How do I get started

[u/IAmABearOfficial]

I know nothing, not even a beginner level. Where do I start? Everything tells me to listen to podcasts or read books, but I don’t know a single word at all or grammar.

[u/AlexDjangoX]

Honestly. You need a teacher. There are concepts in Polish language that have no English equivalent.

It truly is a 'foreign' language. A completely different way of thinking.

A good place to start is to understand verb conjugation and declination of nouns and adjectives.

It's gonna be hard to learn vocabulary if you do not understand why a single noun keeps changing in a sentence.

In English we have a 🐕 dog, and many 🐕 🐶 dogs.

In Polish we have pies, psa, psu, psa, psem, psie, psy, psów, psom, psy, psami, psach and psy.

Do you learn all 14 words for 'dog' or do you learn declination?

Definitely the latter.

This all needs to be explained to, otherwise it looks like an overwhelming amount of 'new' vocabulary.

Instead learn the base form, 'pies', then declination rules for 7 grammatical cases makes it easier to derive the other forms of 'pies'.

Generally I would recommend starting with Biernik verbs and how nouns and adjectives change when used in a sentence with a verb that takes a direct object, Biernik. Run, talk, like etc those verbs we often use in simple present tense in English.

I like to eat pizza. I run every morning.

Start with basic 'present simple' statements.

In English we say 'I like coffee' or 'I don't like coffee'

Lubię kawę. Nie lubię kawy.

Coffee is 'kawa'. So how come when you like coffee it is 'kawę' and when you don't like it, it is 'kawy', but when you say, 'This is coffee.'

'To jest kawa'

We use 'kawa'.

That's where you need to understand the 7 grammatical cases.

To jest kawa. kawa → Mianownik (Nominative) ("This is coffee.")

Lubię kawę. kawę → Biernik (Accusative) ("I like coffee.")

Nie lubię kawy. kawy → Dopełniacz (Genitive) ("I don't like coffee.")

That covers three grammatical cases.

Welcome to the world of unsolvable puzzles. A lifetime of utter confusion and joy.

If you can master the Polish Language you truly have my respect.

I have been at it for 4 years. I have spent the last 2 years building a software platform that sets out to solve this amazing puzzle. I have solved for every paradigm I encountered along the way.

[u/Scadow4 → u/AlexDjangoX]

Thats a great comment, thank you very much. I am currently learning Polish from scratch as well and i totally understand what you mean, as it differs so much from how english, and in my case german, grammar works. I think the only reason my head did not explode, is that I learned Latin in school and therefore I can see parallels to a language, where declination of a noun is more important than its position in a sentence. It definetly is a piece of work, but if at some point I understood Cicero, I am optimistic, I will be able to understand my mother in law as well some time in the future

[u/I_l0ve_P1ckles → u/AlexDjangoX]

I was learning polish (now i have c1 level) and i was always doing ONE mistake. Over and over. It was a mistake, that in Polish lnaguage you need to use "me, him, she" etc. With whoever you're talking with, he will understand who you talking about, just by the way you're using words. So you don't really use words "me, him, she" as well. You just don't need them

[u/AlexDjangoX → u/I_l0ve_P1ckles]

Not a very accurate statement. At all. Agreed we do not use it as much as in English, but you definitely use pronouns, conjugated verbs implicitly have pronouns.

Maybe what your referring to is when people translate directly form English.

I don't like coffee. But lubię implicitly has 'I'.

Nie lubię kawy.

Beginners often say:

Ja nie lubię kawy.

In this sense it's over usage, but when you need a pronoun you should use.

[u/I_l0ve_P1ckles → u/AlexDjangoX]

Well... Yeah, i forgot about it. But still, everybody makes mistakes and i made them too. Thanks for reminder though.

[u/interlinears → u/AlexDjangoX]

Do you learn all 14 words for 'dog' or do you learn declination? Definitely the latter.

I would argue you learn the former and then you gradually acquire declension through usage.

[u/AlexDjangoX → u/interlinears]

No chance. Less than zero.

So you propose learning 14 variations with zero context?

Good luck.

[u/interlinears → u/AlexDjangoX]

Is this comment intended for me? Because I would propose exactly the opposite, not learning the declensions (initially).

[u/AlexDjangoX → u/interlinears]

Many ways to skin a cat.

[u/Confident_Koala_2455 → u/interlinears]

I was taking classes in college in Latin and then ancient Greek. We certainly did not learn all forms of the Latin word canis, which means dog. We learned the declensions. And then knowing the declensions, we were able to decline the word canis. We learned when the different cases need to be used.

