Product Description

This exciting new Easy Learning language course allows learners to take on board all of the Polish they will need while abroad without the need for thick textbooks and complex grammar. 3 audio CDs and accompanying colour booklet make language learning fun, fast and flexible. The 3 audio CDs guide learners through a series of 12 short units. Each unit introduces 5 new key words or phrases before expanding on the basic vocabulary with practice activities, memory tips and culture and etiquette advice. An accompanying 48-page colour booklet provides full transcripts of the CD conversations as well as helpful hints to guide the user through their learning experience. Unit 1: Hello Unit 2: Excuse me Unit 3: Where's the bar? Unit 4: Over there Unit 5: What would you like? Unit 6: Have you got any!? Unit 7: Can you help me? Unit 8: I want to go to! Unit 9: Have you got a room? Unit 10: It hurts Unit 11: I want to make an appointment Unit 12: What's it like?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10997 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-07
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: Polish
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Audio CD

About the Author
A well-known figure in the field of language learning, Rosi McNab has produced bestselling courses and materials for Collins, Heinemann, Pearson Education, Hodder Education, BBC and Goethe Institut. Her hugely successful and ground-breaking books are currently used in primary and secondary schools across the UK and abroad.

Customer Reviews

Polish... even more difficult than you thought!

I am enjoying this package, which comprises 3 CDs and a 46 page booklet with clear markers for the relevant sections of the CDs, but I'm still stuck on CD1.

Why? Well the biggest stumbling block for me on this so far is that there is no phonetic guide. For example; Dziekuje (sorry, the accented 'e's don't reproduce properly) - the Polish word for 'Thank You', is pronounced (as we would write) Jing-koo-ya... now how on earth is anyone supposed to guess that without the inclusion of a phonetic guide?

Of course, its pronunciation is on the CD, but sometimes you just want to flick through the pages of the booklet without having to listen as well. For me, this is a fairly big down side, but so far the only one.

And, as the proof of any pudding is in the eating, I've managed to raise a few acknowledging smiles from Polish customers as they've passed through, so these CDs can't be too bad.

Each of the 12 Units follows much the same format (but with a few revision sections included):

The basics
Key phrases
Listening and speaking
Dialogue 1
Dialogue 2

But with minor corrections, compared to what Amazon lists, below are the actual Unit headings:

Unit 1: Hello, good morning
Unit 2: Excuse me
Unit 3: Where is...?
Unit 4: Over there
Unit 5: I'd like something to drink
Unit 6: Have you got any...?
Unit 7: Can you help me?
Unit 8: I want...
Unit 9: Have you got a room?
Unit 10: It hurts
Unit 11: I want to make an appointment
Unit 12: What's it like?

A modern, fresh course with a sensible and effective approach!
There are a few recent audio-only courses on the market in a variety of languages now, and it was interested to see Collins add its own brand to the mix. At first glance, this course seems to be targetting the same audience as the similarly presented Teach Yourself Polish Conversation - also a three CD course - and the Collins version compares very favourably to this.

First and foremost, the tutors / narrators are likeable and friendly - essential if you'll be spending a fair amount of time listening to them! Their style is also fairly informal, contrasting nicely with the rather dry approach of other courses.

The language is broken down into very manageable chunks. Additionally, the first CD gives sound advice about breaking your own learning down into short sessions of 'optimal learning time', which amounts to around 8-10 minutes. The course material is arranged in similarly sized sections, helping you to manage your learning efficiently and not become overwhelmed.

It's an excellently paced course, but there is a lot of material included - three full-length CDs - which means that a learner taking all the advice about studying manageably will amass a huge amount of language by the end of the course. Proununciation is handled very nicely too, with clear enunciation from the narrators, and a syllable breakdown for some more difficult words. For those wanting to sneak a peek at the written word, the accompanying booklet is well laid-out and doubles as a handy phrase finder.

Each unit is structured along the familiar lines of introduction, examples / dialogue, practice (with a useful low 'beep' when the learner is supposed to speak!) and round-up at the end of the section. Self-assessment is encouraged, using techniques like counting the number of words you remember from a unit on your fingers - and only moving on if you remember all of them confidently. Elements like this give a nice interactive and personalised flavour to the course. A very nice touch is a brief recap after each unit, along with encouraging chat: "Now you know your first five words in Polish!" and so on, typical of the enthusiastic style of the script. It can border on the cheesy at times ("Is that enough information for today? Give your brain a rest!" but on the whole it's a really amenable style.

It is a modern course in the sense that it stresses a communicative approach, with a decent emphasis on body language and the other tehcniques of communicating without necessary having an exhaustive Polish vocabulary! As such it doesn't overwhelm the beginner to language learning, and actually makes you realise you can communicate effectively without being a genius in grammatical nuances. What gives the course a particular strength is the wealth of language learning tips it passes on to the listener - it's not just about learning a language, but also learning how to learn a language. Collins' course ticks all the boxes!

Well worth trying
The Collins Easy Learning Polish set comes with three CDs and a booklet. The recordings are linked by icons to the booklet, so you know exactly where you are and you can stop and start (or repeat) without fear of getting lost.

I found the recordings clear and the vocabulary useful. I remember when I learned languages at school having to translate lines like "That is not my goat" purely because they illustrated a point of grammar. I never found reason to tell a Russian that he had mistaken the ownership of a passing quadruped. That is not a problem here, because I could find myself needing most of the lines. There are also handy tips in the margins, and more developed paragraphs explaining the grammar at intervals.

I would not claim that you could read a newspaper or listen to a radio documentary after completing the course, but you could make yourself understood in a restaurant, read a sign or follow directions, which is surely the point of this level of course.

Well presented, and cheap at the price.