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Polish Begins!
I start this language already knowing a whopping 15 words.
Today was the start of my Polish studies. One place I expect to visit a number of times in the coming months is Greenpoint, a heavily Polish neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’m afraid I didn’t know/remember this…
Polish Nouns: Kind of Scary
Polish has seven cases, and I am frightened.
This morning I went to a Rosetta Stone event at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Columbus Circle. What a view! New York As Seen from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel The purpose of the event was to announce their new TOTALe…
More Fun with Polish Declensions
I chase down mutating adjectives.
The book Polish Verbs & Essentials of Grammar by Oscar E. Swan begins with this: “The Polish language belongs to the Slavic group of Indo-European languages. It is most closely allied with Slovak and Czech, with many features in common…
Counting in Polish
Polish math mystifies.
As I mentioned in a previous entry, on a trip to Poland as a small child I learned 15 words of Polish, including the numbers up to 10. Eleven days into my Polish studies, that basic starting knowledge is still coming in…
When Consonants Attack!
Polish sometimes looks to me as though it is suffering a vowel shortage.
When I start a new language, I typically “like” a bunch of pages on Facebook relevant to it. Today on my Facebook news feed, I came across this news-story excerpt entitled “W sondażu Gallupa Obama przegrywa z kandydatem…
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…
Nothing Like a Good Old-Fashioned Grammar Book
I am doing hard-core grammar again, and I feel better.
It is such a relief to have, once again, a good old-fashioned grammar book, complete with exercises. I am referring to the one I bought a few days ago, Basic Polish by Dana Bielec. I need all the help I…
Polish People Are Helping Me
I get free lessons in pronunciation and Polish history.
This letter in Polish has been causing me problems: ę. Its pronunciation sounds radically different to me from source to source. Tea, Source of Pronunciation Challenges (This Came from One of My Lovely Japanese Conversation Partners, By the Way!) In Rosetta…
Polish People Are Everywhere!
I am getting language assistance in unexpected places.
Lately I am encountering Polish almost as much as I encounter Spanish. It has been surprising, since Spanish is ubiquitous in New York and Polish is not. Times Square Has Been Hopping This Summer According to the Modern Language Association…
Polish-American History
I read about Martha Stewart and Polish Barbie.
I have just begun a book by John J. Bukowczyk entitled A History of the Polish Americans. I have been feeling as though my background in Polish history—beyond my college studies of World War II—is very weak, so…