Re: Drp9341's Polish (and Italian, French, Spanish & Portuguese!) Log!
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 1:35 pm
wow. It's been a long time since I've updated this language log. I'm still studying Polish though
Less than a week after getting back to Poland from my trip to the Ukraine, I went back to NYC for 2 weeks for one of my best friends weddings. When I was there I didn't speak Polish at all. I watched one Polish movie, but watched it for pleasure with English subs and that was all.
When I came back to Poland however, we stayed at my girlfriends family's house for 4 days, and went to a wedding. I was completely shocked with my Polish. I was speaking extremely well, (even when I wasn't indulging in vodka at the wedding.)
It was like the 2 weeks away had somehow fermented the Polish that was in my head, it was a very weird experience. I was able to talk to everyone socially without making many mistakes or searching for words. I understood WAY more than I understood before I went back to the US, and because of this was able to feel 100% comfortable in conversations. It was very strange how this happened.
I moved to Warsaw 2 weeks ago, and since then haven't been forced to speak Polish daily. Although I do use Polish whenever I go out, and whenever it's possible. I have been studying, still (~2 hours a day, maybe more, maybe less certain days.) I am worried that my skills are going to decrease however.
One thing that worries me is that almost everyone my age (24) speaks English very well, and are very eager to practice their English in social situations. I'm hoping to improve my Polish quickly so my relationships don't fall into the trap of being English only, (although it may already be too late.)
I started reading Harry Potter the other day, and I don't know, on average, about 12 words a page. I am continuing to put lots of wrods and sentences into Anki, however I'm honestly getting bored of Anki.
I really love Anki and it's the most useful program for me in my situation, however I can't help the fact that I'm getting so tired of it. I can't do it for more than 10 minutes at a time without finding an excuse to do something else, (like writing this post, for example,) which kind of scares me. I don't know what will happen if I stop using Anki.
For example, Anki helps with remembering the small details, the details that I wont get corrected through speaking or listening, like saying "Dużo ludzie," instead of "Dużo ludzi." If I was speaking I couldn't hear the difference, which would probably cause that error to become fossilized. Since Polish grammar is so tricky, I'm trying to nip all my errors at the bud by using Anki instead of fixing them when I feel "B2-C1" but I'm actually not, because when I speak, I have grammar like a 6 year old.
I've seen this happen to people here who speak English. They learn English with their boyfriends or girlfriends from Spain or Italy etc. and they speak super fluently and can understand everything, but say things like "Now I must study because in the other way I will not study." or things like "He has right" instead of "He is right." I've worked with people like these teaching them English and getting those fossilized errors to go away takes a LOT more effort than just learning it correctly in the beginning.
I'm thinking of taking an Anki break for like a week maybe, and then see if that helps with my motivation to come back to it. I'll keep everyone updated
[EDIT]
I forgot to talk about my Portuguese revival. So I'm back teaching on iTalki. I forgot how much I used Portuguese on iTalki. This week I had a student who was A1-A2 and needed me to speak Portuguese to explain some things and talk about scheduling, prices etc. I forgot SO MUCH Portuguese. Thankfully, I spent a lot of time replying to students messages and reading, watching some stuff online in Portuguese. I also wrote out some stuff in Portuguese, which really helped. Hopefully it will come back, and hopefully it won't interfere with my learning Polish since I usually have about 2 hours a day of students who prefer that we do some stuff in Portuguese.
Less than a week after getting back to Poland from my trip to the Ukraine, I went back to NYC for 2 weeks for one of my best friends weddings. When I was there I didn't speak Polish at all. I watched one Polish movie, but watched it for pleasure with English subs and that was all.
When I came back to Poland however, we stayed at my girlfriends family's house for 4 days, and went to a wedding. I was completely shocked with my Polish. I was speaking extremely well, (even when I wasn't indulging in vodka at the wedding.)
It was like the 2 weeks away had somehow fermented the Polish that was in my head, it was a very weird experience. I was able to talk to everyone socially without making many mistakes or searching for words. I understood WAY more than I understood before I went back to the US, and because of this was able to feel 100% comfortable in conversations. It was very strange how this happened.
I moved to Warsaw 2 weeks ago, and since then haven't been forced to speak Polish daily. Although I do use Polish whenever I go out, and whenever it's possible. I have been studying, still (~2 hours a day, maybe more, maybe less certain days.) I am worried that my skills are going to decrease however.
One thing that worries me is that almost everyone my age (24) speaks English very well, and are very eager to practice their English in social situations. I'm hoping to improve my Polish quickly so my relationships don't fall into the trap of being English only, (although it may already be too late.)
I started reading Harry Potter the other day, and I don't know, on average, about 12 words a page. I am continuing to put lots of wrods and sentences into Anki, however I'm honestly getting bored of Anki.
I really love Anki and it's the most useful program for me in my situation, however I can't help the fact that I'm getting so tired of it. I can't do it for more than 10 minutes at a time without finding an excuse to do something else, (like writing this post, for example,) which kind of scares me. I don't know what will happen if I stop using Anki.
For example, Anki helps with remembering the small details, the details that I wont get corrected through speaking or listening, like saying "Dużo ludzie," instead of "Dużo ludzi." If I was speaking I couldn't hear the difference, which would probably cause that error to become fossilized. Since Polish grammar is so tricky, I'm trying to nip all my errors at the bud by using Anki instead of fixing them when I feel "B2-C1" but I'm actually not, because when I speak, I have grammar like a 6 year old.
I've seen this happen to people here who speak English. They learn English with their boyfriends or girlfriends from Spain or Italy etc. and they speak super fluently and can understand everything, but say things like "Now I must study because in the other way I will not study." or things like "He has right" instead of "He is right." I've worked with people like these teaching them English and getting those fossilized errors to go away takes a LOT more effort than just learning it correctly in the beginning.
I'm thinking of taking an Anki break for like a week maybe, and then see if that helps with my motivation to come back to it. I'll keep everyone updated
[EDIT]
I forgot to talk about my Portuguese revival. So I'm back teaching on iTalki. I forgot how much I used Portuguese on iTalki. This week I had a student who was A1-A2 and needed me to speak Portuguese to explain some things and talk about scheduling, prices etc. I forgot SO MUCH Portuguese. Thankfully, I spent a lot of time replying to students messages and reading, watching some stuff online in Portuguese. I also wrote out some stuff in Portuguese, which really helped. Hopefully it will come back, and hopefully it won't interfere with my learning Polish since I usually have about 2 hours a day of students who prefer that we do some stuff in Portuguese.