The Polish language
POLISH YOUR POLISH!
If you want to do something unusual and exciting, or maybe just impress your family and friends,
learn some Polish phrases and some facts about the Polish language!
Learning Polish is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. It's an extremely rich and beautiful language, spoken not only in Poland but also throughout the world, officially ranked number 21 in the world as regards the number of speakers.
The Polish language (język polski) is the official language of the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), where about 39 million people use it. There is also a significant number of Polish speakers throughout the world. The biggest groups are in the United States, Russia, Israel, Lithuania, Belarus, the Ukraine, Argentina, Germany and the United Kingdom. According to statistics 10 million people speak Polish outside Poland. Since 2003, when Polish became one of the official languages of the European Union, the number of learners of Polish as a foreign language has been steadily increasing.
Polish belongs to the West Slavic group of the Indo-European family of languages, along with Czech, Slovakian and Serbian. Someone who speaks another Indo-European language (e.g. English, German, French) may find a few similarities between Polish and their own language. Learning Polish can be fun too! So, think Polish!
THE POLISH ALPHABET
Like many other European languages, Polish uses the Latin alphabet, supplemented by a few letters representing sounds which do not exist in Latin. There are 32 letters atogether: 9 vowels and 23 consonants.
Occasionally, the letters q, v, x are also used, mainly in words taken from other languages, e.g. quiz, xero, vivat.
Most of the words in Polish are pronounced as they are written or in a very similar way, so we can use the rule "read as it's written". The stress usually falls on the penultimate syllable.
The Signs in Gdańsk will guide you through all the Polish letters one by one but here is a reading guide to some of Gdańsk's signs to start with:
Letter | Word | Pronounced... | Meaning |
A | Apteka | like English ‘a' in: art, after | pharmacy |
Ą | Książka | nasal, as in French: bon, ton | book |
B | Bar | like English 'b' in book | bar |
C | Cukier | close to ‘tz' in Switzerland | sugar |
Ć | Biegać | combination ‘t+Å›' | to run |
D | Dobranoc | like English ‘d' in daughter | Good night |
E | Ser | like English ‘e' in ten, men | cheese |
Ę | Proszę | nasal, as in French : un, bien | please |
F | Faks | like ‘f' in four | fax |
G | Gotycki | like English ‘g' in go | Gothic |
H | Herbata | like English ‘h' in house, ham | tea |
I | Wino | like English ‘e' in: he, me | wine |
J | Jajka | like ‘y' in : yellow, you | eggs |
K | Kawa | like English ‘k' in: kind | coffee |
L | List | like English ‘l' in: : lamp, late | letter |
Å | BuÅ‚ka | like English ‘w' in: way, water | roll |
M | Minuta | like English ‘m' in: my, me | minute |
N | Nie | like English ‘n' in: not, name | no |
Ń | Karta daÅ„ | similar to English ‘n' in onion | menu |
O | KANTOR | like English short ‘o' in: Tom, all | Exchange office |
Ó | Bóg | like English ‘oo' in: food, book | God |
P | Policja | like English ‘p' in: pot | police |
R | Opera | like Scottish ‘rolled' ‘r' | opera house |
S | Stary | like English ‘s' in: son | old |
Åš | Åšlub | a very soft, hissing ‘s' | wedding |
T | Tak | like English ‘t' in: table | yes |
U | Ulica | same pronunciation as ‘ó' | street |
W | Woda | like English ‘v' in: verb | water |
Y | Zupy | like English ‘y' in: Mary, very | soups |
Z | Znaczek | like English ‘z' in: zone | stamp |
Ź | Rzeźba | a very soft, hissing ‘z' | sculpture |
Å» | Ryż | like English ‘s' in measure | rice |
When you start your adventure with Polish, the first thing you'll notice is the combinations of consonants like "sz", "cz", "drz", "wrz", etc. which look more complex than they sound. The good news is that almost all such combinations are pronounced by single sounds which are quite easy to say. For instance: KRZESÅO (ksheh-swoh).
Letter | Word | Pronounced... | Meaning |
CH | Chleb | like English ‘h' in: house, ham | bread |
SZ | Bursztyn | like English ‘sh' in: shop, shoe | amber |
RZ | Przewodnik | like English ‘s' in measure | guide book |
CZ | Czas | like English ‘ch' in: choose, chair | time |
DÅ» | Dżem | like English ‘j' in: jewel | jam |
DZ | Bardzo | combination ‘d+z', close to English lads | very |
DŹ | Åódź | a very soft sound close to English ‘g' in genial | boat |