1 comments about Pocket Oxford PWN Polish Dictionary.

1. This is without a doubt the best affordable dictionary for Polish learners. The two most comprehensive and accurate Polish-English dictionaries out there are the Kosciuszko and the Oxford-PWN, but the full versions of those (both 2-volume monsters) are crazily expensive. Luckily, this dictionary by Oxford-PWN is much, much cheaper and still very comprehensive for all but the most advanced study. It has nearly 10x more words than the Pogonowski and more accurate translations as well. A lot of the other Polish-English dictionaries are from foreign language companies and are better when translating into their own native tongues (i.e. German-Polish for Langenscheidt, French-Polish for Larousse). But if you need precision in Polish-English, then this is the way to go. Just be warned: at over 1,000 pages it is hardly a "pocket" dictionary and may be a bit tough to carry regularly to class.

3 comments about Polish: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. This phrase book is meant to provide Berlitz some competition. I consider LP to be slightly more useful because i) short paragraphs are included about important social behavior and ii) there are more words in the dictionary. I found the arrangement in LP better for studying. Berlitz addresses a greater variety of situations.



2. This little pocket book contains solid Polish grammar and vocabulary information; it concentrates on popular phrases that one would need when traveling. It's small size is very handy and graphics help follow the book without confusion.



3. As a phrase book, it's great. I found it quite helpful in our short visit to Poland. However:
   
   As a source of definitions for many commonly used words in Polish,it could be much better. When I tried to use the dictionary section with a Polish family we were living with, they decided it was not very useful to them.
   Also, many of the words used in the phrases (and their English equivalents) are not included in the dictionary portion of the book, so sometimes it's difficult to find the phrase you want to use.

5 comments about Polish, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Polish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Instant Conversation).

1. Travelers wanting to learn basic Polish for traveling will like this program. It presents words and phrases, then continues to incorporate them throughout the remainder of the program. It presents words uniquely (from my experience), as it presents the pronounciation from the end of the word forward. It's a great program for auditory learners.
   
   The only drawback is the lack of visual materials to follow along with or refer to.



2. The method is quite amazing. I'm on disc 11 of 16 and I haven't forgotten even ONE thing I've learned! This is the first language I've taken since high school and to my surprise, it's easy and fun.
   
   The beginning of each disc is a little intimidating because you listen to a short polish conversation with new words that you might think you'll never learn how to pronounce, let alone, remember. But by the end of the disc, confidence is back up. It may take two reviews of each lesson to move on to the next, but that is certainly no discouragement. It also does a good job in explaining WHY you say certain things, for instance, why you use a long e sound instead of a short a sound for the word "and," and it provides enough examples for it to make sense.
   
   The conversation is limited to very basic conversation, but this is exactly the intention of this cd. It's a great launch pad to the next level...
   
   The ONLY negative comment I have about this cd is that the majority of the conversation is focused towards a male listener, which I am not. BUT again, this is not that big of a deal, because it does a great job of demonstrating how a polish woman would speak as well. I guess I was just a little offended that Pimsleur would make the assumption/choice to focus towards a male.
   
   Also, one last comment, which I'm sure is pretty obvious considering the media... you may be able to speak what you've learned confidently, but don't expect to be anywhere near ready to read polish. I'd recommend you save that for another time...
   
   Like I said... absolutely NO regrets with the purchase. I have already recommended it to several friends. The method is very effective!
   
   Enjoy and (phonetically) doe-vied-zen-ya (goodbye)!



3. I did learn some from these lessons, but I found that there were too many gaps to make it really useful. We do learn to establish if the person with whom we are speaking speaks English and/or Polish, but we do not learn how to become acquainted. It would be useful to know how to make acquaintances through questions like "What is your name?" We only learn formal forms of address. Another gripe that I have is that the pronunciation is not consistent. There is too much of an emphasis on translation from English into Polish and not enough on trying to think in the language. Yes when we are learning our native language as children we learn to speak before we learn the grammar, but we are immersed in the language. Yes, this course is easy, but we do not really learn to communicate.



4. Conversational Polish: Learn to Speak and Understand Polish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Instant Conversation) gives an immediately useful and practical method for learning a difficult language. Through listening and repeating, and repeating and listening, I think I may have enough practical language to feel confident speaking and understanding the basics on my upcoming trip to Poland. I've found this the most helpful of the Polish language tools I've tried.



5. If you want to save a lot of money, buy this product instead of Rosetta Stone. You won't be disappointed. I learned Spanish with Berlitz and Pimsleur comes close to having an individual tutor like Berlitz. Very inexpensive and effective. One caveat, I grew up listening to the Polish language and knew a few words and phrases, plus familiarity with the sounds. That might prejudice the review, but for the money this product costs compared to the competition, take a chance.

