Today you get a very special treat – a guest post by one of our favorite commenters – Barbara from Canada.
About a year ago, I decided to make a commitment to “re-learn” Polish…it was the language I had spoken at home as a child. Like many children in the neighbourhood, I also attended Polish school. Unfortunately, the fluency I had acquired as a child fell into disuse when I moved away from home.
Fast forward about 25 years. My Polish language skills had deteriorated “a little” but nothing that a quick browse through a 500-page Polish grammar book (Swan) couldn’t fix. I needed to polish (szlifować) my language skills. I certainly didn’t need to actually learn anything anew. I’m sure you can imagine the humbling blow to the ego that followed. I think all bets were off by the middle of Swan’s second lesson (lekcja).
So, I have been slogging through various grammar books ever since. Repeatedly reading over chapters and doing exercises (I admit to having the retention of a flea). Being the compulsive-obsessive person that I am, I realized that I had to broaden the scope of my efforts to include reading, writing and listening.
Since listening seemed like the least painful place to start, I phoned up our local cable provider and subscribed to TVP Polonia. I imagined myself absorbing Polish dialogues (by osmosis) in the comfort of my living room. Brilliant. When the magic moment finally came, I tuned into a weekly talk show (Śniadanie na Podwieczorek) and prepared for the transformation.
The hostess greeted the viewers warmly and then launched into something that sounded like this:
“No właśnie, … (a jumble of sounds spoken at breakneck speed)… co nie?”
Repeat.
I blinked twice, cleared my throat and glanced over at my husband, trying hard not to show my total lack of comprehension. He casually asked if I thought people were speaking a tad quickly. “A little”, I conceded. My superiority vanished like a puff of smoke.
Over the next few weeks I experimented with various programs until I struck the mother lode: polskie seriale. Hmmm, does the term daytime television help? Okay, what I really mean is “soap operas”. The shows are excellent for people learning the language because the dialogues are simple, reflect current situations and have subtitles! (napisy dialogowe). I tried to pretend that my interest was purely academic, but I soon became a fan of two long running shows: “Klan” (z napisami) and “Barwy Szczęścia“ (bez napisów). I believe Anna has a similar confession to make btw.*
The exposure to TVP has helped a lot. I can now tune into almost any program and follow what is being said. I have slowly developed an “ear” for the language – all thanks to polskie seriale.
Polecam.
*) Since Barbara has outed me here, yes, I confess that I am a huge fan of “Plebania” (and please, no laughing at me, OK?)
