One of the most effective and, perhaps, most economical ways to learn Polish is through self-instruction classes. These manuals are intended for different levels of training, different basic knowledge. This material will be devoted to a review of the most, in our opinion, interesting Polish language tutorials.
From the article you will learn:
What are they for?
The essence of these manuals is reflected in their name - independent language learning. There are no teachers, no lessons, no checks, exams, no strict time constraints, and therefore no costs for them. The cost of mastering Polish using tutorials is almost equal to the cost of the manual itself.
Also, some tutorials can be downloaded online for free or studied online. However, we will talk about them another time.
Where can I find a Polish language tutorial?
Today there is no problem purchasing a tutorial. Almost all offline stores that have a department of educational literature offer these manuals for sale.
You have to be careful! In pursuit of commercial success, many publishers produce low-quality textbooks at bargain prices. They really cost little, but their effect is often zero. We recommend several proven tutorials (see below), the effectiveness of which has been proven by experience.
As with other products, educational literature It is more profitable to purchase in online stores. We can offer citizens of Ukraine a portal, the services of which we have repeatedly used.
People who already have some knowledge of the Polish language and want to continue learning will easily understand the quality of self-teaching books.
Another thing is for beginners - those who have little idea about the language and methods of learning. It is for them that we will review the benefits.
An interesting, simple, but effective guide by Daria Gabryanchik. There are 384 pages of information that will allow you to quickly speak Polish. In the edition:
- Basics of grammar.
- Learning ways to pronounce, form words and sentences, and read.
- Notes on cultural and everyday topics that will be useful for communication and interviews.
- A large set of common phrases and expressions, often used in Polish colloquial speech, for communicating with government officials, in shops, cinemas, etc.
- Recommendations and tips to help speed up the learning process.
- Attached is a free audio course and links to several dozen videos that allow you to more effectively master the language.
This excellent beginner's edition is available for purchase.
A very interesting Polish publication written by Iwona Stempek. Saying “Polish” means that the book was written and published in the Republic of Poland in Polish. A person is immersed in the learning process immediately, without being distracted by unnecessary explanations. Therefore, the book is more concise - it has only 112 pages, which, among other things, contain:
- Vocabulary and grammar.
- Games, charades, puzzles in Polish.
- Lots of illustrations and diagrams.
- Possibility to choose different levels of learning difficulty.
- CD with practical exercises.
You can buy a tutorial on this page.
An excellent beginner's edition that sets your learning speed from the start. If you follow the recommendations of the publication from Mazhena Kowalska, then a person who does not know Polish will speak within a month.
The tutorial has 440 pages, including:
- Grammar, vocabulary.
- Rules for pronunciation and phrase formation.
- Description of customs, rules of behavior and other cultural aspects that may be useful for communication and, for example, for passing.
- A multi-level program that allows you to both learn a language from scratch and remember what you learned a long time ago.
- Dialogue CD.
This very rich and productive publication can be purchased at this link.
A very concise and effective publication from Tatyana Prutovykh. In total, 192 pages contain information to help you master the language in 4 weeks.
The main emphasis of the publication is on colloquial speech . In addition, the tutorial contains:
- Brief grammar.
- A phrasebook with the most frequently used phrases and sentences.
- Useful information about Poland, its culture and history.
- Brief dictionary.
The page where you can purchase the manual is located.
What other Polish books are there?
For more rapid learning, and most importantly, consolidation of what has been learned and gaining experience, it is better not to limit yourself to self-instruction manuals alone. Except necessary dictionaries and phrase books, It wouldn’t hurt to purchase separate books on grammar, vocabulary, and even fiction.
Learning Polish using a self-instruction manual is very accessible to most people. The main thing is to choose the right benefit so as not to waste time and money. We hope that this review will help you with your choice. Any questions you may have can be left in the comments to the material.
If someone told you that learning Polish on your own is not possible, don’t believe it! Studying the Polish language on your own is possible, but for this you need the right textbooks and books that will help you understand complex and incomprehensible issues. We have prepared for you a list of the most popular Polish language textbooks and books in Polish, which you can download on our website completely free of charge!
“Simple Polish” Plotnikova O.V.
An excellent option for those who are going to learn Polish from scratch. The training course contains text materials and audio files. There are 75 entertaining lessons waiting for you, each of which is dedicated to a specific topic. You can listen to Polish audio lessons at home, at work, in the car. This course was developed by Russian teachers together with Polish philologists. All you have to do is listen to the audio lesson and repeat after the speaker.