5 comments about Polish-English English-Polish Dictionary (Hippocrene Concise Dictionary).

1. Frustrating to use if one is looking for words in Polish. Words found in the English-Polish section are not always contained in the Polish-English section, and some of the more common roots or infinitives simply aren't there.



2. For the small size book - this dictionary contains a good amount of words, with a pronunciation and some extra information about phonetics, kanguage origin, differences etc. Yes, some words are missing, especially from the modern world etc - but almost all the most common or popular words are there; the guide to the phonetics and the menu guides help also. I give this book a strong 4 stars!



3. not much to say really, its a polish/english dictionary... it works great.



4. I am a literacy volunteer and use this book with one student that is polisn. Very Satisfactory



5. This dictionary was bought for an elderly 83 year old man who's first language was Polish but he had not spoken it for 60+ years. So when he forgot words and phrases he became very frustrated and annoyed. this dictionary is the perfect answer,not only for the information he requires but being pocket sized as well he can carry it around easily for frequent referral.
   So it is good for the native speaker, the traveller and the student

2 comments about Wiedza Powszechna Compact Polish and English Dictionary.

1. I've went through many English Polish dictionaries and this is the most comprehensive one I've found to date. In most others I have trouble finding the Polish word to translate it back to English. This book seems more well thought out because I find all the words I am looking for, and have used this book for years. I am buying a second one so I can have it handy in the office as well!



2. I have owned this dictionary for years, and it seems to meet my needs. My only complaint is that the binding on the hardcover edition disintegrated to an extent I've never seen before in any book. I'm very kind to my books, but the spine split on this one not long after buying it. And even where the spine isn't split, pages are falling out.
   
   I'd like to buy another copy to replace the one that's fallen apart, and I would if I knew it would hold together better than the first did.

5 comments about 301 Polish Verbs (Barron's).

1. I bought 301 Polish Verbs to supplement an intensive beginning Polish course, and I am very pleased with this book. The verb charts are quite helpful, and I transferred many of them to flashcards to help me study.
   The crucial difference between 301 Polish Verbs and its predecessor, 201 Polish Verbs, is that (in addition to the extra 100 verbs) 301 Polish Verbs includes a long introduction that includes solid yet brief explanations of the grammar not only of verbs but also of the different cases that the verbs take.
   The verbs are grouped into verb groups that are all listed under the same single heading verb. The perfective and imperfective form of the verb, as well as other related verbs with the same verb "root", are all listed on a single page. This grouping is helpful for learning that all these verbs are related and their tenses work the same way. However, the groupings can make it difficult to look up a particular Polish verb, as the verbs are listed alphabetically by the heading verb, and one must check multiple indexes to find out which heading verb it is listed under.
   The example sentences at the bottom of each page are very helpful to illustrate the usage of the different verbs in context and to "see" how the verbs take different objects in different cases. However, I would have liked there to be more example sentences--some verbs (though not "heading" verbs) do not even have a single example sentence.



2. Is a great reference for anyone who wishes to speak Polish. Provides detailed conjugations and tenses. Overall awesome.



3. Another reviewer describes this book as, "thorough". That is an understatement!
   
   If you want to know the intricate details of Polish verbs and the conjugations of the most common, look no further. In fact, it is so thorough at times, it can be intimidating, especially if you are learning the language outside a classroom setting.
   
   For example, the frequentive aspect is treated for appropriate verbs despite the admission that, "The frequentive aspect is hardly ever used now." Jumping from Germanic to Slavic languages was tough enough for me, without having to ignore seldom used aspects of the language which appear alongside the parts I want/need to focus on.



4. 
   In my opinion,this is probably the best verb learning book to start to learn polish. There are other good polish verbs books, but usually they only conjugate the "key" verbs, or the most used verbs (but not so much as 301, and not always they have indexes of other verbs.
   Here you can see fully conjugated in all tenses 301 polish verb. Remember that when somebody starts to learn a new lenguage, probably has problems to understand the conjugation looking only to a "key" verb. So, this book helps a lot to start. It lists together perfective and imperfective verbs, great! And English-Polish and Polish-English verb indexes list nearly 2300 verbs - also good for intermediate and superior students. It also has illustrative sentences and some self-tests, polish proverbs, puzzles... What else could we ask to a good polish verbs book?
   Remember that it is a polish verbs book, of course that only with this you can not learn, still that it is so good!



5. This book has been a great help in allowing me to keep up with the more advanced students in my class. It arrived earlier than anticipated and in great condition!

4 comments about Mastering Polish.

