LANGUAGE
Almost 30% of Poles speak English
German and Russian is less popular. You can easily communicate in English in restaurants, shops and museums train stations in major cities.
Poles are proud of their country and will try and help even if they have to use “sign language”. A little notebook and a pen is helpful if you encounter real problems, use it to write down what information you ask for.
Polish, unfortunately, is not an easy language, some sounds are not found in other languages, some are. A relief to some visitors is that we use Roman alphabet and Arabic numerals.
Just to give you an example – Linia autobusowa 175 means no more no less than “Bus line 175”, Tramwaj numer 4 would mean “tram number 4”. Easy? Not really, because pronouncing the numerals can be a challenge.
Some vowels are definitely difficult, spelling can be intimidating but do not worry, no one will ask you to repeat/read : “W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie”, well, unless you had a few drinks in a friendly company. And never get upset when your message is not getting through in perfect Polish – remember – sign language is usually universal.
So do not worry, even if you do not know basic Polish it is fun to visit our country.
We are warm hearted, hospitable and love to help foreigners!
Polish the Hard Way
A – always pronounced as in cup, but
B – pronounced as in Barbara
C – pronounced like in cats
D – pronounced as in they, day
E – always pronounced like in Edward
F – pronounced like funny
G – as in go
H – as in Henry
I – as in idiot, income
J – as in yes
K – as in captain
L – as in love
Ł – as in weekend
M – as in Emma
N – as in nova, not
Ń – as in ninja
O – as in oval,
Ó – as in put
P – as in papa
R – as in rover
S – as in see
Ś – as in sure
T – as in Teddy
U – as in put
W – as in very
X - as in ex wife
Z – as in zombie,
This was easy – now the more difficult:
ch pronounced same as H –as hamster,
cz as in China, chair
dz as in cards
dź as in Jane
dż as in John, jam
rz as in treasure
sz as in sure, hush
Enough for first class.
Try this:
Dzień dobry (good morning)
przepraszam (excuse me or I’m sorry)
Warszawa
Visit us on: Poland4Weekend.com/blog for further classes or…simply come over for a short stay.