Learn Polish with The Pimsleur Method

Comments about Polish Phase 1, Units 1-30:

I have been doing 1 lesson per week. I'm on lesson 7 now. Monday to Friday I usually do the lesson on my way to and from work. Weekends I do the lessons at home. The lessons are paced right for me and I seem to remember a number of the words and phrases. Sometimes I'm not exactly sure on the pronunciation of a word and have to go back and listen to it a number of times to get it right. One word in particular "gladly" gave me some difficulty. My wife (native of Poland) helped me to get it correct.

My main reason for trying to learn Polish is for a trip my wife and I are taking later this year. I thought it would be helpful for me to know some basics even though she is fluent in Polish. When I return from our 2 week trip to Poland I will update this with my conversational travel experiences.

Service and delivery comments:

Sometimes it takes me a while for things to click but the voice has already responded. Maybe a longer pause would help. It is also sometimes confusing to have to change genders or play both parts of the conversation (male and female). I don't think any key features are missing and I think the research I did on the web answered my questions before I purchased the product.

Comments about Polish Phase 1, Units 1-30:

I listen to the CDs during my commute, about 1.5 hrs /day.
It's good for learning how the language sounds. Vocabulary (Pimsleur method) is slow enough, and repeated so that memory retention is really good. The vocabulary is useful for tourism, which is my objective.

I would prefer that details be omitted in favor of increased vocabulary. Examples: differences between time numbers and counting numbers, noun endings differentiating "water" from "some water", masculine and feminine verb forms, two zlotys has a different ending than six zlotys, etc. In all these cases, the native would understand what you're saying without such details.

It would also be nice to have a printed glossary, so I could avoid mispronunciations when I can't hear a consonant correctly (I don't hear well). It wasn't until I saw the word in print that I realized it was ulica, not unica.

I recommend Pimsleur unqualifiedly. I've used Spanish, Japanese, and now Polish, and I'm glad I did. Wish they had Polish 2 and 3.

Comments about Polish Phase 1, Units 1-30:

I only can recommend this Polish course. I learned a lot, just through listening and repeating. It's really amazing how it works. I'd wish Pimsleur to produce a Polish Phase 2 as well as a Phase 3 course in the same manner.

Comments about Polish, Comprehensive:

Pimsleur's Polish I course was very easy to use, and very easy to understand. What I appreciated most is what I was able to comprehend and retain. Lesson 30 asked me to recall words/phrases from Lessons 4-5-6 that I first listened to several months ago, and I was able to recall the phrasing correctly. I am only sorry that there is not a Polish II available, as I was truly looking forward to increasing my Polish speaking skills.

Comments about Polish Phase 1, Units 1-30:

My review will be somewhat similar to others, but consistency is a good thing.

I didn't bother trying to learn Polish for the few business trips I made to Warsaw. My interest actually came about when I made Polish friends in England years later. From the very first lesson, I started learning useful words and phrases. The approach is definitely working, and my friends are impressed with how quickly I am picking up the language. I have wondered at times if the target audience is young American males who are traveling through Poland trying to find a date, but I realized that the phrases could also be used in a business context.

Polish is a complex language with sounds and sound combinations not used in English. I often struggle with pronouncing certain sound combinations which is a personal problem more than a problem with the lesson. The sounds do not naturally flow off my tongue. I find it interesting that the very words that I struggle with are the words most often repeated. While frustrating at times, it is actually very helpful.

While I still have a lot to learn in Polish, I realize that this has been the best method for me to get started in the language. Prior to Pimsleur, I stuck to learning to say hello, thank you and goodbye in many languages. Now as business travel and overseas assignments dictate, I will definitely come back to Pimsleur to learn additional languages.

I have found only a two issues with this program. The first has to do with the formality of the language taught. While I can understand the importance of teaching the formal method first, formal speech is only used for strangers and those older or with higher status. Using the formal version to address friends can either be amusing or insulting. As the gentleman with the Polish wife would have discovered, she would rather not be referred to as pani in every sentence he uses. I know that other languages have more phases, so perhaps additional phases for the Polish language could be created and hopefully are already under development. This is the same request others have made; give us more lessons, please.

Also, while the reading lessons are a good addition, I think that having them earlier and aligned with the audio lessons would be very helpful. Like others have stated, sometimes I cannot distinguish certain sounds during the audio portion no matter how many times I replay it. While not recommended, I, too, have looked up the words to find the beginning or ending sounds. The only thing you have to know first is the pronunciation of the Polish letters and combinations. Combining the two has been very helpful.