1. Doctor Juszczak produced a good grammar with some very thoughtful and entertaining practice conversations. The vocabulary is much of what you would have in other languages' grammars, i.e., the words for airplane, passport, etc. What sets this book apart is the vocabulary of ordinary people meeting and chatting with each other about all sorts of everyday things from doorknobs to tomatoes to ambulances. For a grammar of its size and breadth, it covers a lot of ground. I used it as Doctor's student and commented in our evaluation at course end on a few missed points of grammar, the lack of tables explaining a little more of the special ways Polish verbs are conjugated and the ways nouns, pronouns and adjectives are declined. This is not meant to be a very deeply technical grammar. It's good and interesting and just nicely different from grammars I'm used to from other languages I have been able to study. (The cassette tape which is also available is a nice thing to have.) For the price, it's certainly worth having. Other grammars can get down to the nitty gritty. This one is a good people kind of grammar.



2. I'm trying to learn Polish, the language of my ancestors, and I was immediately drawn to this book (which comes with two audio CD's) because the conversations are not just about shopping, dining, arranging transportation and checking into hotels. Instead, there is a much more interesting range of scenarios, including visits to a forest preserve, a concert, a university, a relative's garden, an art gallery, an author's reading and more. Albert Juszczak has created a basic language course that has one discussing the science fiction of Stanislaw Lem and pianist Garrick Ohlsson's mastery of Chopin. The grammar exercises are equally high-minded and engagingly accessible. Generally in language instruction, I find I am bored by the lesson content while trying to grasp the linguistic form, but that is not the case here. Bravo, Dr. Juszczak!



3. This book is handy because it covers grammar principals at the basic conversational level and includes English translations.



4. This book is a bad bad investment. It has many drawbacks:
   1.- Every lesson begins with a dialog that has no connection at all with the explanations inside the lesson.
   2.- Dialogs are full of past tense, cases and many complicated forms that are not explained at all.
   3.- Grammar is faulty and very short, with just a few (2 to 3) examples.
   4.- Recordings are at very low speed, not good for learning.

5 comments about Polish, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Polish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur).

1. I can't understand if anybody can learn polish by this course. Without any written material, I think it is impossible. Stay Away!



2. Although very repetitive, these CDs make you memorize difficult polish phrases and words. Polish is definitely a very difficult language to learn, and this CD is very helpful.



3. This item was a gift for my 17 year old nephew, who is of Polish extraction. He hopes to visit to Poland next summer. Apparently he is really excited by it and is enjoying the learning process.



4. I am planning a trip to Poland, and bought this set of CD's to try to learn a few words and phrases. Trying to read the Polish words in books was very difficult... their letters don't always sound the way ours do! This method doesn't use visuals, only audio, and your own memory. It is surprisingly easy to learn to roll off sentences in Polish, and know just what you're saying. I highly recommend this product.



5. It's too dialect specific and can make it hard for you to be understood to actual polish people (I believe 'quoloquial' is the term I'm thinking of)

3 comments about Monte Burch's Pole Building Projects: Over 25 Low-Cost Plans.

1. This book is great. It has thorough, easy to follow instructions for various pole buildings, and free plans! Excellent for first-timers or experienced builders. Great reference!



2. I would have returned this book but by the time I paid shipping it wasn't worth it. There is very little in this book of use, almost all of it is outdated, tools and equipment, etc. There are much better books on the market. This one might have been better if it wasn't so old. I have been an architect for 25 years and there just isn't anything in this that is useful. Very disappointing.



3. I am not a "construction type person" (actually a pharmacist by profession) but with the help of this book I was able to build a 30'x 22' storage barn. The book was very clear on the basics of building a pole building and provided enough information to complete my project. I am 110% happy with the results of my barn (leaks just a little...which can easily be fixed...but I built it myself) and would recommend this book to anyone that has never built anything before.

5 comments about Polish Phrase Book (Berlitz Phrase Books).

1. This publication was very helpful. I will use it in the future.



2. What a find!! Anyone travelling to Poland will find this
   phrase book really handy! Wish I had it with me the last
   five times that I visited Poland. It covers everything
   that you will need to know about food, restaurant odering,
   sightseeing, travel, doctors, etc. etc. You'll never leave
   home without it again!!!!



3. I thought this would be more useful phrases for everyday Polish, not for travel to Poland. It's a very good travel book. Sections broken down well so you can easily find the right phrases, but this is more for travel.



4. The book is nicely organized! I speak polish and I bought the book as a gift; I was nicely surprised to see that for those who do not speak the language, this book is well written. Most of the words have great pronunciation, which is important since this could be difficult part of learning the language for someone who is not accustom to hearing it. I certainly recommend it for those who want to use this aid book to communicate in Poland!



5. not good, not bad, any little word book will do if that's all you are looking for