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Reasons to learn Polish | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | Polish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| koba Heptaglot Senior Member AustriaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5873 days ago 118 posts - 201 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, French | Message 1 of 8 29 September 2010 at 9:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm considering taking Polish as my next foreign language. I have polish friends, I know some polish music, but that's pretty much all. I just feel very attracted to it. I find the written part very distinguished and beautiful, with all those consonants and special characters together and the language also sounds very exotic and it pleases me very much. I just wonder if it will be really useful and enjoyable for me after learning it. I guess Russian would be a better choice here since it has more native speakers and more resources, but I still like Polish better.
So, all in all, why should I learn Polish? And besides that, are there good resources for learning it? The only course I know is Assimil Polnisch Ohne Mühe, and Assimil in general is very good, at least the copies I've laid my hands on. So, I'd appreciate if anyone could give me some advice and specially, something that would motivate me to learn it. Edited by koba on 29 September 2010 at 9:19am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6110 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 2 of 8 29 September 2010 at 10:52am | IP Logged | |||||
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There may be plenty more reasons to study Russian if you are mainly interested in reading or travel. But if you want to speak the language and you already have Polish friends then that is a big motivating factor. Polish is far more useful to me than say French, German or even Russian because there are so many Polish immigrants settling in the UK. Many have returned to Poland, but plenty still come and stay long-term. But regardless of how useful it is, like you, I love the sound of Polish and learning is very rewarding. It is difficult so you have to be prepared to study it very intensively at the beginning. So yes, you are right to examine your motives for thinking about learning it, because if they're not strong enough they'll evaporate once you hit 'Mount Grammar'.
I think Chung listed a lot of study materials in a Polish Profile thread here, about 2 years ago. I used Pimsleur, Colloquial Polish (Mazur), Polish Grammar (Dana Bielec), Hurra Po Polsku and Oscar Swan (downloadable grammar). There are lots of lessons on You Tube as well. Also, buy a couple of children's books in Polish and just read them (scanning and intensive), it's a big help in overcoming the scary look of all those consonant clusters! Edited by Mooby on 29 September 2010 at 10:54am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5674 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 8 29 September 2010 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
We could give you plenty of reasons why we would want to learn polish, but they would only pump you up with a short burst of excitement. That would fade quickly. Learning a language is a very long term commitment, and for that you need either necessity or passionate desire. In other words there are really only two reasons to learn a language: 1: because you have to - due to continual external pressure - such as being in a country where nobody speaks your language, and you have to learn the local language to survive 2: because you deeply, passionately, want to - and this is the much tougher form of motivation, because there is only internal pressure (i.e. your will power) to keep you going 7 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cesare M. Senior Member Canada youtube.com/user/CheRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5175 days ago 99 posts - 135 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 8 29 September 2010 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well as for me I am fluent in Ukrainian and so that's why I want to learn Polish; because it's very similar.
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| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7161 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 5 of 8 29 September 2010 at 9:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
Not necessarily. Russian isn't a better choice for YOU even if it were backed by the most extensive set of learning resources in the world. You seem to be leaning more toward Polish for other reasons (i.e. Polish friends, interest in Polish music, affinity for sounds of Polish) and that may be enough to trump whatever advantages Russian has for other prospective learners of languages.
Splog gave a neat summary about how to think about why anyone should learn Polish (or any language for that matter). It's very much a personal matter and whichever language you should choose should be one that YOU want to learn, rather than to do it largely because some strangers on the Internet directed you toward it. I have listed before some good resources as mentioned above, but because I'm a bit lazy to find the old threads where I've consumed bandwidth on the matter, here's some decent stuff (in my experience) off the top of my head that should be good for a beginner. 1) Free and usable online or downloadable: polish.slavic.pitt.edu/ (homepage of Prof. Oscar Swan's Polish materials including online textbook for first-year students called "First-Year Polish Course") www.oneness.vu.lt/en/ (interactive courses for beginners in a few European languages including Polish) www.let.rug.nl/~houtzage/polish.html (Parallel texts of Polish with matching English, Russian and Dutch translations) seelrc.org:8080/grammar/pdf/compgrammar_polish.pdf (downloadable reference manual on Polish grammar) www.wordreference.com/plen/ (Polish dictionary at WordReference) www.ling.pl/ (large set of Polish dictionaries) www.logosconjugator.org/ (verb conjugator for Polish (click on the Polish flag)) 2) Neither free nor electronic/online but worthwhile Collins English-Polish Polsko-Angielski Dictionary (Jacek Fisiak et al.) Polish: An Essential Grammar (Dana Bielec) Czesc, jak sie masz? (Parts 1 & 2) (Wladyslaw Miodunka) Hurra po polsku! (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (Agnieszka Burkat et al.) (These last two are textbooks really meant for instruction in a classroom but with some effort or ingenuity they can be adapted for use by an independent learner) 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| koba Heptaglot Senior Member AustriaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5873 days ago 118 posts - 201 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, French | Message 6 of 8 02 October 2010 at 1:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think I will follow your advice and take Polish as my next language.
Polish is a language that fascinates me, and I can't really explain why. It was like love at first sight. I think all that I need now is to get to know more about the country and the culture itself, perhaps some famous authors or music that is worth listening to? I'd appreciate. What i'm looking for at the moment is more stuff about Poland and Polish that would encourage me and motivate me to study it, but it's definitely in my wish list and a language that I want to study. Chung: Thanks for all these resources. I have started collecting learning materials for Polish already and these are of great help! Edited by koba on 02 October 2010 at 1:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5303 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 7 of 8 02 October 2010 at 1:29am | IP Logged | |||||
I think this is a good reason and makes learning the new language much easier. But there are some specific difficulties, too: Brazilians (sometimes) complain that Spanish speakers (sometimes) just use their Spanish with an occasional -ão or ficar and think they are speaking Portuguese ... Many things look familiar and are very different. So (quite) some patience and time is needed even in such easier cases, if one does not want to make many mistakes without ever even noticing them. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5224 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 8 of 8 02 October 2010 at 2:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Why Polish: ?
I have a Polish language buddy and therefore a wide circle of Polish friends all of whom are delighted but also find it a little strange that an English person should want to learn their language. I studied a Russian previously but it has gone rusty. There has been a substantial influx of Polish people into the UK. Excellent resource list Chung: wish I'd had that when I first started! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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