Polish Words

Here is a little background to the Polish words you may need on your visit to Poland.

I personally have been fairly actively trying to learn Polish for the past 12 years, whilst now I can hold a conversation and read Polish it has been a frustrating activity due to the differences between Polish and Germanic words.

I have been able to learn conversational Hindi and Dutch in much less time than it took to learn Polish. This is probably attributable to my lack of gray matter than anything else.

Below you can see the family tree of languages with the Slavic top right and the Germanic top left.

Living in Poland has become easier for English speakers in recent years due to the high percentage of younger people attending English lessons both at school and at many private language schools,

It is interesting to note that many of the teachers in these private schools are English students wishing to work abroad who do not normally speak the local language.

If you intend visiting Poland, you may find it more difficult to get help with the language than most other countries, I suggest asking the younger people who like to exercise their English at every opportunity and are normally helpful.

Many of the older generation tend to avoid foreigners. I guess this is partly due to the Nationalist propaganda espoused by some areas of the religious right, in particular Radio Maryja and the fact the country has not been exposed to many immigrants from other countries and their cultures.

I find many of the official phonetics impossible for Westerners so I have included in the last column my own version, which is simpler. 

Below are some links to words and phrases that may help you.

Polish Words for English speakers. (Using the official phonetics)

Polish Phrases for English speakers (using my own simple phonetics)

Good Luck!