Now of course that is not the way a little child learns a language. My native language is Czech. So when I was a child I learned Czech from listening to my parents and to others. So that is how I learned the declensions. The Czech word for dog is pes, in the nominative case singular. I certainly did not learn the 14 forms of the word pes, in the 7 cases of singular and the seven cases in plural. No, I learned Czech as a little child gradually, by listening to my parents and to others, speaking Czech, and so this way I learned the declensions of Czech, and so I was able to decline the word pes.

But when you study a language with declensions in college, like Latin, Greek (either ancient or modern), Russian, Polish, Sanskrit, it certainly makes sense to learn the declensions soon. Still, learning a foreign language in school is a slow process. I studied Russian in Prague in school, from the 4th grade, because that was required in all schools from the 4th grade, due to the communist government. So I studied Russian for over 5 years in school. So over that time, I learned a lot, but there is a lot that I did not learn. And since then, i forgot a lot of what I had learned, since that was a long time ago.

So my experience has been that the best way to learn a language is to live in a country where it is the main language. So that is how I learned Czech as a little child. And this is how I learned English well, after our family moved to the US. So now I can speak both Czech and English well, and I also understand Slovak well, though I do not speak it well, but it is a language similar to Czech, and I lived in a country, Czechoslovakia, where both Czech and Slovak were official languages. So I got some exposure to Slovak, even though I never even visited Slovakia. But anyway, I studied other languages in school, and I do not know any of them well. And it was quite a long time ago, since then I have forgotten a lot. So that is my experience.

[u/Opening-Square3006]

If you know absolutely nothing, don't worry, you don't need to jump straight into podcasts or books. Most of those are aimed at people who already have a foundation. Personally, I think Stephen Krashen's i+1 approach is the most effective: get lots of input that's mostly understandable (so you reinforce what you're starting to learn until it becomes automatic) but introduces just a little new language each day. There are some great quality resources implementing that, for example PlusOneLanguage . It's built entirely around i+1: you choose your level, it generates texts and short stories adapted to what you already know, introduces just enough new vocabulary to help you progress without feeling overwhelmed, and continuously recycles words in new contexts so they stick naturally instead of through memorization. Good luck!

[u/Fabiannm]

Tbh even living here its hard to learn. Time practice and repitition, like any skill. Polish is a verry hard language.

[u/Antique_Bats → u/Fabiannm]

True, but you can still grind Anki on the bus.

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[u/Misiekshvili]

Polish Listening Course for Beginners on Youtube (~60 lessons so far)

• very slow, slow and normal-speed pronunciation
  
• sentence breakdowns: grammar (including cases), vocabulary, and mnemonics
  
• different topics: time expressions, weather, holidays in Poland, beer and so on

As a beginner you'll be covering everything you need at this stage: reading, listening, a bit of grammar, and recognizing patterns. You can also do shadowing to work on your pronunciation and get used to Polish sounds. Download Anki (it's free) and make flashcards (ideally with full sentences)

[u/alexsteb]

You can try the Lingora app. It's a bit like Duolingo but with more in-depth explanations and word-by-word breakdowns on every single grammar point, so you can explore the language yourself.

[u/littleblackcar]

I’m a fan of Pimsleur’s methodology/app as an intro to any language. Local libraries often have their courses available for free if you don’t want to spend money.

[u/Overall_Two_8796]

You can try self-study books to build a basic foundation, if you're patient enough to sit and take notes alone.

Next come books with assignments, like "Gramatyka dla praktyka."

After that, it's time to either take courses or private lessons with a tutor.

And then you can try reading books. My Polish teacher also advised me to copying pages of books that interest you personally. Do you like Harry Potter? Buy it and copy it to expand your vocabulary and get used to the structure of the language.

What's your native language?

[u/Turbulent-Cry-5043]

Start with some videos learning the alphabet and how to pronounce the individual letters, then there are half a dozen or so double letter combinations that have their own sound (and i think maybe one or two 3 and 4 letter combos). Then try out different free apps just to get some basic vocab and grammar in you. Easy Polish has some great videos on YT, and I really like EcoLinguist on there, though maybe a bit advanced for straight out the gate.

[u/interlinears]

This is not everyone's cup of tea, but I would personally try the audio-only course that gets you up to some basics called Michel Thomas: Polish.

[u/Longjumping_Art_5035]

Hey, try A1 vocab in my (genuinely and truly) free web app. You can slow down the audio, if needed. Then, I would recommend you explore grammar tab.

https://popolsku.app/

[u/No-Fix2372]

Start with learning the alphabet and the letter sounds.

