Basic Polish: A Grammar and Workbook

by Dana Bielec

Book Overview

Basic Polish presents concise explanations of grammar with related exercises, to build confidence in using the modern language.Assuming no previous knowledge of Polish, the book's step-by-step... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415224373
• ISBN13: 9780415224376
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Basic Polish: A Grammar Workbook

This has been a valuable resource for me even though I am a beginner in the study of the Polish language. Some of the work is still too difficult for me; however, there are many, many things I have picked up from the book. I know that as I learn more Polish, the information will make more sense to me, but I am very glad I purchased this book. I am currently learning Polish with Rosetta Stone but felt I needed something visual to supplement it.

Exactly what I wanted but not for everyone ...

I agree very much with the previous poster's complaints about vocabulary and clearity. You have to memorize a good 300 words to get through all of the books exercises comfortably even though vocabulary is not its goal. Also, the choice of vocabulary tends to side with the obscure. The author is attempting to explain *all* the rules including the regular but not very high frequency exceptions. She includes a handful of examples for each pattern, easily out numbering the common case. This also takes a lot away from clearity, making the language seem much more complicated than it actually is. A better introduction would have focused on drilling all the high frequency rules and simply introducing the exceptions. All of that said, this book was exactly what I wanted. I have been studying Russian for a number of years with only a little experience with Polish, and this book was better for me than any beginner's language textbook. I just wanted to quickly memorize the rules, and start experimenting with the language. As a person who is familiar with highly inflected languages (and Russian in particular which has very similar grammar), I really actually wanted all of the rules and not just the common case. Its a great book, but if you are starting from nothing, it cannot be your only text. This is a much better book for the slightly more advanced Polish learner.

A vital resource

This book is the first I have encountered to delineate Polish grammar in any systematic fashion. It covers all parts of speech and their various nuances in exhaustive depth. However, do not expect to learn the language solely from this book. It is intended to grammatical supplement to a more comprehensive course, such as Berlitz or Pimsleur. The only complaint I have against this work is its errors. They aren't plentiful enough for me to recommend a substitute (nor is there one!), but be on the lookout for inconsistencies. One example may be found at the top of page 21, where we are told that the default plural ending is -i, or -y following the letters g and k. In fact, it is the opposite, with -i proceeding those two exceptions. There are a handful of others, so read with skepticism.