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Mooby’s Polish Slog - Team Żubr - TAC2012

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Vos
Diglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5360 days ago

766 posts - 1020 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Dutch, Polish

 
 Message 49 of 108
09 May 2012 at 2:18am | IP Logged 
Great update as always Mooby, and indeed, the hardest part about learning any language isn't the memorisation of
new rules and vocabulary, but rather the development and forming of a new way of thinking. This is the challenging
aspect, and a challenge it is indeed when it comes to Polish. I think by slowing your conversation down and aiming
for accuracy was indeed a wise move, look how much stuff you learnt and now understand by doing that! Love
reading your posts and as I'm always learning something new also. Keep up the good work.
1 person has voted this message useful



Mooby
Senior Member
Scotland
Joined 5899 days ago

707 posts - 1219 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 50 of 108
09 May 2012 at 10:28am | IP Logged 
Dzięki Vos, pozdrawiam serdecznie :)
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Mooby
Senior Member
Scotland
Joined 5899 days ago

707 posts - 1219 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 51 of 108
15 May 2012 at 8:38pm | IP Logged 
Anki = 2637
Hours Studied = 21 (248)

Getting used to 'Na'
'Na' is one of those ubiquitous little words that all students of Polish will rapidly come across. I primarily associate it with the English word 'on', but it can be used for:
'in'   especially when refering to a place, e.g. 'in Lithuania' (na Litwie). LOCATIVE
'at'   again referring to a place, e.g. 'at university' (na uniwersytecie). LOCATIVE
'to'   a place e.g 'I went to the swimming pool' (poszedłem na basen). ACCUSATIVE. Plus after adjectives e.g 'I was exposed to...' (byłem narażony na...)
'for'   e.g 'for four days' (na cztery dni'). ACCUSTATIVE

There are more, but these are the main ones. I'm slowly developing an almost instinctive understanding as when to use 'na'. It'll just 'sound right' after a while.


THE WORD ALL STUDENTS OF POLISH MUST KNOW
Ok, there are plenty but here's a handy one that I'm noticing more and more:
Odkąd
It means:
1. 'How long' e.g how long have you known him? Odkąd go znasz?
2. 'For as long as' e.g for as long as I can remember Odkąd pamiętam
3. 'Ever since' e.g she returned to Poznan, and he has missed her ever since.
4. 'Since when' e.g since when did smoking in restaurants become illegal?


Other Words of the Week
Jeżyna - 'blackberry'.
Hojny / Szczodry - 'generous' (person, not portion).
Płomień - 'flame' and 'blaze'.
Stany Zjednoczone - 'the United States'.


The Most Embarassing Song That My Polish Friends Don't Want Me To Tell You About   - of the week
The 2012 EURO Football Championships are being held in both Poland and Ukraine this summer. There was a public vote to nominate the official Polish song for this event, and here's what we've ended up with. My Polish friends tell me the song is something about hens and the sound they make. In any case, their reaction was to cover their faces in embarassment !
(It's not that bad is it?).

Pozdrawiam.
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Mooby
Senior Member
Scotland
Joined 5899 days ago

707 posts - 1219 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 52 of 108
31 May 2012 at 11:42am | IP Logged 
Anki = 2704
Hours Studied = 26 (Total: 274)

It's been 2 weeks since my last post and progress has been glacial.
I've been occupied with a room conversion in my house, so study time has been limited.
I can't seem to concentrate on intensive things like grammar. I think it's all the upheaval that's unsettling my routine. So I'm just Anki-ing along in the slow lane with a bit of busuu for light relief.

Words of the Week
Rzeźnik - 'butcher'
Stos - 'pile' / 'stack' e.g of newspapers.
'itd.' - 'etc.' (lit. i tak dalej)
Oporny - 'resistant' [unyielding / unruly] e.g person, donkey.
Odporny - 'resistant' [immune / -proof] e.g immune to infection, water-proof.

Track of the Week
Here's a classic by a pioneer of Polish rock, Tadeusz Nalepa - 'Modlitwa'.
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meramarina
Diglot
Moderator
United States
Joined 5761 days ago

1341 posts - 2303 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: German, Italian, French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 53 of 108
03 June 2012 at 2:50am | IP Logged 
Good work Mooby! I especially like your list of interesting, useful words in each update. I don't have a lot of understanding yet about how Polish words relate to each other, but when I notice a connection I feel happy, encouraged, and very curious to learn more.

For example, just recently I realized that the verb kup to shop, is very close the noun zakupy, or shopping. Yeah, I know, I know, OF COURSE it is - just let me get my little learning fix, even when its result is laughable. ,

I know that languages frequently work that way - it's just logical to reuse similar words or word parts - but even so, when I see that fact in action, especially in a new language, I'm an encouraged little nerd! I love discovering new etymological relationships like this, and I, and, um . . . and ... I admit that I often do . . .

