Poland, Italy, and then back In New York after years abroad
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:56 am
Hello everyone!
I post in this forum off and on, but I decided to finally make a log in order to keep track of exactly what I am doing to learn Polish.
Exactly a week ago I moved with my girlfriend to Łódź Poland, (she's Polish,) and as a language lover, I am going crazy because my communication skills are so limited.
I've never studied a Slavic language before. I've never even dabbled in one. I started to "flirt" with Polish back in February when I was living in Argentina, and I learned the basics, (maybe about ~100 words, some basic verb conjugations, the spelling system etc.) However, I stopped studying almost entirely during March and April, and started studying about 2-3 hours a day in May, (since I knew I was coming to Poland.)
I honestly really love the language. It sounds beautiful, and everyone I've met is super helpful and really cool, so I'm really trying to eventually get Polish up to a B2-C1 level. I know this will take a long time, but I'm willing to put in the effort. Now that I can understand some Polish I am realizing how closely related to other slavic languages Polish is. This is the perfect opportunity right now for me to get into another language family, so I'm jumping at this opportunity that's been afforded to me.
Polish is a very tricky language for me.
Every time I try to say something that's not super simple, people don't understand what I mean. I have a pretty decent vocabulary, and can conjugate the verbs well, but the way the language works is still is so mysterious.
I hang out with her friends and family often, and I get many opportunities to speak, but my level is still ~A2.
Here's my daily study routine.
1. Babbel's beginner lessons, just to get a better handle on the basics. (I got a free year long membership for doing a commercial for them.)
2. Assimil Le Polonais sans Peine. I am only on lesson 18, I've been doing it at a snails pace so that I can really absorb all the details of the lesson.
3. ANKI ANKI ANKI ANKI. I can't stress how much Anki has helped with the vocabulary and memorizing sentences. I put in all the new vocabulary, and probably use Anki for an hour a day, (I do it throughout the day in chunks, not all at once.)
4. ONE CASE A WEEK, (starting today haha) This week I'm working on the genitive (Dopełniacz). I understand when to use all the cases (like 75% of the time), but my problems is remembering how to properly decline the nouns.
I also have a very short attention span, so here's what I do: Every few weeks, (or whenever I feel like I'm getting burnt out,) I switch to a different resource.
These are the resources I have...
- Babbel, (which is a surprisingly decent software, I really thought it was going to be garbage.)
- Assimil
- Polish for Dummy's (haven't started it yet.)
- Anki
- http://www.lektorek.org
Thanks everyone! I'm going to post again soon when I've finished my studies for the day, and I'll write about what I did.
I post in this forum off and on, but I decided to finally make a log in order to keep track of exactly what I am doing to learn Polish.
Exactly a week ago I moved with my girlfriend to Łódź Poland, (she's Polish,) and as a language lover, I am going crazy because my communication skills are so limited.
I've never studied a Slavic language before. I've never even dabbled in one. I started to "flirt" with Polish back in February when I was living in Argentina, and I learned the basics, (maybe about ~100 words, some basic verb conjugations, the spelling system etc.) However, I stopped studying almost entirely during March and April, and started studying about 2-3 hours a day in May, (since I knew I was coming to Poland.)
I honestly really love the language. It sounds beautiful, and everyone I've met is super helpful and really cool, so I'm really trying to eventually get Polish up to a B2-C1 level. I know this will take a long time, but I'm willing to put in the effort. Now that I can understand some Polish I am realizing how closely related to other slavic languages Polish is. This is the perfect opportunity right now for me to get into another language family, so I'm jumping at this opportunity that's been afforded to me.
Polish is a very tricky language for me.
Every time I try to say something that's not super simple, people don't understand what I mean. I have a pretty decent vocabulary, and can conjugate the verbs well, but the way the language works is still is so mysterious.
I hang out with her friends and family often, and I get many opportunities to speak, but my level is still ~A2.
Here's my daily study routine.
1. Babbel's beginner lessons, just to get a better handle on the basics. (I got a free year long membership for doing a commercial for them.)
2. Assimil Le Polonais sans Peine. I am only on lesson 18, I've been doing it at a snails pace so that I can really absorb all the details of the lesson.
3. ANKI ANKI ANKI ANKI. I can't stress how much Anki has helped with the vocabulary and memorizing sentences. I put in all the new vocabulary, and probably use Anki for an hour a day, (I do it throughout the day in chunks, not all at once.)
4. ONE CASE A WEEK, (starting today haha) This week I'm working on the genitive (Dopełniacz). I understand when to use all the cases (like 75% of the time), but my problems is remembering how to properly decline the nouns.
I also have a very short attention span, so here's what I do: Every few weeks, (or whenever I feel like I'm getting burnt out,) I switch to a different resource.
These are the resources I have...
- Babbel, (which is a surprisingly decent software, I really thought it was going to be garbage.)
- Assimil
- Polish for Dummy's (haven't started it yet.)
- Anki
- http://www.lektorek.org
Thanks everyone! I'm going to post again soon when I've finished my studies for the day, and I'll write about what I did.