Polish

**Polish** (*język polski*, *polszczyzna*) is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland (being that country's official language) and by Polish minorities in other countries. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has several additions to the letters of the basic Latin script.

Despite the pressure of non-Polish administrations in Poland, who have often attempted to suppress the Polish language, a rich literature has developed over the centuries, and the language is currently the largest, in terms of speakers, of the West Slavic group. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian and ahead of Ukrainian.

## Alphabet and spelling

Polish alphabet and spelling

The Polish alphabet is fairly convoluted and may seem very hard to learn at a glance, but the spelling is phonetically consistent, unlike the English Alphabet, So it isn't THAT difficult to learn.

## Resources

Generally Polish is available for most language courses that offer multiple languages, but courses exclusively available in Polish are somewhat rare, and you might find it difficult to find advanced courses or immersive resources of good quality at a decent price

General Resources

### Tiengos

* Reading trainer
* Free
* Recommended for beginner-intermediate learners

### Polski na dobry start/ z językiem polskim każdego dnia

* Learning materials from the Polish government, aimed at immigrants
* Focus on everyday language might be useful

## Input Material

### **Reading Materials**

#### **Sites**

Wolnelektury.pl - site with public domain ebooks

#### **Literature**

In Poland, the authors that get the most praise tend to be from the 19th century (Mickiewicz, Sienkiewicz, Prus) and interwar period(Gombrowicz, Dąbrowska), while works from the communist era(1945-1989) are usually stereotyped as being overly censored and uninspiring, and works from the last 30 years haven't had much time to become "classics". Because of that, it might seem obvious to start with old classics, but 19th century works are written in an archaic and difficult style (think Victorian authors like Dickens), and works from the interwar period may use experimental techniques in their language and plot that make them unfriendly to those who aren't natives or fluent. So **as a rule it's better to read works from after 1945**, at least until you develop some confidence in reading Polish.

###### Before 1945

* Bolesław Prus - Lalka
* Witold Gombrowicz - Ferdydurke (especially difficult)
* Henryk Sienkiewicz - Quo Vadis
* Aleksander Fredro - Pan Tadeusz - XIII Księga (Noc Poślubna Tadeusza i Zosi)

###### After 1945

* Andrzej Sapkowski - The Witcher series
* Stanisław Lem - Solaris
* Olga Tokarczuk - Prawiek i inne czasy
* Sławomir Mrożek - Tango(play), Krótkie ale całe historie(short story collection)

### Youtube

Robert Makłowicz (documentaries/vlogs/cooking) - Famous TV chef who makes small documentaries about places inside and outside Poland. He speaks extremely slowly and clearly by Polish standards. Highly recommended.

Kacper Pitala (informative/science) - makes medium-length videos describing scientific concepts, a bit like Vsauce.

Kacpir - videos about Youtube and internet culture

Planeta Abstrakcja - Travel videos

Złomnik - Car reviews

### **Movies and TV (dubs included)**

Subtitles

* Subscene
* Findsubtitles
* Napisy24
* Sublearning - learn languages from movie subtitles. Flash cards of movie lines in 62 languages
* (add more if you know them)

#### Movies

* Pasażerka (1963)
* Sami swoi (1967)
	+ Nie ma mocnych (1974)
	+ Kochaj albo rzuć (1977)
* Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową (1969), in 3 parts:
	+ Ucieczka
	+ Za bronią
	+ Wśród swoich
* Rejs (1970)
* Trzecia część nocy (1971)
* Miś (1980)
	+ Rozmowy kontrolowane (1991)
	+ Ryś (2007)
* Vabank (1981)
	+ Vabank II, czyli riposta (1984)
* Seksmisja (1983)
* Kingsajz (1987)
* Trzy kolory
	+ Trzy kolory. Niebieski (1993)
	+ Trzy kolory. Biały (1993)
	+ Trzy kolory. Czerwony (1994)
* Kiler (1997)
	+ Kiler-ów 2-óch (1999)
* Pieniądze to nie wszystko (2000)
* Chłopaki nie płaczą (2000)
* Haker (2002)
* E=mc² (2002)
* Dzień świra (2002)
* Vinci (2004)
* Ile waży koń trojański? (2008)
* Złoty środek (2009)

##### Based on polish books

* Quo Vadis
* Pan Tadeusz
* Wesele

#### TV shows

* Lalka
* Janosik
* Czterej pancerni i pies
* Stawka większa niż życie
* Wojna domowa
* Alternatywy 4 (1983)
* 40-latek
* Dekalog (Kieślowski)
* 1983

#### Cartoons

* Pszczółka Maja
* Bolek i Lolek
* Reksio
* Kot Filemon
* Koziołek Matołek
* Miś Uszatek
* Miś Kudłatek
* Przygody Misia Colargola
* Wędrówki Pyzy
* Pomysłowy Dobromir
* Zaczarowany ołówek
* Baltazar Gąbka

So much nostalgia ;\_\_;

### **Videogames**

* The Witcher 3
* Gorky 17/Odium

### **Music**

* open.fm a radio site, has channels with exclusively Polish music
* Percival Schuttenbach
* Warsaw Village Colectiv
* 100 twarzy grzybiarzy
* Jacek Kaczmarski(Acoustic)
* Dezerter(Metal)
* Cool kids of death(Alt rock)
* Myslovitz(Alt rock)
* Artur Rojek(Alt rock/Pop)(used to be lead singer of Myslovitz)
* Muchy(Alt Rock/indie)
* Happysad(Alt Rock/Indie)
* Drekoty(Indie)
* Voo voo(Indie/jazz)
* Siekiera(New wave)
* Wędrujący Wiatr (Atmospheric black metal)
* O.S.T.R (Hip-hop/rap)
* KęKę (Hip-hop/rap)
* Pezet (Hip-hop/rap)
* Paluch (Hip-hop/rap)
* Księżyc(Experimental folk)

## **Brotips**

* Shit's hard, even Poles have trouble with their own language.
* Mind your "rz's" It may seem logical to pronounce it as a "r" followed by a "z", but it's pronounced as a zh
* You might not expect it, but Poland is a fairly large market for vidya so a lot of games have Polish translations. You'd be surprised with how many games have Polish translations.

## **Other**

* Uz-translations (a very useful website that you should absolutely check out)
* ling.pl multi-dictionary, translating words from and to Polish, and English, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Italian.
* LinguaTrek blog of an American, who learned Polish from scratch. A lot of useful tips.