Easy Learning Polish (Collins Easy Learning Audio Course)

This is an excellent course. Straightforward and easy to follow. AND, most importantly, no irritating music.

This is a concise, useful introduction to the Polish language, covering the topics of basic conversation, shopping, eating out, finding the way, money, booking into hotels etc.
It comes with a set of CDs which are very helpful in getting used to the pronunciation. The course is very straightforward, easy to follow, with clear instructions and an interesting and sometimes huhorous commentary.

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.

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.

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!