How to Learn Basic Polish
Polish is a language you can speak with millions of people in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus, as well as in American cities such as Chicago and Hamtramck. Although challenging on the surface, the cultural rewards of learning Polish are worth it.
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Instructions
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Learn Basic Polish
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Begin with the Polish alphabet. This is a modified form of the same alphabet used to write English, making it somewhat easier to learn. Characters found in Polish that are not used in English or are pronounced differently than in English include: ... (nasal o), c (ts), ć (soft ch), ę (nasal e), j (consonant y), ł (w), ń (soft n), ó (oo as in "boot"), ś (soft sh), w (v), y (i in "it," never a consonant), ź (soft zh) and ż (hard zh). To hear someone pronounce all the letters of the Polish alphabet, see Resources below.
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Learn some basic phrases in Polish. Start with: "Dzień dobry, nazywam się ___. Jak pan/pani się nazywa?" This means: "Hello, my name is ___. What is your name, sir/ma'am?" To casually greet a friend, say: "Cześć, jak się masz?", which means, "HI, how are you?" To learn more Polish phrases, see Resources below.
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Memorize the numbers one through 10 in Polish: jeden (1), dwa (2), trzy (3), cztery (4), pięć (5), sześć (6), siedem (7), osiem (8), dziewięć (9), dziesięć (10).
Learn also the days of the week: poniedziałek (Monday), wtorek (Tuesday), środa (Wednesday), czwartek (Thursday), pi...tek (Friday), sobota (Saturday) and niedziela (Sunday). Note that they are not capitalized.
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Use a textbook with audio resources to guide your self-directed learning. Władysław Miodunka's "Cześć, jak się masz?" series is ideal for native speakers of English who would like to begin learning Polish. Learners can follow the story of the Nowak family with helpful exercises, clear explanations and strong audio examples.
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Seek out beginning Polish instruction. Polish has a number of difficult grammatical features that are best explained by an experienced or native speaker. Taking a class in Polish will also help you develop your speaking skills by communication with others at your level.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the newest resources for learning the Polish language that you can find. Older Polish books for English speakers will properly explain grammatical points, but are often full of words that have fallen out of use. Allow your mistakes to be corrected by your teacher or other speakers. This will help you sharpen your skills and reach your full potential as a Polish speaker.
