A Student Once Again

I ventured out today for my first Polish course since last summer. I've got a course now, 90 minutes three times a week. There's just three of us plus our teacher so it's great so far! After just one class it's hard to say how hard it will be but we all enjoyed the class and I think my classmates are around the same level as me. I was a little anxious this morning because I hadn't been on the receiving end of a teacher's questions for so long. Honestly, I was so excited for my course to start that I had trouble sleeping last night. I wasn't exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (try explaining that one to your English students) this afternoon but I had fun.

After a long day I'm far from having enough energy to blog in Polish but I will partially update the słownictwo tonight with some of the new words we used today in class. Today you only get the Polish half. When I get a minute I'll add the English translations. One thing is for certain - my vocabulary really needs a lot of work. My słownictwo from today's class alone has 39 new words on it. I also already have homework!

It's fun to be making faster progress in Polish again and blogging more. Thanks to my new and old readers. As always, your comments are welcome! I'm especially grateful to you patient souls who provide a correction from time to time. Thanks for participating and I hope someone out there is learning as much as I am.

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Kurs Polskiego - jutro!

Dobry Wieczór!

Dziś wieczorem mam dobrą wiadomość. Jutro popołudniu zaczynam nowy kurs polskiego. Nie miałem lekcje polskiego w szkole od czerwiec rok temu. Wiem, wiem, robię duży błędy z przypadki. Jest trudny język! Mam nadzieje, że moja nauczycielka jest miła. Już znam jej imię: Kasia! Nie jestem zaskoczony!

Podniecać się nowym kursem.

Też, uaktualniłem Słownictwo / Vocabulary dziś wieczorem.

Vocabulary / Słownictwo

Building vocabulary is hard work. Through the course of the day I refer to the dictionary in my phone a handful of times. Just as often, I ask my wife what something means. How much of this do I remember? Very little.

I'm starting to keep a daily log of the words I needed in a day. I haven't yet found a consistent way of keeping track of new words while I'm moving through the city but I suspect that good old pen and paper will prove the best solution.

I will post my daily lists here. For those of you reading this blog for amusement, you won't be bothered by the daily (weekly?) lists, because I will add them to the vocabulary page here: Słownictwo / Vocabulary. Later, you can find this page in the column to the right under "Reference."

For those of you using this page to help you learn Polish, (anyone?) you can refer to the vocabulary page periodically to see what has been added. I'll try to mention in my regular blog posts when the vocab page has been updated. Go check the first list now and tell me what you think. Is this a good way to organise vocabulary?

Psy

W Niedziela, byliśmy na spacer w Park Skaryszewski. Skaryszewski jest dobry park bo zawsze są dużo psy. Bardzo lubimy psy, ale nie mamy bo tylko mamy mała mieszkania. Chcemy beagle. . .

Dwa tygodniu temu, zrobiłyśmy zdjęcie ale nie napisałem na blogu. Dziś, pogoda był ciepła i słoneczna. Moja zona i ja usiedliśmy na ławce. Weronika czytała książka i uczyłem się polskiego. Mam "Polish in 4 Weeks," która jest bardzo nierealistyczny pomysł. Jednak, to dobry przewodnik gramatyka.

Kiedy idziemy do parku, zwykle nosimy aparat, bo są zabawny i ladny psy. Chcę wam pokazać kilku zdjęcie.

"Jest dobry dzień na spacer. A potem . . . piwo."
"It's a good day for a walk. Afterwards . . . beer."

"Czasami myślę, że jesteście za wolny i za nudny. Chcę biegać!"
 "Sometimes, I think that you guys are too slow and boring. I want to run!"

"Nie pamiętam, jest piłka twoja czy moja?"
"I don't remember, is the ball yours or mine?"

"Nie zjadłem śniadania dziś. Ale widzę mała corgi. . . "
"I didn't eat breakfast today. But I see a little corgi . . . "

"Hej! Dziecko! Budź i baw się ze mną!"
"Hey! Kid! Wake up and have fun with me!"

"Nie ma problemu, ja wszystko łapie!"
"No problem, I catch everything!"

"Tak, jestem mały ale jestem najszybciej w parku!"
"Yes, I'm small but I'm the fastest in the park!"

