
helps me remember the pronunciation. I find this the case even if the phonetics are highly irregular.

The following is purely my own opinion. Nonetheless:

I have a strong tendency towards being visual myself. However, if anything, that makes the risk stronger that you'll override what you are hearing with what you expect from the spelling. This is primarily a factor with subtle sound differences.

Also - I don't think atamagaii has ever advised never looking at the spelling in the early phases. Rather, s/he advocates a) not reading without audio until your pronunciation is good, and b) not reading while you first try to produce sounds. As far as I know, there's no reason not to listen to what you'd like to say several times, while reading along, then shadow without reading.

And a last footnote: aside from sounds I cannot make consistently (basically, trilled non-uvular r's of any variety, and I'm not sure how I'd be with tones these days), I seem to be able to imitate things I hear quite well in languages I don't speak. In languages I do speak to some degree, but have learned largely through reading, I have an entirely messed up mental map of spelling<->sound correlations, and tend to have an accent, often a heavy one. Worse, as I can extract meaning from what is said, I don't hear the sounds correctly, as I'm focusing on the meaning; the better I know the language, the worse this problem is.

In summary: I recommend caution. I'd recommend giving what atamagaii suggests with regard to shadowing a try first, no matter how visual you are. Then, if you want, experiment.

Edited by Volte on 25 May 2008 at 2:02pm
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Volte
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
Joined 6439 days ago
4474 posts - 6726 votes

Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian
Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese

Message 154 of 154

25 May 2008 at 2:35pm | IP Logged

An_atamagaii_by_any_other_name wrote:

Before (re)producing anything orally, you have to hear it. By 'hear' I mean 'be aware phonetically and hear it' - otherwise you're bound to mispronounce it, particularly so when you're looking at the written text. Our brains are lazy, they match what they're hearing and seeing to the nearest image they have already formed, and that usually means your native one.

Many a German will pronounce the word 'wife' /vaif/ instead of /waif/, as in German there is no /w/ sound and the letter 'w' is pronounced /v/.

Similar mistakes recur time and again, ad nauseam. And proper pronunciation is easy to master, if you properly get down to it right from the start.

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