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Mooby’s TAC2013 - Team Żubr - Polish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5900 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 25 of 134 08 March 2013 at 9:32am | IP Logged |
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Anki = 3509
Hours Studied = 28 (Total: 232) I have listened to a lot of Polish TV (Chat show - Mała Czarna and Serial - Samo Życie) this week. If the stages of listening comprehension look like this: 1. Complete non-comprehension. 2. Ability to distinguish individual words but 90% non-recognition 3. Ability to recognise the majority of words but still relying on translation for comprehension. 4. Recognition and simultaneous comprehension of slow speech. 5. Instant comprehension of all speech (apart from unfamiliar dialects or strong accents). Then I am at stage 3. I know that I know most of the words spoken, but my brain is lagging behind with the comprehension of them. Now and again I'll catch a phrase that I'll instantly understand, but more often than not I'll be tempted to translate the conversations in my mind which is way too slow. I'm trying NOT to translate speech because this, for me at least, involves visualising the words and subsequently searching my mind for meaning based on those visual patterns. This is very inefficient when it comes to rapid speech! But very slowly my aural recognition is replacing the need for visualisation. I think I have relied on the visual recognition for so long (especially due to ANKI) that it's become a liability, something I depend on too much. I also think that some the material I'm listening to is too advanced / too fast. I'll still stretch myself with these, but try to find easier material too. I need to start on realpolish soon. Words of the Week Póki - 'while', 'as long as'. I use seasonal fruit while I still can ('korzystam póki jeszcze mogę z sezonowych owoców') Usunięcie - 'removal', 'extraction', 'deletion'. Removal of the tonsils ('usunięcie migdałków'). Oprocentowanie - 'interest' on a loan. Łupież - 'dandruff'. Wymaganie - 'requirement', 'demand'. Women place too high demands on themselves ('kobiety stawiają sobie zbyt wysokie wymagania'). Here's a 40 minute documentary about the actor Zdzisław Maklakiewicz. @MerryCrassmas. I'm not on Facebook but you could contact me here using pm. Lang-8 is quite good for interaction with Poles, but no substitute for real-life conversation of course. Good luck in finding someone. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5900 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 26 of 134 15 March 2013 at 9:37am | IP Logged |
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Anki = 3541
Hours Studied = 25 (Total: 257) Polish is like.... .... walking into a room filled with a delicate mist. A language full of softened consonants, crushed consonants and sibilants that defy capture. Words that dissolve on contact with my brain. Unfamiliar sounds that are so subtle to my untrained ears. In this mist I stumble about looking for solid contact, a reference point, anything that I can grasp and start to build on. Comprehension is in this mist....somewhere. But it eludes those who try to seize it out of frustration, it will not be dominated. Stop! Listen! Don't fight it! Every time I embrace this mist it leaves a tiny deposit of understanding, like a droplet, in my mind. Slowly, after countless hours of passing this vapour through my brain, the deposit gets thicker and more substantial. One day the fog will clear, or rather it will have condensed inside me, coating all nerve synapses with the essence of Polish. Word of the Week Mgła - 'Fog', 'mist' Edited by Mooby on 15 March 2013 at 9:05pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Zireael Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 4446 days ago 518 posts - 636 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, Spanish Studies: German, Sign Language, Tok Pisin, Arabic (Yemeni), Old English | Message 27 of 134 15 March 2013 at 7:39pm | IP Logged |
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I love the comparison. Brilliant!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 4966 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 28 of 134 17 March 2013 at 12:00am | IP Logged |
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Yeah, great comparison! I often associate my language experiences with mist or fog as well. When I read a
book in Polish, even if I understand what everything means, there is still a slight fogginess that would not be there if I were reading in my native language, and I know I'm missing subtle details. But the sun always comes up and gets rid of the fog eventually (or condenses it) if you wait long enough. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5900 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 29 of 134 22 March 2013 at 9:15pm | IP Logged |
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Anki = 3547
Hours Studied = 11 (Total: 268) I had a rather disappointing week, study-wise. Loss of motivation, a painful back and family visits all knocked me out of my routine. When I did study I was rushing it; I'd review Anki sloppily, listen to programs without paying attention and do everything with a mindset of 'let's get this over with'. Needless to say learning was compromised. Pronounce or Die !! My pronunciation has improved but sometimes it still requires a lot of mental effort. Individual words are ok, although there are still a few horrors such as zszywacz ('stapler' as in the office utensil). But speaking at length is tiring as my pronunciation has to cope with the flow of one word into another. Correct pronunciation for people living in medieval Kraków could be a matter of life and death. I read in Adam Zamyoyski's excellent The Polish Way that after decades of German and Bohemian invasion and settlement, Polish troops recaptured Kraków in 1312. They rounded