“Polish from scratch” Mochalova T.S.
“Miło mi panią poznać” Aleksandra Achtelik
Another study guide for those who are just about to learn the basics of the Polish language. With this book you will quickly master the basic vocabulary and find out the most frequently used ones in everyday life phrases. The book describes 20 life situations with the most likely dialogues. The course is suitable for self-study of Polish.
“Polish for everyone. Read. Listen. Speak” Palyanova G.V., Palyanova I.V., Borisevich E.V.
The manual is suitable for those who are just starting to learn the Polish language, as well as for those who want to improve their level of knowledge. The book contains the basics of grammar, as well as texts for all levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Each text is accompanied by a dictionary with new words. In addition, in addition to text materials, the book also comes with audio lessons. The textbook can be used for self-study of the Polish language.
“Podręcznik Gramatyka? Dlaczego nie?!” Joanna Machowska
Workbook for self-study of the Polish language. The textbook was compiled by a Polish author and is intended for students at level A1. You will find 6 interesting sections that will help you master the real life situations, acquire a certain vocabulary, understand Polish culture in reality. The artistic design of each lesson will allow you to include associative images in the learning process.
“Conversational Polish in dialogues” Ermola V.I.
The manual is designed for learning spoken Polish. Suitable for those who want to have a decent conversation with locals in Poland, and for those who welcome foreign guests in their country. Ideally selected life situations and dialogues, maximally adapted to modern realities, will help you master spoken Polish in the shortest possible time. The textbook is suitable for self-study of the language. Download Course
“Hurra!!! po polsku 1» Małgorzata Małolepsza, Aneta Szymkiewicz
A traditional guide for learning Polish, consisting of three parts. Each subsequent part of the textbook is intended for a higher level of mastery of Polish. Tutorial“Hura! po polsku 1" contains text materials, including a workbook, and audio lessons. Classes are divided into topics ranging from simple to complex. Using this Polish language textbook, you will easily learn to speak Polish and will easily understand native speakers. Download Tutorial Download Notebook Download Audio
“Hurra!!! po polsku 2» Małgorzata Małolepsza, Aneta Szymkiewicz
The second part of a manual for learning Polish, consisting of three parts. If the first part is intended for entry-level students, then the second part is suitable for those who are planning to move on to intermediate level. Like the first part, the tutorial “Hura! po polsku 2" contains text materials, including a workbook, and audio lessons. Classes are divided into topics ranging from simple to complex. Listening also comes with increasing difficulty. The manual is suitable for independent work.
And to be more precise, how force teach yourself Polish independently and, if possible, quickly at home.
Everyone and everything talks about motivation; on every corner of the World Wide Web you can find a coach, trainer, psychologist or some other specialist,
which will tell us all about motivation. I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t work very well for me. Perhaps I'm too lazy or skeptical, but I usually don't have enough time for a long time, or I don't start following the advice at all. I'm just reading in vain.
I am not a coach, not a psychologist, and most likely not even a specialist. I won't tell you how to force yourself to do something. at all. Get up early, do exercises, read a lot, don’t crack seeds with your teeth - that’s not what this article is about! No, I understand only one type of motivation - how to force yourself to learn Polish on your own.
How I had no motivation at all
I think I understand this only because of my own experience of forcing myself to learn Polish. Because I didn’t have the motivation, like you, dear readers, to go to Poland to study/work. I had no motivation at all. I went to my first lesson “with the company”, as they say, everyone went - and I went. Here, perhaps, I was a little motivated by the fact that the lesson was free.
Then I signed up for the course. How? I don't know myself. I decided to go best friend(in his words - just like that) - and I went tail. Also - just like that. It seemed to me that Polish was a very easy and funny language (it still seems that way sometimes). And I walked for three long months (or two?). And the friend stopped, who would doubt it. And all the castles in the air began to collapse. I realized that although I was interested in the language, I understood little. The Pole teacher rarely explained anything in such a way that everyone understood. Usually he just talked, we tried to do some exercises - and I often had a lot of questions at home about how and where I did it. Because there were no explanations for exceptions, because there were few examples, because... In general, I gave up.
Several months of complete absence of Polish practically erased everything from my mind.
That’s why “random” meetings with Polish people began. Either I found some old girly magazine in Polish at home (!), then someone posted some picture in Polish on VK, gave me songs to listen to, claiming that they were in Polish (but they were in Serbian). In general, life was slowly turning in the right direction.
