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Page 1 of 2 While Polish is not the easiest language to learn, it is indeed worthwhile. Estimates indicate that Polish is the mother tongue for ca 46 million people, including mainly those living in Poland and the so-called Polonia (Polish communities abroad) scattered in various parts of the world. It is also one of the official languages of the European Union. The history of Polish language The Polish language belongs to the group of Slavic languages. Together with Czech and Slovak it represents West Slavic languages separated from the Indo-European language family. All Slavic languages evolved from one common language called proto-Slavic. The beginnings of shaping the Polish language date back to the 10th century. There are several regional types of Polish, such as Silesian, Malopolan, Wielkopolan, Mazovian and Kashubian. The Polish grammar and lexis in large measure come from Latin. The vocabulary has also been influenced by other languages, such as Russian, Czech, Ukrainian, German, French and English. Learning Polish The grammar and punctuation of the Polish language comprise an enormous number of rules and even more exceptions. Polish uses the Latin alphabet. It is a phonetically rich language, with 10 vowels and 35 consonants. The accent falls on the penultimate syllable. The vocabulary has been influenced primarily by dialects and other Slavic languages (Russian, Czech, Ukrainian), but also by Latin, German, Italian, French and English.
Foreigners - like Poles in fact - find it difficult to learn the spelling of words which include such letters as ch or h, u or ó and ż or rz because both of them in each pair are pronounced in almost or exactly the same way. However, though some may be discouraged at first glance, many foreigners, especially in recent years, have successfully struggled to achieve proficiency in Polish and joined the growing non-native Polish-speaking community, both within Poland and abroad. To begin with you may find out more about the Polish alphabet. You may also check the pronunciation of some Polish names and words.
Language schools for foreigners
There are lots of foreign academic centers with Polish lectors and academic schools of Polish language for foreigners (szkoły języka polskiego) in Poland. Programmes of courses are tailored to individual needs and often enriched with "practical training", for example: walking tours around the city combined with practising the language in shops and museums.
Apart from public academic centers there are many commercial language schools of Polish which can be found on various Internet websites.
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