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I'm here to improve my Polish, dish out English, and chew bubblegum. Maybe even all at the same time.
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Polish
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EnglishNative
German
French
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| Attendance rate | 100% | 100% | 100% |
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- I didn't see it mentioned yet, but the only thing that confuses me sometimes is when British English speakers say things like "half eight" instead of "half past eight". I can't imagine people dropping the word "past" there in North American English.It probably doesn't help that other languages interpret it differently. E.g., "halb acht" (half eight) would be 7:30 in German (unless I'm sorely mistaken), and somehow feels more logical to me anyway.0 votedAugust 12, 20200
- I'd say. Minor spoilers ahead."Subitize" is an interesting word that I never knew before. But I have to admit, I only knew "plebeian", "golden" from "golden jubilee", and "luminary". I was able to guess "beadledom" correctly, since it sounded the part."Donnybrook" has an interesting etymology, but I don't think I've come across it before. And I don't think the word "redoubtable" can hold a candle to "formidable", but it'd be interesting to know where it's really been used.0 votedAugust 8, 20200
- I didn't see anything here yet about pigeons vs doves. I'm not sure of any other language that has such a dubious distinction (maybe French "colombe" vs "pigeon"?). Loosely speaking, pigeons are rats with wings, while doves are the symbol of peace. At least conceptually. Or supposedly the smaller species are considered doves.But the more I read about it online right now, the more I feel like I need to become a zoologist to get the definitive answer.0 votedJuly 21, 20200
- Powiedziałbym, że to zależy jaki jest cel. Bycie językoznawcą? Może, nie wiem. Znam trochę francuskiego na niskim poziomie ze szkoły, a nie widzę sensu tego, bo nie można rozmawiać z ludźmi, ani czytać czegoś ciekawego. Może jest sens, jeśli ktoś zna bardzo dobrze język z jednej grupy, a potem powiązane języki powierzchownie w porównaniu z tym, bo nauczenie się może być szybsze.0 votedJuly 11, 20200
- I've now been through three different online group classes (not just lessons). One class was originally in-person before the virus outbreak, another was something more casual available through work, and the last purely online through some kind of EU integration fund.The volume problem: It does exist to some degree. Unfortunately there are people who are loud talkers or shout into the microphone. You turn up the volume for some listening exercise recording that's too quiet, and of course somebody then decides to unmute their microphone and start talking over it, splitting your eardrums in the process.I know there has to be some option to deal with it though. Apparently Windows 10 has something built-in called "Loudness Equalization" under <em>Sound Control Panel > Playback tab > [Your speaker] > Properties > Enhancements tab</em>. I'm not sure if that will help to be honest, since I only just recently read about it, but it seems promising. In any case, I know streamers generally use so-called compressors or limiters to try and keep a balanced audio volume, so it's not like this should be some great unsolvable technical problem. Or maybe there's some better headset?Other issues:<ul><li>When everybody else except the teacher turns their video camera off, so you feel like you're interacting with a class full of disembodied voices.</li><li>I don't have a printer at home, so it's less convenient to do certain learning exercises with some PDF files - although there is some software that lets you annotate or edit them.</li><li>Terrible audio quality - doesn't happen all the time, but it's still not ideal when it does.</li><li>The problem of "wait, where are we?". Sometimes teachers fly all over the place with lesson material and you're not sure which and what part of the five files they sent that day we're suddenly on now.</li></ul>It ought to be better, but unfortunately the only advantage of online group lessons for me so far is that I don't have to travel anywhere to get to them.0 votedJune 25, 20200
- Native English speaker, and I only knew "tines" and "interrobang".3. Aglet - maybe I ought to know the word, but I'd just as soon say "tip" or maybe even "nib".8. Box tent - I'd just as soon call it "that plastic thingie in the pizza box". The official names sound weird to me.9. Overmorrow - that's archaic.10. Minimus - I've never seen that used. Almost everybody would say something like "Little finger", "pinky finger", "pinkie", "baby toe" etc.17. Griffonage - never heard of it. I'd call it "(illegible) scrawl", "chicken scratch", "scribble", or even sarcastically "doctors' handwriting".18. Tittle - I'd still call it a dot.19. I imagine that nobody uses this word, except incorrectly. For less extreme satiety, there's feeling "stuffed". Or "sooo stuffed". Next is maybe "gorged" as in "they gorged themselves on XYZ".0 votedJune 1, 20200
- For me, I'd be happy enough just reaching B2 in my target language. Anything more in its own time. Maybe it's just an excuse, but coming from English, I feel that it's enough of a struggle to even officially reach B1 in Polish. Officially being the keyword there, since any tests would quiz me on things that feel like trivia - although, really, they're not. Spaced repetition can help, but you still need to be very selective about what you're studying.But if I have to be honest, I have no idea how to select a teacher. I've always felt like I need to be more self-sufficient in my own learning, and that having good sources of information is the most important thing. But I know for a fact that I can make much more progress when I feel external stress to progress in some topic. In my limited experience so far, I don't feel that same external stress at all in individual lessons versus group lessons, where there's a more competitive/cooperative feeling.I know my biggest weakness is in speaking the language - and that drags down the whole of it. Chitchat can be very useful practice, but so far I don't feel like there's a solid professional teaching basis on just that. I mean, even if it's structured chitchat, it's still just a drop in the bucket of what's really needed, so maybe not the most effective use of paid lessons. On the other hand, if a teacher is effective at identifying and targeting the parts you're struggling the most with, then perhaps it can be worth it. But so far I'm at a loss for how that'd work.Maybe I'm overconfident, but so far I'd be fairly confident that I could usually tell if somebody were a native Polish speaker or not. At least in my limited experience certain accents or phrases usually give somebody away as coming from another Slavic language group. For example pronouncing "Ł" as "L" or pronouncing certain vowels differently. But if I couldn't tell the difference, then it'd be just as well right now if I feel that I'm being pushed to learn.0 votedMay 29, 20200
- I suppose maybe "detractor", although like Irene said, "hater" has gained wide traction online, and there's the stoic saying "haters gonna hate". So much so that it's even transcended languages. In Polish it's spelled "hejter", which approximates the English pronunciation. I'm not sure about other languages, but it wouldn't surprise me to find it elsewhere.0 votedMay 29, 20200
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