up all the citizens and beheaded those who could not pronounce Polish tongue-twisters they were made to repeat. - How's that for motivation? Help! I need an antidote to Polish.... .... or rather a counterbalance. In my previous post (no.26) I compared Polish with fine mist. My brain has been craving for something more solid, if that makes sense. Maybe it's simply a case that I haven't been immersed in Polish for long enough. But I think there's also a desire to find a contrasting sound, a language with sharp edges as it were. Something with clean, short sounds devoid of crushed-together consonants would be a start. Maybe crisp sounding (to my ears) Italian or Japanese would fit the bill. However, I have no plans to start another language anytime soon, so my brain will just have to grumble a bit longer! Words of the Week Łatwizna informal - 'a piece of cake', 'a cinch', 'a pushover'. Cnotliwy - 'virtuous', 'chaste'. Spełnienie - 'fulfillment'. Love gives a sense of significance and fulfillment ('miłość daje poczucie sensu i spełnienia'). Phrase of the Week O co ci chodzi? - 'What's up with you?', 'What's your problem?', 'What are trying to say?' Track of the Week Here's a track from the acoustic band Dobre Stare Małżeństwo (SDM) Zawirował Świat 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5361 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 30 of 134 23 March 2013 at 7:39am | IP Logged |
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Hey Mooby, How's things? What the Polish did in regards to beheading those who couldn't pronounce Polish
tongue twisters when recapturing Kraków reminded me of what the Dutch used to do during WW2 to figure out if there were German spies amongst them, which was to get them to say Dutch tongue twisters - Tongbrekers (not sure if a beheading would follow if he or she failed, but I'm guessing it didn't turn out well for the person). Crazy! What you mentioned in almost desiring another language with contrasting sounds to that of Polish is indeed something which I experienced when I was only studying Spanish; the answer to that being Dutch. They're practically polar opposites of each other and it's always nice to switch between the two after constant use in one of them. I wonder which language would be a good counterpoint to Polish? I think once I add Polish back into the mix in a year or so from now I'll have a pretty good palette of sounds and rhythms to keep myself entertained and satisfied for years! Veel geluk verder! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5900 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 31 of 134 05 April 2013 at 11:52am | IP Logged |
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Anki = 3607
Hours Studied = 36 (Total:304) It's been 2 weeks since my last log, and my progress is slower than I would have wanted. However, I have to remind myself that I'm not some machine which can automatically churn out consistent results. I was recently encouraged reading Jeff's Japanese Blog to relax more and not beat myself up so much. I spent Easter Sunday with Grażyna, Piotr, Dorota and her son. We enjoyed a vegetarian Żurek i.e no sausages, savoury onion pancakes, wild mushroom pate, homemade bread, beetroot and horseradish mash, yoghurt and gherkins. Sometimes I find Polish food just too sour or pork-centred for my taste, but this meal was really good. I made a Simnel Cake which seemed to go down well with everyone. Then the next day, Easter Monday, I was invited to Aga's to meet her mother-in-law, visiting from Poland. She didn't speak English, so at last I had the opportunity to put my spoken Polish to the test. Then another guest arrived called 'Jusi' (I think that's how her name sounded, short name for Jozefina). She was 93 years old, and as bright as a button. She related, in Polish, her Second World War experiences of working in Stalin's Gulags in Siberia and the copper mines in Khazakstan. She came to Scotland in 1944. I understood about 40% of it, and it gave me a lot of motivation to keep learning. Words of the Week Odwołać perf. - 'to cancel', 'to call off'. They called the match off because of rain ('odwołali mecz z powodu deszczu') Pasztet - 'pate' as in the meat paste. Used colloquially; jaki pasztet! ('What a mess!') Zza - 'behind', 'from behind'. Usually involves movement. E.g the dog emerged from behind the tree. As opposed to za which also means 'behind' but refers to a stationary postion without movement. Zysk - 'profit' economic. This year's profits ('zyski z tego roku') @Vos. I'm really glad that you plan to come back to Polish. As for it's counterpoint I still think Italian would be good. Well done with all your progress in Dutch and Spanish by the way. Powodzenia! Edited by Mooby on 05 April 2013 at 12:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 4966 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 32 of 134 06 April 2013 at 4:18pm | IP Logged |
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My progress has been pretty bad the last few weeks too (I'm kind of scared to see just how bad when I
update my log), and I definitely subscribe to the "not-beating-myself-up" method. It's good to put things into perspective and realize that two weeks of decreased study isn't the end of the world. Anyway, you seem to have had plenty of chances to speak and listen to Polish - 40% is pretty good, especially since informal conversations can be REALLY hard to understand. And now, my two cents concerning counterparts: I think Italian would be a good choice, since it's definitely very different from Polish. And to add a new language to the mix . . . over the last 4/5 years I have been studying Polish and Spanish simultaneously and I think they complement each other very well, too. So you could always consider Spanish, whenever you decide to start another language. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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