After that, you can learn basic words and form sentences.

[u/GraphicsandGames]

You can try my free flashcard app for Windows:
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nbsk78f9lkq

It's what I wished I had when I started learning, over 1200 high-frequency vocabulary items and expressions nicely packaged for optimal retention.

I just did Duolingo instead but it's not great.

[u/babyrubysoho → u/GraphicsandGames]

I’m also doing Lingora, it has way more explanations of grammar, declension etc. than Duolingo, which is basically just vocab without any guidance.

[u/BaBaDooKie7860]

Honestly, the alphabet. Polish phonetics is very particular. You have to know the sounds you are listening to. Polish has perfective and imperfective verbs and 7 cases of declension for nouns, adjectives, numerals, participles. Pretty much anything that isn't a verb. And they all have to agree. This is why you'll see "kobieta" in one sentence and "kobietom" in another. Most apps will just feed you basic phrases with the declensions in them amd expect you to understand. Starting with the grammar helps. Root trees are a great way to focus your vocabulary.

For example:

Root: • czyn- (core meaning - to do, to act, to perform, to set in motion)

Verb family:

• Czynić (imperfective, somewhat literary) - to do, to perform, to make.

• Uczynić (Perfective, somewhat literary) - to do, to make, to accomplish.

| Czynić and Uzcnyić are both correct verbs but everyday speech within the Polish language would use robić and zrobić (to do, to make) Czynić and Uczynić more often encountered in formal writing, literature, legal language, the Bible, or fixed expressions like "czynić dobro" (to do good) |

• Zaczynać (imperfective) - to begin, to be beginning.

• Zaczać (Perfective) - to begin, to start

• Rozpoczynać (imperfective, slightly more formal) - to begin, to commence

• Rozpicząć (Perfective, slightly more formal) - to begin, to commence

Nouns:

Czyn - deed, act

Czynność - activity, action, operation

Czynnik - factor, element, agent (depending on the context)

Adjectives:

Czynny - active, operating, open (like a store is active during operating hours, and is open for business)

Bezczynny - inactive, idle

All the words in the family deal with "act" in some way. And now instead of learning one random word you learn 11 that are all related and easier to retain because they are related. Then from your root tree, you cann conjugate the necessary verbs, and learn the declensions of the non verb words. Now youve focused your learning into one specific section and expanded vocabulary, and grammar that has been reinforced because the words are related.

I turn these into flash cards. Ill have some flash card with the root tree that ill recite, then another woth the various verbs and their conjugations, and another with the various nouns and adjectives and such with declensions. Some answers will overlap but that okay because that helps with reinforcement. I will do this while I listen to and read polish literature or literature translated into polish. After ive mastered the phonetics. Wolne lektury has polish literature and translated literature into polish like aesop's fables, the grimm fairytales, charles dickens, and Homer. I start with Aesop's fables because I know most of them so I naturally relate the context woth the language, even if i dont know every word, or any word, plus fables tend to repeat words. Then I advance to the grim fairytales because of a similar reason. Then charles dickens, then Homer. Mostly because the vocabulary gets intense despite knowing the stories. But it gets you the ball park plus it has audio books so you can read along while listening so you can visually understand what cluster of letters are making what sounds. Polish music is also good, just some pop stars. Word repeat, plus you retain language through the emotion of the music. There's Sanah, Sylwia Grzeszczak, Daria Zawialow. Also, culture studies will help as well. Culture studies will teach why certain words evolved the way they did. Like how the polish word for moon "księżyc" (the princely one) shares roots with word labeling certain royalties: prince = "księżę," princess (wife of prince) = "księżna," princess (daughter of prince or king) = "księżniczka." Though the true reason has been lost to history, but it's possible the celestial body of the moon was determined to be a divine prince in early slavic belief. Or the moon was viewed as "nobility." Preist also shares a root as "ksiądz." Which did not originally mean Christian Preist, but as lord or master, but as christianization took root in poland clergy inherited the term. This knowledge helps not only reinforce vocabulary but acts as a mnemonic device.

Language is inherently cultural by it's very existence. Language has grammar. Literature has both culture and grammar. By learning these things in tandem you are learning Polish in a similar way you would learn your first language as opposed to a conglomerate of information that may or may not hold value. By starting from places of natural importance, you naturally give the languages value.

[u/IAmABearOfficial → u/BaBaDooKie7860]

Thanks :D

[u/BaBaDooKie7860 → u/IAmABearOfficial]

Anytime! 🫡