Tak! This is the one., March 9, 2003

This is definitely the way to start learning Polish on your own. Like all Pimsleur programs its expensive and is not geared towards building a large vocabulary but it is unsurpassed in helping you develop a good speaking proficiency and you will remember what you've learned for a longer period of time compared to other methods of instruction. Use this course as a starter and follow it up with Boleslaw Mazur's Colloquial Polish (with cassette accompaniment) to further develop your vocabulary, reading, and grammar skills.

If you've used Pimsleur tapes before the format will be familiar to you. Among other things you'll learn some key words (please, thank you, etc), how to ask for directions, and how to set up a lunch or dinner date. Its not much but you'll learn it well. Polish is full of awkward consonant combinations and none of the other courses is better than Pimsleur in helping you deal with these. This is only a 10-lesson course (about 30 minutes per lesson) which is far too brief. Hopefully the Pimsleur folks will put out a Comprehensive Program (30 lessons) for Polish as they have for other languages.

Do not purchase this program if you are going to Poland soon and just want to know a few key phrases for the trip. There is little provided in this regard and youll be better off with a travel-oriented phrasebook. If you already know some Russian you should also skip this one and start with Mazur. But if you are keen on developing a speaking proficiency that, with some follow-up work, will impress a Pole, this is the place to start.

Polish lessons on the commute to work - great tapes!, January 21, 2002

I learned a lot over the past 2 months of commuting to work with these cassettes playing as I drove.

I studied on my own out of books, books with cassettes, went to a class and got grammer instruction. But all that knowledge of how to spell, how to construct grammatically correct sentences did not get me TALKING. For me at least, written and printed Polish was easier, spoken Polish had me lost for lack of practice in using it.

Pimsleur's method teaches pronunciation and gets you talking to the point where you can respond in confidence because you pronounce correctly, and your ear is trained to the spoken language rythym so that you can understand what is said to you and remember the Polish to use in your response. Those who have experience know how fast Polish-speakers can talk and so this tape will help train you to listen, comprehend, and respond at conversational speeds. My only regret is that there is no further Pimsleur tapes of Polish after this one. If there were, I would gladly buy it.

Beginners should get this tape set and should get a good beginner's book - my favorite pick would be: Teach Yourself Polish, by M. Corbridge.

TAK! Po polsku made easy!, August 4, 2004

I was wary when Pimsleur promised I would speak Polish in 10 days. I have tried some of the "instant language" computer program in the past, and they all (I) failed miserably. I am going to Poland in eight months, so I figured I needed that much time. I honestly am able to converse and understand Polish in less than two weeks! This system gives you the tools to be able interact and ask the right questions to continue expanding your Polish vocabulary. The only draw-back is that there is only one set in this series. The secret is, when you try to read, write and speak a language to learn it, your brain has to process the written word, translate that to a word in your head, then translate it to/from English (or even more steps if you are writing it). This course bypasses that whole decoding process, and goes straight to your language learning center. You could speak English long before you could read or write it. This course is based on the same idea. Study these tapes, learn nouns as you need them and you can confortably move about in Poland!

Sharp! Strongly Recommended., August 7, 2003

I wanted to learn Polish since I already studied Russian. This course is excellent. I have also studied Spanish & German with Berlitz tapes, and this is as good as the Berlitz "Think & Talk" tape program,(except that the latter does not cover Polish.)

My only regret is that the course could not continue into more advanced language studies.

Definitely worth the money and time.

A Great Buy, June 6, 2002

I have nothing but great things to say about this program. It was extremely helpful. Speaking even the most basic Polish phrases seemed impossible when I started, but each word was broken down so cleverly and the the lessons were structured so logically that it became quite easy. As with many of the other reviewers, my only regret is that there is not another series of tapes to move on to.

Perfect your accent & fluency while you commute, March 22, 2002

I've bought 3 other audio courses on Polish... I wanted something I could use in the car while commuting. This should have been the first one! It is 100% audio. They teach you to speak and understand the way those skills should be taught. They repeat every phrase 3 times for the first 7 lessons. That means you never have to rewind the tape in order to get enough practice before moving on. They use "backwards build-up" to help you master longer sentences. They teach you proper word order by sticking with the same vocabulary and varying the sentence structure, for example, starting with a statement in the first person, then converting to a question in the third person, then converting it from a masculine to a feminine subject, then adding a direct object, then an adverb, then a prepositional phrase, and so on. This course will not teach you to read and it won't teach you formally about the noun conjugations and verb declensions. But it goes a long way toward getting you accustomed to the sounds/patterns of the language so that when you're ready to tackle the written language or want to expand your knowledge, you will have a comfort level that comes with a solid feeling for the language. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be a next level course.