2018 : My Polish and Italian Journey

[DarrenDaka]

Hi guys

I have decided to change my routine slightly to ensure that both the languages I am learning get an equal amount of learning time , whilst I am cementing the building blocks.

This means that I will spend 3 days with Italian ( Mon,Tue ,Wen) instead of 5 and 3 days with Polish ( Thur, Fri , Sat) instead of 2. This will allow me to have an equal approximate level in both as I will be working through both at an equal rate and I will be putting in the same amount of time for each thus resulting in an equal outcome whereby both are on a similar footing as opposed to one being more "advanced" that the other as a result of greater study time invested.

As I am sure is apparent this is all a learning curve and I hope that if this method of studying 2 languages at the same time in the same routine works out effectively then I will use it in the future for other languages.

I intend to learn a couple of languages to B2 level but not through rushing but through proper invested time. As stated before I do not have a lot of free time as I work full time. As I progress into the 2nd phase of studying It is likely that Italian is going to require daily input via Assimil and therefore both languages will be studied as above with a caveat for ensuring I follow the 1 lesson a day for Assimil Italian. This is due to the fact I have had more exposure to Polish than Italian. Hopefully I will find a program similar to Assimil I can use for Polish as at present I don't speak French and Assimil Polish only comes in the French edition.

At present I am still in phase one and progressing slowly but surely. I intend to keep working on my languages to ensure I have a solid base on which to study and use these languages.

Until Next Time...

[Daniel N.]

I have always had difficulty learning the cases despite trying many different methods and resources. I understand the "theory" of the cases including when to use them , but I am unable to actually use the cases correctly most of the time.

Do you have more problems with specific cases? Like, you always produce accusative correctly, but fail to produce instrumentals correctly?

Do you have more problems with some word classes, e.g. you can always produce case forms of pronouns, but have troubles with adjectives?

[DarrenDaka]

Hi guys

I am now moving into phase 2 of my plan ( a little earlier than planned). In this phase I will be working intensively to "immerse" myself in the language. This way I can expand upon core knowledge and strengthen the fundamentals. I will also be using this log to write pieces of work in the target languages as per the book I will be following .

I would appreciate any hints ,tips and CONSTRUCTIVE feedback from my writings. Particularly from English natives who have come up against these languages before and have developed techniques to deal with problem areas.

Hoping to hear from you guys soon.

Until Next Time.....

[DarrenDaka]

Writing practice : Write a personal profile for a social network. Include your nationality, age and what you do. Write between 40-60 words.

Salve , Mi chiamo Darren. Sono inglese e vivo in inghilterra.Vivo in una cittá si chiama Manchester. Ho 23 anni .Mi piace molto giocare pallacanestero anche vado al piscina. Mi piace insegnare le lingui strangnieri per esmpio studio Italiano e polacco. Vorrei insengnare nove persone e imsegnare circa nove culture. Mi piace molto trovare nove amici .

[garyb]

I'm always a bit hesitant to give corrections since I'm not a native speaker and my Italian is good but not perfect, so keep that in mind, but you did say you'd appreciate feedback from English natives who've learnt your languages.

Vivo in una città che si chiama Manchester.
Mi piace molto giocare a pallacanestro e vado anche in piscina. ("giocare a" is used for games and sports; "in" is usually used with "piscina" unless you're talking about a specific pool like "vado alla piscina comunale").
lingue straniere
esempio
italiano (names of languages start with a small letter, although native speakers often get that wrong)
"Mi piace insegnare le lingui strangnieri per esmpio studio Italiano e polacco." - This doesn't make sense as the example doesn't illustrate the idea; did you mean imparare (to learn) rather than insegnare (to teach)? I'd also put a comma before "per esempio".
"Vorrei insegnare... imsegnare" - again do you mean to learn rather than to teach here?
nuove culture, nuovi amici (nove is the number 9)
"circa nove culture"- circa doesn't make sense here, it means "around" as in "approximately", for example with a number (dictionary also says it can be used in the sense of regarding/concerning/about, but I've never heard that usage in spoken language and it seems quite formal). If you want to say "learn about", the literal translation "imparare su" doesn't always sound good and I think it would sound better paraphrased as something like "conoscere nuove culture" or "scoprire nuove culture" (get to know / discover new cultures).
"trovare nuovi amici" is grammatically correct but doesn't sound very natural IMO. I most often hear "fare nuove amicizie" or "conoscere persone nuove"/"nuove persone" (I'll leave it to a native to explain the difference between "nuove persone" and "persone nuove" here, as I often hear both and I'm not sure! To me "nuove" sounds better before "amicizie" but after "persone", go figure...)