"Proszę pedałować! Nie mogę ciągnąć więcej."
"Please pedal! I can't pull any more."

"Czy masz prawidłowe f zatrzymać?"
"Do you have the right f-stop?"
Caption by DiverDoc.

"mam sziwa wasa dlatego musie brac lasca."
"I have a grey moustache because I have to bring wood."
Caption by Paddy, of PzU.

You'll notice the last two photos don't have captions. That's because I need your help! Please help me chose an appropriate caption for the last two dogs. Post your ideas in the comments below!

Also, if you don't understand my caption or see a glaring error in my Polish, feel free to point me in the right direction.

How do you learn?

The guilt from my infrequent blogging is setting in. With so many great blogs out there I should be inspired to write more frequently, but instead I read the 'other' blogs and feel content that a good job was done. An interesting blog post was written today, just not by me! What do I read?

I don't miss a day without reading W-wa Jeziorki (I think of him as 'The Blogfather') or PzU. If you don't already know about Polandian then I'd be surprised. Check the 'Updated Blogs' section on the right for more.

What about my Polish? I've concluded that I speak Polish. Do I speak French? No, just a few words. A few years ago I used to be able to hack through a few sentences in Spanish and I'm sure that ability could return. But I don't feel like I speak Spanish. Although I finally speak Polish, I don't speak or understand it particularly well. I'm probably still an upper beginner or low intermediate speaker. How have I decided that I can speak Polish? Simply, I use the language to communicate:

• I can follow at least the topics of most conversations. The more context I have, the easier it is. Hearing stories about events I'm already familiar with is especially encouraging.
• I watch Polish TV and actually get something out of it. 'Talking heads' news shows aren't as easy as silly talk shows.
• I can pick up a newspaper or article and get the gist as well as many details quickly. I laughed the other day when I was handed a Metro paper near home and nonchalantly scanned the headline and a few lines of text as I walked. I folded up the paper, then realised 'shit, I just understood that!'
• I rarely use Google Translate anymore to translate entire webpages. I still frequently translate extracts and sentences I don't understand, when in a hurry.
• I can interact with people in shops successfully if I have a bit of time to think about what I need to say.
• I chat (with varying success) with my students occasionally in Polish after our lessons. They pretend to understand me.
• I interact with my wife on a basic level about a number of things at home. Usually, this consists of me saying childish things and her patiently humouring me.

I have a long, long way to go. I run out of words very quickly and my grammar is atrocious. I have an intuitive understanding of only a few cases, some of the time. People say I sound 'different than my normal self' in Polish and this worries me a little. At home I know I do a silly voice, sometimes emulating dramatic TV voiceover voices or a strange old fashioned Eastern European style I have invented. I think I might also sound different because I apply English style intonation to Polish, making me sound a little more odd than normal.

I'm not currently in a Polish course. I had planned on taking an A2 course somewhere in town this winter term, but it slipped off the priority list and will remain that way for the near future. For now I am taking a more natural approach. What are my methods?

As referred to in my description of shopping for glasses, I have scraps of paper with phrases and vocabulary on them all over my desk. I have stopped apologising for my poor Polish in public (say that three times fast) and no longer ask people if they speak English. Other than that, that's about the extent of my 'natural approach' right now. It's not enough.

As a mentor of mine once told me, 'the best way to learn is every way.' He was right. I certainly don't think there is one best method for learning language and I enjoy variety in my own learning and also in teaching. Variety works. How will I augment my Polish learning in the next weeks and days?

• By studying Polish 'Fiszki" in my downtime in the city
• By assembling my vocabulary and phrase scraps into topics in a notebook
• By setting aside a few hours a week to go through exercises in my "Hurrah Po Polsku" texts.
• By blogging more, especially in Polish.

What else should I do?

As evidence of my ability to write or talk about various topics, I implore you to suggest a short writing topic for me. Please, nothing too hard. I'll take the best suggestion and compose something about it in Polish before Tuesday. Promise. What shall it be?

Edit: Tuesday 15 Mar. Sorry, can't write about doggies tonight. I know I promised. I have all the photos ready but I need to write the captions. And there will be a caption contest!