Learning Polish

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Useful resources for learning Polish

Here are the things which I have used the most in practice.

Contents

Introductory books

  • Beginning Polish, Alexander Schenker, Yale University.

Dry but good from the 1970's, still findable, with lots of good drill practice and ots of info about regional pronunciation differences. http://www.cls.yale.edu/polish/ has mp3's of all the original cassette tapes that came with this book.

  • Polish in 4 Weeks, Marzena Kowalska.

The title is total false advertising, but it's pleasant and useful and comes with an audio CD. Also available in other major languages, not just English.

  • We Learn Polish, by various authors.

Also comes with audio CD and separate book of drill exercises, and also available in other major languages, not just English.

  • Czesc, jak sie masz, part of a large series of books published by Universitas.

Includes audio CD.

  • Colloquial Polish (B. W. Mazur) and Teach Yourself Polish are easy to find in bookstores and not bad.

You can get audio material separately. I didn't like them as much as the others mentioned above, but they are certainly useful supplementary material.

  • Mastering Polish, Albert Juszczak, Ph.D.

Another false advertising title. :) Its primary advantage is that the audio CD speaks absurdly slowly with distinct pauses between words, so if you have trouble listening to speech at normal speed, this one can be useful and encouraging.

Reference materials

If you are like me, you'll need more complete clear reference information, because the intro books never clearly tell you enough details about how to conjugate verbs and decline nouns and adjectives, etc.

A dictionary is crucial; I use several since no single dictionary covers everything, I've found. Langenscheidt publishes decent portable cheap dictionaries.

Frustratingly, none of the English/Polish dictionaries have sufficient info about all the weird endings, root changes, irregular forms, etc. So for that, I recommend:

  • Słownik odmiany Rzeczowników, Stanisław Mędak.

This is a highly useful reference book that lists the hundreds of different specific noun declension patterns.

  • Słownik Form Koniugacyjnych Czasowników Polskich, Stanisław Mędak.

Another useful reference book by Mędak, this one lists hundreds of different verb conjugation patterns.

  • 301 Polish Verbs, Klara Janecki.

This shows conjugations of many Polish verbs. Not as good or complete as Mędak's noun dictionary, but still useful, and has English explanations. It does have a small English/Polish dictionary in the back, unlike Mędak's which is purely Polish.

When you encounter a noun, verb, adjective in some unrecognizably inflected form, paper dictionaries are mostly useless.

It lets you type in any Polish word in any form, and it will tell you the base form.

  • A co to takiego?, Anna Seretny.

An attractive and pretty useful picture dictionary, from the Universitas series.

  • Polish: An Essential Grammar, Dana Bielec.

For the hard core grammar geek.

  • Wielki Słownik Polsko-Angielski PWN Oxford.

This is a big thick expensive hardback dictionary. There's an English-Polish separate volume, too. More complete than a small dictionary like Langenscheidt, of course, and supposedly one of the best. But frustratingly it also lacks lots of essential info about nonintuitive inflections, stem changes, irregular forms, etc.

There was a message in [PLSG] on 2007-09-14 which mentioned:

Have you used the Polish English Dictionary published by Collins. I have used the one in my local library and the entry has the conjugation when it differs from the regular patterns and it also has the genitive form and irregular plural of nouns. I own the PWN- Oxford dictionary, but it seems to have been written for Poles learning English and not vice versa. The Collins dictionary, on the other hand, seems to have been written with the Polish learner in mind. There is a concise version and a two-volume version (maybe out of print). I got this from Amazon,co.uk Synopsis This is a new addition to the best-selling Collins range, including the latest vocabulary relating to the Internet and the digital age. This new "Collins Polish-English English-Polish Dictionary" is designed for all those studying Polish and English, whether at school, for travel or for business. It is ideal for anyone who needs a wealth of reliable information in a handy, compact format. Have confidence: the "Collins Compact Polish Dictionary" offers extensive coverage of today's Polish and English, with thousands of phrases and examples guiding the user to the most appropriate translation. Get it right: with its comprehensive coverage and accuracy of translation, this edition will help the user understand today's language. The dictionary includes a supplement covering Internet-related vocabulary. Get there fast: clear, attractive layout ensures that you find the information you need quickly and easily. Words are tools for life. And a Collins dictionary makes them work for you. ISBN-10: 0007235070

But I have not seen the Collins dictionary.

Online resources

Mailing lists, discussion groups

Courses

Online dictionaries

There are various Polish radio and TV websites where one can listen to real Polish speech. Unfortunately I haven't found any with "easy" or simple Polish broadcasts for foreigners, unlike Voice of America's "Special English" for English learners or analogous news service for learners of German etc. :( If anyone knows of such simple Polish broadcasts, please let me know.

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