I don't have any more general feedback; I'd just say to learn from these errors, pay attention to gender agreement, and keep up the good work! Learning more natural phrasings just requires a lot of exposure and comes with time.

[DarrenDaka]

Hi thanks for the feedback I really appreciate it!

Q: You are going on Holiday to Poland . Write an email to your friend about what you would like to do.

Hej

Kiedy jedzię do polski chcę spedzić czas z moją rodzinę i przyjecele. Chcę zobaczyć Pozńan i Warszawa. Chiałbym spedzić czas mowienie polskiego z moją rodzinę i przyjecele. Będę mieszkać z moją rodzinę podczas jestem w polce. Będę spedzić czas robiene zakupy z moją rodzinę i przyjeciele. Chcę relaksować z piwo pod słoncem.

As before feedback is appreciated

Untill Next time

[hedgehog.chess]

Hej
Kiedy jedzię do polski chcę spedzić czas z moją rodzinę i przyjecele. Chcę zobaczyć Pozńan i Warszawa. Chiałbym spedzić czas mowienie polskiego z moją rodzinę i przyjecele. Będę mieszkać z moją rodzinę podczas jestem w polce. Będę spedzić czas robiene zakupy z moją rodzinę i przyjeciele. Chcę relaksować z piwo pod słoncem.

.
Here are some corrections. Although I’m a native Polish speaker I don’t know much about grammar. I‘m just a mere user of the language so I won’t unfortunately give you expert grammar advice.

Hej/Cześć
Kiedy jadę do Polski chcę spędzić czas z moją rodziną i przyjaciółmi. Chcę zobaczyć Poznań(my hometown by the way) i Warszawę. Chciałbym spędzić czas mowiąc po polsku z moją rodziną i przyjaciółmi. Będę mieszkać z moją rodziną podczas gdy jestem w Polsce. Będę spędzać czas robiąc zakupy z moją rodziną i przyjaciółmi. Chcę się relaksować pijąc piwo w słońcu.(Sounds more natural)

Just to make it clear- I could understand without problems what you meant, so the message was delivered. You just missed the details like wrong noun endings resulting from wrong case usage, and some typos.

All the names of countries and nationalities are written with a capital letter.(but the adjectives originating from them for example "język polski" not ). An we decline the names of countries, cities and so on. Just like a normal noun.

I just want to point out a construction with spędzać czas + verb with a –ąc ending. At first I wanted to explain it that you could just use the imperative and then just add –ąc, but already the verb robić causes problems (imperative “Rób!”). and the more I thought about it the more exceptions I found.

One more thing. In Polish we lay in the sun( w słońcu) just like in English or na słońcu.

I hope I haven't confused you more than I helped.

Keep up the good work!

[DarrenDaka]

Q: Write a short blog , in which you describe a pub/diner/wine bar to an Italian audience. Write between 40-65 Words.

In inghilterra abbiamo molti pub. C'e molto interessanti posti. Vogli é possibile mangare il cibo e bevere alcoholico beri. Spesso chiacciare con i tu amici dopo lavoro. Posso mangare i cibi per esempio la porta di carne o di pesci o la porta tradizionale inglese ( pesce i patate fritte). Secondo me pub sono noiso i mi piace club dove posso ballare con i mei amici i bervo alcocholico beri.


Until Next time .....

[DarrenDaka]

Q: Write your social media network profile in Polish (80-100 words).

Cześć , mam na imię Darren. Jestem anglikiem.Mieszkam w manchesterze Pracuję jako pielęgniarka. Lubię pływać ,czytać książki i od czasu do czasu grać koszykówkę. W wolnym czasie lubię uczyć się obcy język n.p. Polskiego , i Włoskiego. Spędzę mojego czasu ogladanie teliwizije i Netflix. Lubię seriale fantastyczny n. p. shadowhunters, harry potter Itd. Też lubię uczyć się o filozofia n.p. Stocism. Uwiebiam uczyć się o nowych perspectiwy i opina życia i oczywieście kultury.

Do nastepnego razu .....

Feedback is welcome as long is it is constructive. Any helpful hints and learning guidance is most welcome!

[DarrenDaka]

Q: Imagine you work for an Italian University newspaper. Write an article describing a typical day in the life of a university student from your country (40-60 words).

I am looking for some help with this really . I want something that flows and sounds good but I cant really put anything into words at the moment. I will come back to this and try and attempt this exercise at another time but I would like to see how some of you guys answer this question and how you organise your writing.

Until next time...