Polish Prince Caspian

This morning I finished reading the official Polish translation of C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian, so I am feeling moderately pleased with myself.

I say "moderately" because I know very well that reading is the EASIEST of language-learning tasks for adults, and for me listening is the hardest.

Still, it is a milestone, and this is the second proper novel I have finished reading in Polish while carefully writing down and looking up the words I don't understand. (I read two Harry Potter novels in Polish, too, but as I didn't stringently look up the words, that doesn't really count.)

I have some reflections, possibly of interest to the language-learners out there.

1. Language Diary: I have been keeping a language diary since October 8, 2017 to keep an eye on my daily language activities and progress (or regress). It is handy to know, for example, that I started reading Ksiązę Kaspian on May 21 and finished on July 23.

2. Vocabulary Notebook: This is essential for keeping me honest about what I don't know and for making flashcards.

3. The Stab Method: This is merely keeping an interest in a difficult language alive by attempting all kinds of small linguistic projects as they catch one's interests: memorising a 1930s tango song; reading a children's book with other learners; speaking as much of the language possible during a city-break; watching an episode of a soap opera; going to a classic film; praying the Angelus with Radio Maryja.  

4a. Being Rooted in Reality: Science. I have been working on Polish for almost seven years--rather more diligently in the past four or five--and, after much reading in the science of foreign language acquisition, I have concluded that it is impossible to become professionally fluent (i.e. C1) in Polish unless one lives in Poland or with Polish-speakers for a protracted period of time. This is both sad--since I cannot as yet afford to move to Poland for three months--and liberating.

4b. Being Rooted in Reality: Practicality. I am most likely to need to know spoken Polish when travelling, buying non-tourist things, suffering a medical emergency, ordering food (sometimes) in Polish restaurants off the beaten tourist track. Therefore, in terms of spoken vocabulary, memorising the contents of a standard Teach Yourself course or the first two years of a night-school course. And I do mean memorise. Memorise. Drill. Repeat. Practise.  Czy Pani mowi po angielsku? Nie? Nic nie szkodzi. Spróbujemy po polsku. My czworo chcilibyśmy pojechać do Wrocławia ...  

But I am most likely to need to know written Polish for work. I travel to Poland three times a year max, but I work five days a week. If I gather from the Polish newspapers that there's a big pro-life story afoot, I can usually get the gist of it.  But then comes the hard part, which is writing to Polish pro-life leadership over Facebook instant message. Dear heavens.  To be honest, I should be reading Evangelium Vitae in Polish every morning, not the Narnia books. But the central point is that I need to READ and WRITE Polish much more often than I need to SPEAK it.

5. But Balance... I have suspended my weekly conversation sessions with my Polish tutor, which is too bad, really, but there is just too much going on. But during our sessions, I discovered that reading Siostrzeniec Czarodzieje (The Magician's Nephew) was very much improving my spoken vocabulary. That said, I interleaved reading The Magician's Nephew with reviewing a grammar book, listening to a recording of Siostrzeniec Czarodzieja and actively memorising SC vocabulary. Afterwards, I realised that many, if not the most, of the words I worked so hard to commit to memory I would never be called upon to say aloud (dziedziniec--courtyard). However, the listening and the memorising were nevertheless very good exercises and helped me a lot. And, of course, if you want to speak a language, you actually have to speak it, not just read it.

6. Habit is Powerful. It's easy for me  to read an increasing number of pages of Polish because I do it from 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM every day.  What is hard forcing myself to listen to Polish, especially now that my earbuds have fallen apart. (I need new earbuds, clearly.) It is also hard to force myself to write Polish, except for the semi-literate messages I send the patient leaders of the Ruch Pro-Life w Polsce.

7. Enjoyment is also Powerful.  I should read Evangelium Vitae in Polish next, but I am going to read Podróż Wędrowca do świtu (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) after making a dictionary of all the words I looked up for the first two Narnia books. But maybe I could devote 2 mornings a week to EV.