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TAC 2013 Team Żubr German and Polish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5905 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 25 of 74 14 April 2013 at 10:43am | IP Logged |
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FK lives!
Thanks for a great update. Motivation ebbs and flows, so well done for hanging in there. I've had to revise my expectations regarding the rate of progress, downwards too. One thing's for sure; it's taking a lot longer than I thought! It took me a lot of listening to distinguish sounds, never mind words, and never mind comprehension. I may understand 70% of a written news item, but less than 30% when spoken. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4169 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 26 of 74 15 May 2013 at 11:50pm | IP Logged |
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Update for May:
German: Actually it has improved significantly within the last month. I had a friend from Germany staying with me for a few weeks, and when we were alone, we did only speak German with each other. I even managed to discuss the politics of the Affordable Care Act, making me pretty confident in saying that my speaking ability is at least in the B-range (otherwise I wouldn't have been able to discuss that subject). It wasn't perfect, grammatically correct, or pretty, but it was understandable. I've also started reading German literature in addition to listening, and this is a great help. I find that doing both really do reinforce each other. I'm currently reading Homo Faber and I just finished Auf Dem Strom (which is a really good first read). Polish: I will be taking a class in Polish this summer for six weeks, so instead of focusing on grammar, I just went back to the beginning making vocabulary lists. I started with just 10 words a day, so that at least I'll have some kind of vocabulary. I'm continuing to listen to recordings on realpolish. When I was away this week, I bought several Polish novels (this bookstore was a language lover's dream come true! I literally sat there on the floor going through all of the books they had. I was so sad that I couldn't buy all of them; that rarely happens with Polish!). I bought Wlodny Diabel (translation from an English book) and Rosyjski Kochanek. I think I'll start with Rosyjski Kochanek, as it's shorter, the print is larger, and with my quick skimming, it just looked like the vocabulary was easier. It will be very interesting to see how I handle reading. Part of me thought I wasn't ready (and I'm probably not), but I've really found that using native materials is a great way to keep myself motivated. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4169 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 27 of 74 18 May 2013 at 12:05am | IP Logged |
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I've been spending some time this week listening on realpolish, and I've listened to the same recordings multiple times. What I've found is that if I repeat the listening, I actually do pick up many more words than I did on the first try. That said, for me, such repetitive listening is incredibly boring! But I think for Polish I really do need to do it, especially because the format is ideal where it has a transcript of the recording and is spoken pretty slowly.
I had a breakthrough (somewhat). I went out shopping and heard someone speaking Polish on his cell phone. I picked out the word "Kupilem" (just pretend the slash is through the "l"). Okay, so it wasn't much, but it was still something! Sometimes it's little tiny moments like that that can do so much to keep the motivation going. What I particularly like is that when I listen and recognize a word, I don't automatically try and translate it. This already puts me ahead of where I was with German; I still struggle with that to a certain extent. I hope this means that as my vocabulary increases that it will come more naturally to me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4169 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 28 of 74 24 May 2013 at 2:05am | IP Logged |
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I'm beginning to think it's important to set concrete goals for Polish learning. By the end of my summer class, I want to be able to "Level Up" (if anyone has seen Moses McCormick doing it, you'll know what I'm talking about) at a Polish deli not too far away from me. I just went there not too long ago and it was fun to see Polish writing and hear Polish being spoken. It made me remember how much I enjoy hearing and seeing the language.
***2 weeks left until the class begins; I'm hoping I can get back into the "school" routine. I'm very excited to spend this much time on the language though!*** 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5905 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 29 of 74 24 May 2013 at 9:29am | IP Logged |
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I'm intrigued by your summer class. Is it local or residential?
I could do with a spell of immersion, ideally with access to English completely severed. I'd probably go into meltdown, which kind of appeals to me! Anyway, tell us in minute detail please, of your experiences :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4169 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 30 of 74 24 May 2013 at 8:09pm | IP Logged |
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My class is at the local university (actually, it's with the Slavic Languages Department at the University of Pittsburgh). The program is six weeks of intensive Polish (and other Slavic/Baltic languages as well). 5 hours of classes, in addition to singing classes where we can learn traditional songs, cooking classes, and movies. The program has a lot of people who participate multiple years in a row, which shows it obviously gets results! I'm extremely excited that I get to participate (it's essentially a six week challenge for me!) I will definitely have to update a lot more when I start!
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| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6956 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 31 of 74 24 May 2013 at 8:38pm | IP Logged |
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God, I wish that I could take that kind of intensive language course. It's not so much the length (I could probably wrangle unpaid leave) but how to justify to my boss about taking an intensive intermediate course in Polish (or Slovak) when my company has all that it can handle with local clientele who speak only English.
Have fun with it. Are you taking the option without 4 weeks in Poland? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4169 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 32 of 74 25 May 2013 at 12:01am | IP Logged |
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I wish I could have stretched it out to take the 4 weeks in Poland, but I already had a hard enough time scheduling hearings around a 6 week period. So I'll do the Pittsburgh only option (at least this year!).
I found out we'll be using "Hurra Po Polsku" as the textbook. Is it really written all in Polish?! This could be quite an interesting time. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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