Customer Rating:  
Summary: a very polished little number
Comment: The Easy Learning Polish course is nicely paced and the spoken audio is much clearer than a lot of language courses. There are a lot of new sounds in Polish to get your head around (it often sounds like somebody impersonating a chainsaw to the untrained English ear) so the way new words are clearly enunciated on the audio is very important. Though I've not yet had a chance to test my new-found skills in Poland yet, the course has so far given me enough confidence to impress my Polish business partners with basic greetings pleasantries.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well worth trying
Comment: The Collins Easy Learning Polish set comes with three CDs and a booklet. The recordings are linked by icons to the booklet, so you know exactly where you are and you can stop and start (or repeat) without fear of getting lost.
I found the recordings clear and the vocabulary useful. I remember when I learned languages at school having to translate lines like "That is not my goat" purely because they illustrated a point of grammar. I never found reason to tell a Russian that he had mistaken the ownership of a passing quadruped. That is not a problem here, because I could find myself needing most of the lines. There are also handy tips in the margins, and more developed paragraphs explaining the grammar at intervals.
I would not claim that you could read a newspaper or listen to a radio documentary after completing the course, but you could make yourself understood in a restaurant, read a sign or follow directions, which is surely the point of this level of course.
Well presented, and cheap at the price.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Probably good as a pronunciation guide, but very limited
Comment: This self proclaims itself as being different from other courses because you get the likely reply. Frankly every language course I've ever tried gives you a dialogue.
The language is barked out rapidly and I feel a bit dizzy if I just listen- you tend to get lost quick.
However, from the limited phrases given:
you could...find a hotel.. visit the Palace of Culture. Get drunk on red or white wine or the vodka you bought as a souvenir. Struggling down the stairs in the morning (lifts seem to be in short supply) it's a good job all you can manage is toast, cereal and juice because that's all that's on offer according to this phrasebook. If you've gone a bit too far and have to declare you're ill to every man and woman you can find, you can make an appointment with the doctor (although you won't be able to understand what he prescribes you).
Stripped bare of social comments, it can be difficult and frustrating to find your way in a different country. This course doesn't really help that much. It might get you going, but you'll be mystified about how to read any signs!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best of the bunch?
Comment: So far I have found this course to be great value for money: it is not going to bring me very far in conversational Polish, but it succeeds in offering a *good start*. The narrators speak clearly, and take time to break up some of the more difficult pronunciations into manageable sections. The course is clearly geared to help the tourist find her way when arriving in Poland, but if like me you are just trying to learn the language for interest and a challenge, you could do a lot worse than this value priced offering. For what it is: 9/10
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pretty straighforward language course
Comment: I've tried a couple of audio language courses in the past and this is one of the better ones. It doesn't really offer anything significantly different so far as I can tell - but I've only done half of the first CD so far. It has got me up to saying the usual inanities(hello, please, thank you etc.) but as soon as I get a fast and furious Polish response I'm lost! The lessons are clear but there is no written material so you do have to listen closely and of course it doesn't help much with reading Polish street signs etc. I'll persevere and if I have an epiphany moment then I'll update the review.
Update: I've just noticed other reviewers referring to a 46 page booklet.
I don't appear to have that (maybe a result of being a Vine product) but it would definitely help!
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