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June 20, 2011 | Polish
Grammar-Book Shopping in Greenpoint
I am foiled in my shopping expedition, but I have fun anyway.
Today I went to Greenpoint, where there are Polish bookstores, in search of another grammar book, this time with grammar exercises.
Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
A Presumably Polish Restaurant
I enjoyed a lovely walk down Manhattan Avenue, starting at the Nassau subway stop and finishing at the Greenpoint stop, where I got back on the subway for my return to Manhattan. It’s really a very charming stretch!
Robin Cook and Tom Clancy in Polish
The first place I went was Polam Bookstore, at 648 Manhattan Avenue.
When I arrived, a store employee was speaking to a man in Polish at the register. She was nice and helpful in response to my questions, but unfortunately, she didn’t have grammar books at the moment. She said she was reordering them, but this is an urgent language-learning need!
They had other books, for people who already speak Polish. I find it interesting how many languages writers such as Robin Cook are translated into.
When I left, I thanked her in Polish, and they both smiled. I find that even slight efforts in Polish seem to yield rather significant rewards. Surprise, appreciation, etc. It is moving.
From there I walked into random stores. There was Polish everywhere on the street.
Electronics in Polish
Legal Services in Polish
Banking in Polish
Cucumbers in Brine, in Polish
I was able to understand some of the words on signs, on labels, and in passing conversations, and got irrationally excited about that.
Lots of Polish Food at Biedronka!
The food store Biedronka seemed to have a strongly Polish clientele.
As I walked up and down the aisles, I heard and saw a ton of Polish. I took a few pictures.
Sometimes taking pictures at food stores can be tricky, because if you start photographing pickle jars and juice bottles, people tend to think you’re an inspector from some New York agency. So I am pretty surreptitious these days.
After all, I’m not trying to expose anyone.
I just have a thing for foreign-language food labels!
Hydrate in Polish!
Polish Juice
I really liked the second Polish bookstore I visited, Polonia Bookstore. They had a number of grammar books, but I decided they weren’t for me.
The problems: one book was entirely in Polish, which is not going to work at this point. I am not currently capable of understanding grammatical explanations about Polish in Polish.
Another book had some explanations in English—but no answer key! No answer key, no purchase.
The store also had phrasebooks. I personally find phrasebooks useless.
I feel as though the main purpose of phrasebooks is to make the people buying them believe that they have done something useful by handing over a credit card, without actually teaching something meaningful. I find it frustrating and unhelpful to try to learn a few random questions and sentences about bathroom locations and tourist attractions without having any sense of the language architecture behind them. Syllables without meaning, in my opinion.
Finally, they had CDs, but I already have Rosetta Stone.
My failed grammar expedition was by no means the fault of Polonia, however; in fact, the woman I spoke to there was great, and it was a very nice store.
Polonia Bookstore, 882 Manhattan Avenue
Polish Cuisine
Cards, with Babies and a Pope
Lots of Polish Magazines at Polonia
My grievances are just common ones when one is looking for books about a not heavily studied language. Demand and competition are definitely good for the language-learning market.
Anyway, if you speak Polish, I recommend this bookstore!
Even without success on the Polish grammar front, my field trip was totally worth it.
And afterwards I found a good grammar online, and it arrived today, Monday, and so far I like it: Basic Polish, by Dana Bielec.
One thing I love about modern life is barnesandnoble.com! You want a Polish grammar one afternoon, and the very next day, without your even leaving your building, it is in your hands.
Comments (6)
Charles • Posted on Sat, June 25, 2011 - 4:25 pm EST
I’m not certain I would be so quick to dismiss phrasebooks. I never thought much of them either until I read another polyglot New Yorker, Barry Farber. In his inspitational book “How to Learn Any Language” he recommended them. They’re not meant to replace grammar or to relieve you of learning any of the language’s architecture; rather they’re a springboard into conversation. You can start talking to people sooner meaning your brain and your mouth start cooperating on the new language sooner.
Perhaps I’ve just started a language. I don’t know much but I think it would be great to go spend time at one my city’s language meetups (Seattle, for instance has two to three French groups that meet each week). Instead of keeping quiet for long periods of time as I try to figure out how to ask what kind of movie a person likes, I have the work done for me. BUT, the magic comes next as the person responds and I hear new phrases and vocabulary.
I believe that Benny the Irish Polyglot over his fluen in three months blog also recommends them for the same reason.
Farber concludes his recommendation of phrase books by saying “Don’t be put off by the naïveté, inexpensiveness, superficiality, and comparative weightlessness of these travelrs’ phrase books when laid alongside your impressive dictionary and your complex grammar book. Good zoos need hummingbirds as well as elephants.”
As always, I’m enjoying following your quest.
Katherine • Posted on Wed, July 20, 2011 - 1:25 pm EST
Ellen I completely agree with you about phrase books! They look easy enough but in the end are very complicated and for me, they NEVER sink in! That being said, I agree with what Charles says above, however the point he makes is the point I make for using Pimsleur. It gives you a great spring board for being able to use the language. You need to know a few phrases that are commonly used right away when you start a new language. I have never found a phrase book that does that and find Pimsleur to be the exception. You can’t learn things like intonation or accent in a book. Those things are key when you are just learning phrases. Pimsleur teaches how to really use the sentences and you will never forget them for the rest of your life (I find myself randomly repeating Pimsleur phrases as if I am Frank Sinatra in the Manchurian Candidate.) So this is why I feel that phrase books are useless and Pimsleur audio CDs are the best things that happened to language learning (now I really sound like I have been brainwashed but I swear I haven’t!)
magdy awadalla • Posted on Sun, September 25, 2011 - 6:52 pm EST
biedronka is the best polish store in greenpoint, i love it
cmndrlng • Posted on Fri, October 07, 2011 - 6:13 pm EST
As a fellow learner of Polish and former resident of Greenpoint, I enjoyed reading your post. Incidentally I live in Poland now. But I liked seeing those pictures of my old neighborhood.
If you are still looking for help with Polish grammar, there is a useful reference by Osar Swan that’s available as a free download. If you can’t find it by googling the author’s name, I think it’s also on the website of the Slavic Languages department of the University of Pittsburgh.
Another interesting book is called “First Polish Reader for beginners bilingual for speakers of English”. It’s available in paperback and as an e-book (though unfortunately the later doesn’t come with a CD or any audio accompaniment.
Next time you visit Greenpoint you should try some of the Polish restaurants as well. Karczma and Krolewskie Jadlo were always my personal favorites.
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Ellen Jovin • Posted on Mon, July 04, 2011 - 12:01 am EST
Well, Charles, I guess I do like to hang with the elephants, but I will try to be more open-minded. :) Thank you so much for this information!