How did motivation come about?
A friend of a friend of a friend asked me to study Polish with a girl. But before that, my friend said: “Place an ad on Desk, become a tutor.” To which I answered: “How??? I don’t know Polish at all!”
Polish was needed not for admission or anything like that, but so that when the family moved to Poland, the girl would not have stress, so that she would already know letters and some words. And so, having named a ridiculous price for the lesson (because I basically wanted to teach for free), I began to teach an eight-year-old girl, pretending with all my might that I knew the language. Deception, you say? The most real one. But it became my motivation.
You see, I hope that I am not the type of person who can pretend for a long time and take money for it. Therefore, from the first lesson I began to prepare like hell. I brought with me a bunch of materials found on the Internet, a laptop with downloads (the girl’s favorite cartoon was “Koszmarny Karolek”), I crammed pronunciation, rules and words at home. I listened to cartoons a hundred times to know exactly what they were talking about, how to explain and translate them to a child. I didn’t study pedagogy, but my parents are teachers, and I knew some things just like that. The girl studied, in addition to Polish, three more languages, went to tennis and to the pool, so we spent a lot of time playing with her, playing in Polish. We staged theatrical productions with toys, where everyone spoke Polish, we drew fairy tales, where the characters learned Polish alphabet, we watched cartoons and rewound to particularly interesting words and moments. We studied together.
Then another girl appeared and my self-confidence. The girl was much older, and we were already studying from a textbook that I kept after the course. And I memorized everything that was there, I explained the rules to myself, looked for them in other sources, bought myself other book sources - and was always ready for the lesson. Yes, I was sometimes caught off guard by questions like: “What is this called in Polish?”, but I knew the real teacher’s excuse: “Great question! Let this be your homework? Both their and my studies progressed at a frantic pace.
Poor girls?
What have I just told you? That at the beginning of my tutoring history I had no right to do this at all? Yes. I didn't. But I did, and I did, sometimes it seems to me, sometimes even better than now. Now I’m ready for almost any questions, I can chat in Polish for days, I’ll recite many grammatical rules from memory - but I’m unlikely to draw fairy tales in Polish or play theater with anyone. Although I still have a craving for this (sorry, my dear students, when I get too carried away).
And now - how to quickly learn Polish on your own at home
You've already read how =)
But seriously, I’ll highlight everything point by point and add something else:
- Find someone to teach. This could be your own child, the child of your girlfriend or boyfriend, your husband/wife, brother/sister, parents - anyone with whom you are willing to spend an hour or two at least twice a week. By the way, I already mentioned children before.
- You can formulate the task for yourself differently - do not teach, but talk about what you yourself have learned, tell it so that it is like the joke: “Well, students are stupid! I explained and explained to them, I already understood, but they still didn’t understand.”
- If this is a child, arrange everything as a game, watch cartoons in Polish together, sing songs, read poems, make the Polish alphabet.
- Have a serious conversation with an adult, explain how important it is for you to learn Polish quickly, on your own, but with his help.
- If you already have some knowledge of Polish and feel like I once did, place ads, set a low price, indicate that you are teaching from scratch (or maybe mainly with children) - and start studying hard.
Responsibility motivates me very much. I think this is true for many people. Still did coursework/diplomas in last night before delivery? The deadline motivates, and responsibility. So it is here. I understand that if someone hires you for money, it’s terrible, what a responsibility, but also great, what motivation.
P.S. If after reading this article you want to unsubscribe from the newsletter/subscribe to the news because I have greatly disappointed you, that is your right. If you have angry comments about how I could deceive people like that, then re-read the article again, and then write a comment. And if you yourself have a similar story, I would be very glad to read it!
In general, the article is about how to deceive yourself and still force yourself to learn Polish on your own - but still with someone’s help. I hope that these many letters of mine will help you either decide on something, or sit down with your son/daughter new game called "Polish".
In this collection, we have put together a selection of 10 books that we think will help you learn Polish. Here you will find books that contain not only theory, but also exercises in Polish. All Polish language textbooks have been tested by us and believe me, they work. Here is not only a review of books, here you can download textbooks on the Polish language.
So let's begin.
1. HURRA “Po Polsku 2”
A very popular textbook. It is divided into 4 main parts that develop the following skills: speaking, writing, reading and language comprehension. The themes are quite modern and not hackneyed. Here you will get acquainted not only with the Polish language, but also with customs, holidays and national characteristics Poland. The books also contain interesting crossword puzzles, quizzes and competitions, which game form will allow you to better understand the material.
