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TAC 2013 Team Żubr German and Polish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4168 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 33 of 74 02 June 2013 at 10:58pm | IP Logged |
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So the class begins tomorrow. Six weeks of full-time Polish; I just received the syllabus today, which of course was completely in Polish. Just for better comparison, here's where I am now:
Cases are fine. I at least understand the concepts of them, and can recognize which one is being used in writing. My vocabulary is limited to extremely basic words, and forget actually being able to speak and converse! The total number for the summer is 150 hours in class, with additional time spent on homework and assignments. Wish me luck! I'll continue posting throughout the time! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5904 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 34 of 74 02 June 2013 at 11:19pm | IP Logged |
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In just a few hours you'll be in orbit - I hereby duly wish you the best of luck!
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| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 4970 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 35 of 74 03 June 2013 at 2:41am | IP Logged |
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Powodzenia! The class sounds like it's going to be awesome - I can't wait to read about your experiences!
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| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4168 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 36 of 74 06 June 2013 at 3:23am | IP Logged |
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I've completed three days of classes. There are about 9 of us, all beginners, with two teachers. Actually, I think for the first time in my language learning experience, I'm actually slightly ahead instead of way behind. We've been focusing a lot on the sounds and pronunciation; I'm pretty proud of myself, because I really haven't had too much trouble. We have to keep a vocabulary journal of all the new words we're learning, which is extremely important for me. I haven't been very good at keeping up with vocabulary, so this is good because it forces me to try and remember it. Today, Oscar Swan (First Year Polish author) came and showed us how to use the online dictionary on the University's website. It's extremely comprehensive and he even has news articles and literature keyed to the dictionary. You could describe it as a Learning with Texts idea, just with the dictionary instead of bilingual texts. It may be way above my level, but I think I'll try using it anyway.
One thing of particular value to me over the last three days: NUMBERS! Even just going 1 through 10, there's something incredibly valuable about actually knowing the numbers and saying them with confidence. I'm finding that I'm much more confident in my speaking ability (however low it may be), and I have much less hesitation than I did in the previous classes. I'm also the oldest, and the only one not in school anymore, so maybe it's a psychological thing! Whatever it is, I'm glad I'm not so afraid of speaking! Friday we have our first singing class! Considering I'm a singer, I'm really looking forward to it! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5904 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 37 of 74 06 June 2013 at 8:37am | IP Logged |
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It's all sounding good, I wish I could join you!
I use the University of Pittsburgh Dictionary a lot, and really appreciate the declension and conjugation tables. However, I've never checked the site's library until I read your article FK - it's got some very interesting material. Ahh....numbers - Good luck in declining 1,2,3 and 4 !! Thanks for the update, please tell us about your singing class later. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4168 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 38 of 74 09 June 2013 at 12:45am | IP Logged |
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Week 1 Review:
Thankfully, our teachers were pretty easy with us this week as far as grammar and homework goes. Of course, in previewing the coming weeks, that will change immediately! This week was primarily focused on hearing the sounds, spelling, counting, conjugations, and noun/adjective agreement. Yesterday we had our singing time. Actually it was pretty helpful in having correct pronunciation, and most of us who are complete beginners knew quite a bit of what was being said in the song. Our teacher chose one of the pop hits. It really is amazing how much you can really understand even with just basic vocabulary. Of course, because I've only sung classical music for the last 14 years or so, the result of me trying to sing pop was...lets just say less than pretty! We will do this every Friday where we sing different Polish songs. This is very helpful in learning vocabulary, hearing the correct pronunciation, and is a really great bonding exercise. It's so much fun to see your teachers and the director of the entire program singing and playing instruments. After singing yesterday, we went and prepared food for the picnic that our class was hosting. We made Polish potato salad, open-faced sandwiches, and had a caterer bring in pierogies. VERY good! Grammar-wise, this week was fairly easy for me, because I'm not really starting from zero. But I can hear how my pronunciation is improving. I could hear a bit of a difference between the ci/cz etc. sounds, but I certainly couldn't reproduce it. After practicing, I really can hear and feel the differences when I speak slowly. Next week starts the cases: Instrumental and Accusative for now! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4168 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 39 of 74 16 June 2013 at 4:27pm | IP Logged |
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Week 2:
So I understand cases; the concept of cases, how endings change, etc. Noun and adjective endings really aren't "that" difficult for me. However, one thing I didn't consider...Polish not only has different endings for nouns and adjectives, it also has different personal and possessive pronoun forms for each case. I completely forgot about that part! Another fun moment of Polish...irregular nouns. what I mean is nouns such as "przyjaciólmi" which seemingly have no reason for being formed differently, and there doesn't even seem to be a way to predict which ones will be irregular or how to form them. So you just have to memorize them! We just had our first test on Friday, which surprisingly went pretty well. No surprises or big shocks on that one. Tomorrow all of us have to give a presentation talking about our family members. We also learned the Polish national anthem last week. One problem I've run into that I didn't expect to have: Language interference. I suppose I shouldn't call it "interference," but quite often when I want to say something and I can't remember the Polish word, German comes out. It's not as though I actually think the German word is correct, it just happens automatically. The same thing happens when I want to ask a question: I have to consciously make an effort to ask it in English. For some reason which I don't understand, German is the language my brain has associated with learning Polish. There is really no reason for this, as all of my Polish studying has been through English sources, so I'm not sure why this continually happens. It's a very frustrating place to be, because I almost feel as though my Polish vocabulary can't improve if I keep thinking in German. I wonder if anyone else here has had a similar experience with this happening. Now that I think of it, this is probably part of the reason why my motivation dropped; because it was too much of an effort to think in Polish, and when I wanted to use Polish vocabulary, German came out instead. If anyone has had this happen and overcame it, I would really be interested in knowing if there was anything particular that you did or if it's something that just passes on its own. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4168 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 40 of 74 16 June 2013 at 9:38pm | IP Logged |
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Just for fun, and for comparison purposes later, here is what I wrote for my presentation tomorrow (names changed/abbreviated).
-------------------------------------------------------- Mam na imię Fuenf_Katzen. Mam 26 lat i jest prawnikiem. Mieszkam i pracuję w Pittsburgh, i mam pięć kotów, Clara Tessie, Bert, Ernie, i Beata. Mam tylko małą rodzinę. Oni mieszkają w Filadelfi. Moja mama ma na imię D. Ona ma 58 lat i jest robotnikiem. Ona pracuje w supermarketecie. Interesuje się czytaniem i bardzo lubi romantyczne książki. Ona ma tylko matkę. Jej mama, moja babcia, ma na imię J, ma 91 lat, i jest emerytką. Jej tata nie żyje. Mój tata ma na imię T. On ma 62 lata i jest kierowcą. On interesuje się samochodami i filmami obcymi, ale nie interesuje się czytaniem. Jego rodzice mają na imię T i W, ale niestety nie żyją. Mam też brata i siostrę. Moja siostra ma na imię C, ma 25 lat, i jest urzędniczką. Pracuje w szpitalu. Lubi podróżować, ale niestety nie może podróżować. Mój brat ma na imię T. Ma 16 lat i jest uczeniem. Lubi muzykę popularną i filmy. -------------------------------------- Okay, so nothing incredibly sophisticated or profound, but it's a start! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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