Russian and Polish log

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guiguixx1
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Russian and Polish log

Postby guiguixx1 » Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:41 pm

Having made a log on HTLAL, which I didn't keep up during the past few months, I'll begin a new one on this website where I am quite new.

After learning English, Dutch, Spanish, German, Italian, Esperanto and Portuguese (though sometimes at just A2 level), I have chosen to go for Polish and Russian this time, for the coming year. I've wanted to learn Russian ever since I began learning languages, and Polish ever since I met a Polish friend who started learning French last year

My goal? Utopically getting to A1-A2 in both languages by June 2016. Just kidding! Let's be serious and realistic! I have no idea how long it will take me to "get by" in these two languages, by I would like not to take more than 2 years for both languages together. My goal is only to be able to handle a bit these languages, get by in Poland and Russia, without speaking too well. A2 would be great for now. I'm not aiming at reading a book or speaking fluently for now. I just want to have a good command of the basics

What have I done so far? Last year I studied the first 14 lessons of the Polish Assimil book. I of course forgot most of it. Now, I'm using the Duolingo course, and am finding it quite funny, funnier than Russian which, although not too difficult as far as the alphabet is concerned, still difficult when trying to understand how to make declinaisons.... I hope that it's just a matter of time and getting used to it.

What I plan to do? Mainly use Duolingo every day, depending on how much time I have and how much vocab I encounter. I am also using the Polish Assimil, but without any planning concening how many lessons a day I will cover. I will maybe buy the assimil Russian as well. I also have the Russe en 90 jours, as well as the Harrap's for Russian.

For the coming month, I don't know how much I will work on it, since I have exams until Jan 22nd. I will just study during my breaks

I hope that you will be able to give me advice on how to learn and what material to use, since Polish and Russian are not at all the kind of languages that I've already tried
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tangleweeds
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Re: Russian and Polish log

Postby tangleweeds » Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:33 pm

Hi, I've just begun to learn Russian, and one week in I'm really liking the Assimil course. I don't know where you are on the planet, but we got a great deal on mine at Schoenhof's, where they are selling off remaining stock of the blue edition (last year's model, I guess).
http://www.schoenhofs.com/Russian-with-Ease-Super-Back_p_40696.html
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guiguixx1
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Re: Russian and Polish log

Postby guiguixx1 » Thu Dec 17, 2015 8:31 pm

I seem to suck at filling in my information (location, languages, ...). I still haven't figured that out, though I have been scanning the website for hours...

I live in Belgium and am a native speaker of French ;)
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Arnaud
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Re: Russian and Polish log

Postby Arnaud » Thu Dec 17, 2015 9:02 pm

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Last edited by Arnaud on Tue Sep 13, 2016 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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guiguixx1
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Re: Russian and Polish log

Postby guiguixx1 » Thu Dec 17, 2015 10:23 pm

I think I'll give more attention to Polish for now, because it's simply easier: no new sounds, no new alphabet, and somehow, it's easier to remember vocab using mnemotechnic methods. I can remember virtually all Polish words on duolingo, while it's much harder in Russian...
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guiguixx1
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Re: Russian and Polish log

Postby guiguixx1 » Sat Dec 19, 2015 1:18 pm

Yesterday, having some free time, I spent some time on duolingo (Polish). I worked on quite a lot of words, but since the tips and grammar-related sections are not avaliable yet, I struggle to understand how to declinate words and adjectives. I wonder if I should not just wait a bit for this to be avaliable. In the meantime, I would simply work on my Assimil book, and tackle a bit of Russian on Duolingo.

Wanting to do something else for a change, I gave the Norwegian course on Duolingo a try. It's a language that I want to learn someday, although without any priority. I did some lessons, and it seems so easy... I suppose it would get harder further on, because up to now, it even seems as easy as Esperanto.... But of course, my strong Dutch knowledge helps quite a bit!
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lusan
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Re: Russian and Polish log

Postby lusan » Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:20 pm

guiguixx1 wrote:to Polish for now, because it's simply easier: no new sounds,...


What about "rz, cz, dz, dż, sz, ń, szcz, brz, chw, ę, ą" ?

Some could be real challenge.
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guiguixx1
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Re: Russian and Polish log

Postby guiguixx1 » Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:26 pm

These letter combinations may seem a bit frightening at first glance, indeed, but the only difficulty with them is to associate them with their pronounciation. Most of these sounds already exist in my native language, so they don't really represent a difficulty :)
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guiguixx1
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Posts: 190
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:10 pm
Location: Belgium
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Re: Polish and Italian log

Postby guiguixx1 » Mon Dec 21, 2015 7:12 pm

Ever since my last post I mainly re-worked on the lessons I had already covered last year in my Assimil book for Polish. I'm now at lesson 10. I have tried some grammar study on the declinations, but I'm quite overwhelmed by the quantity of things to study, all the different endings, etc, so I mainly work on the texts of the lessons and the notes, try to remember the vocab, do the exercices, ... That's already something. I will work like this while waiting for the Duolingo course to add some grammar tips. I still look at the grammar part of the book from time to time, but I'm not trying to study it. I'll let it sink in for now. I prefer to take some time to get accustomed to the easy parts of the language first, and not to try and swallow everything at once. Things will anyways get clearer with time.

Although I focus on Polish, I've already began to work again on my Italian tree on duolingo (I was at 1/3-1/4 of the course). Although I should be around A2 level actively, and B2 passive, I begin to get fustrated of not being able to speak it properly, so I'll use the duolingo course for that in the meantime, while using the Assimil for Polish. I plan to finish the Italian tree in a couple of months (I still have 315 lessons to cover...I'd like to cover 10 lessons a day, to finish the tree within a month, but with Polish and my exams, I doubt to have the time. I'll just do what I can, and I'll finish accordingly. I have no rush anyway
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t123
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Re: Polish and Italian log

Postby t123 » Mon Dec 21, 2015 8:25 pm

guiguixx1 wrote:I have tried some grammar study on the declinations, but I'm quite overwhelmed by the quantity of things to study, all the different endings, etc, so I mainly work on the texts of the lessons and the notes, try to remember the vocab, do the exercices, ... That's already something.


I put this together to help with Polish declinations, the data comes from here.
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