2. HURRA “Po Polsku 3”
The third re-edition of the popular textbook. The textbook is intended for students. It will expand your knowledge of Polish and teach you how to communicate on various topics: everyday life, sports, society, etc. The textbook also gives you the opportunity to practice vocabulary and grammar on your own.
3. “Textbook of the Polish language” authors Vasilevskaya D., Karoljak S.
The textbook is perfect for those who are just starting to learn the language or for those who want to strengthen their existing knowledge. The main emphasis of the textbook is on familiarization with phonetics, spelling and grammar of the Polish language. There is also a section with exercises and keys to these exercises so that you can always test yourself and your knowledge.
4. “Pole Card Exam”
This material will help you prepare for the exam. Here are all the questions that you might be asked and there are detailed and clear answers to them. All questions are related to the history, culture and geography of Poland. There is also a short guide to questions and answers. This material should certainly help you prepare for the Pole Card exam.
5. Polish language. Textbooks for universities. Special literature.
This book is structured in an unusual way. First you read a simple text in Polish, then you look at the dictionary and translate the text. Gradually, you come to the conclusion that the translation becomes less and less, and everything in the dictionary less words translated. And the text becomes more and more complex every time.
6. Od słowa do słowa toczy się rozmowa
A textbook by Polish authors, designed specifically for foreigners. From word to word, we go to conversation. The textbook will prepare you to level B1 and B2, its main goal is to develop the necessary communication skills. After the course you will be able to carry on a simple conversation.
7. Business Polish
A very interesting textbook that will introduce you to business Polish at level B1 and B2. Suitable for those who are planning to work in Poland, with this textbook you will increase your knowledge and be able to conduct dialogues in a business environment. The textbook is divided into 14 specific topics, which together cover a wide range of business topics.
8. Krok po Kroku Polski A1+A2/ Step by step Polish A1+A2
A textbook from a large series, written by Poles especially for foreigners. It is important to note that the textbook meets all standards and is certified as material recommended for learning Polish as a foreign language.
9. Mochalova T. Polsky “from scratch”
The title of the book speaks for itself. It will help you master the skills of writing, reading and maintaining dialogue in the shortest possible time. If you need to quickly learn basic knowledge, then this book is for you.
Polish roots and the presence of documents that confirm them are undoubtedly extremely important. However, it should be understood that this alone will not be enough to obtain the desired document. You should also be knowledgeable about the geography, history and culture of Poland, and speak good Polish.
Learning Polish to receive a Pole's Card is a must! Remember that as soon as you enter the territory of the consulate, they will only speak Polish to you. Even when the consul asks you to show him your passport and other documents, you must understand exactly what he is talking about. So where can you start learning Polish on the Pole’s Card, and can you do it yourself?
Many people try to cheat, and write themselves answers to possible questions using Russian to Polish transcription. That is, they write Polish words Russian letters. This, of course, can be done, but it is very risky, and even disrespectful towards the consul. You must understand Polish words, and be prepared to answer questions for which it is difficult to prepare answers in advance. For example, on .
- Is it possible to learn Polish on your own?
You can, of course, but it will take a lot of time and will not be as effective as classes with a tutor.
- How long should you study Polish before an interview?
If you have never learned this language before, it is better to devote at least six months to studying it. Of course, you can prepare in more early date, however, then you will not be confident in yourself and may become confused if the consul asks you a question for which you were not prepared.
- What is better - courses or a tutor?
Definitely a tutor. When you study with a teacher one on one, and all the attention is paid only to you, it will certainly be more effective than studying in a group.
Audio and video Polish lessons online
If you don’t want to turn to a tutor for help, or just want to learn the language on your own for some time, then you should download the Polish language tutorial for the Pole’s Card. You will find an audio course of quality materials below! Listen and learn - it's completely free.
Useful videos on the Polish language
Basics of Polish on YouTube
Spoken language
Grammar and Phonetics
Of course, after studying these materials you will not become a top-level Polish philologist, but this knowledge will definitely be enough to successfully pass the exam.
Let's learn Polish together!
Finding a good Polish tutor nowadays is quite problematic, especially if you live in a small town. But there is a way out! You can use the services of our tutors who teach via Skype. To arrange classes, you can write to us using the contacts on the website.
You can read more about our other services .
