Learn to Speak Polish

As an official language of the European Union, the official language of Poland and spoken by more than 40 million people, Polish is one of the major world languages today. In fact, Polish is the most spoken of all the West Slavic languages and there is a rich literary tradition in the language, making it useful language for those interested in studying it. With significant Polish communities outside of Poland in the Unites States, Austria, Brazil and many other countries, there is also opportunity to speak the language everywhere from South America to other parts of Europe.

Polish is the most widely spoken West Slavic language, which includes Czech, Polish, Slovak and Serbian. Unlike many other European languages, however, Polish has its own alphabet, which is actually the Latin alphabet using diacritics (making it graphically similar to an acute accent). Native English speakers may have trouble learning how to master the verb structure in Polish, as most actions have two verbs forms, one for when the action is in one direction and another for when the action is in several different directions. Nouns and adjectives in polish also change form depending on how they are used in sentences or phrases, another tricky part of learning the language.

There are many ways to learn Polish. While not extensively offered across the country, it may be worthwhile to check if there are Polish classes offered your local community college or university. If there are not classes offered, another option is to try to find and hire a private tutor that can help you get started on learning the basics. Programs like Rosetta Stone can also be great in teaching you basic grammar and vocabulary as well as helping with reading the Polish alphabet and pronunciation. Of course, the best and fastest way to learn any language is through total immersion. Spending even just a few weeks interacting in Polish everyday could be worth more than a year in the classroom. So, if you've got the time and money to travel to Poland, that is probably your best bet for mastering the language.