Even very simple examples are rewards and the delight in finding them never diminishes! Oh, now, don't judge me - who of us has not done the same?

But, in other news, I believe I now have that syndrome you wrote about in an earlier post, that is, All Polish Words Sound The Same.

Ah, but that too shall pass . . .

Edited by meramarina on 03 June 2012 at 2:52am

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Mooby
Senior Member
Scotland
Joined 5899 days ago

707 posts - 1219 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 54 of 108
12 June 2012 at 11:30am | IP Logged 
Anki = 2764
Hours Studied = 30 (Total: 304)

Last week I had my first meeting with my new conversation partner Grażyna ('Grace' in English). I spoke in Polish for nearly an hour before petering out, but was greatly encouraged that I manged to keep going that long. I spoke about all sorts of things. Why I was learning Polish, how I looked at the atlas as a boy and would dream of going to faraway places, about my various jobs, my garden, my family. The more I spoke, the more fluent I became and the better my word recall, and the confidence to try a new word or expression, to add a little flourish. Grażyna said she understood me, but of course fluency came at the expense of accuracy. I'm seeing my other partner, Dorota, this lunchtime and I think her approach leans me towards trying for accuracy.
Grażyna then spoke for an hour in near perfect English about her coming to London 8 years ago after a failed business venture in Poland, and her move to Scotland with her husband. They have developed such resilience. It's inspiring to think that she has learnt English to such an advanced level whilst simultaneously struggling to cope with so many things. I look forward to talking with her on Thursday.

I was determined to finish the travel course on Busuu, which I have now completed. So I'll give Busuu a wee break, although I think I'll still do one of their writing excercises every day (= look at a National Geographic photo and write something about it, takes me about 20 minutes and I get loads of corrections).
Now I'm returning to Colloquial Polish, and the focus is on grammar again.



Here's a question for you...
Yes folks it's Quiz night and your chance to win millions.
It's a simple question.
Which of these words means spinach, as in the leafy green vegetable. Is it 1) szpinak or 2) spinacz ?
Answer at the end. No peeking, Mooby's surveillance personnel are watching.




Words of the Week
Kręgosłup - 'spine' / 'backbone'. Great sounding word krengo-swoob
Gotówka - 'cash' as in cold hard money.
Śliski - 'slippery' as in fish, wetfloor etc. The sound of the this word indicates its meaning to me -careful, the steps are sh-lisky!!.
Drażliwy - 'touchy' e.g it's a touchy subject, she's very touchy at the moment so mind what you say.
Po przemyśleniu - 'on second thoughts' e.g I was just going to have toast for breakfast but on second thoughts I'll have sausage, egg and chips. Also means 'after reconsideration' e.g the bank has decided to give them a loan. A handy phrase that I'm determined to slip into my next conversation.
Wpatrywać się - 'to stare' [LOOK INTENTLY] e.g she looked intently at her grandmother's photo.
Gapić się - 'to stare' [GAPE] e.g what are you gaping at? He was staring at her like an idiot.





....and the answer is:
1. szpinak.   
(2.'spinacz' = paper clip). Well done to those who got it right. Sorry, I lied about the millions. Have a few moobies instead.

Na razie.

Edited by Mooby on 12 June 2012 at 1:00pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Mooby
Senior Member
Scotland
Joined 5899 days ago

707 posts - 1219 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 55 of 108
13 June 2012 at 10:05am | IP Logged 
I was checking the word for 'eyelash' (rzęsa) recently, and stumbled across a great Polish idiom:


stanąć na rzęsach = literally 'to stand on one's eyelashes' in other words; 'to go to great lengths'
For example:
Chociażby stanął na rzęsach nic nie pomoże - 'Even if he stood on eyelashes nothing will help'.

It's one thing to stand on your head, but to strain every muscle and stand on your eyelashes (impossible, I know) is the ultimate. I can't wait to put this idiom into conversational use, I just hope that I use it correctly otherwise I'm going to get a lot of bemused Poles staring at me.

Edited by Mooby on 15 June 2012 at 5:47pm

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MerryCrassmas
Bilingual Diglot
Groupie
United States
languagewanderlust.c
Joined 4857 days ago

62 posts - 68 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, English*
Studies: German, Russian, Czech, Polish

 
 Message 56 of 108
15 June 2012 at 9:35am | IP Logged 
Hey guys. I am a few weeks into my Polish journey and I came across two forms of 'because' which are ponieważ vs
'bo' and 'ponieważ'. What is the difference between those. Are they required under special circumstances, or am I
just crazy? :) Thanks for your help!


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