Polish is considered to be one of the most difficult Slavic languages with its complex grammar and words that sometimes are hard to pronounce. Even saying cześć, which means hi in Polish can cause some problems for a foreigner. Although a lot of people in Poland speak English quite well and in some places you can find signs and information written in several languages, such as English, German or Russian – especially in tourist cities like Warsaw or Kraków – it’s still not enough to live a full-fledged life in Poland.
Speaking and understanding Polish at least on a basic level is crucial above all in government offices and other public institutions where workers barely speak any other language than Polish. And situations, when a product manual is written only in Polish, or there is no English version of the menu in a restaurant are also immensely common. So how to cope with this problem?
Unfortunately, sometimes language schools can be quite costly and still unproductive. Of course, the best way to learn Polish is to be in Poland and interact with Poles. To make the process of learning this language even faster and more efficient, here are the top 5 tips we prepared for you:
1) If you want to learn the basics you can always try to do it by yourself. There is an immense number of websites and applications that allow learning languages for free. One of the most popular is Duolingo, which teaches you basic vocabulary and a little bit of grammar. It’s a user-friendly app that makes the whole process of learning vivid and not boring. Only 10-20 minutes every day and you’ll notice the progress. Other popular resources for learning Polish are Busuu, Clozemaster, Memrise, online courses Mowić po polsku or Speak Polish. There’s also a great website Repeto, where you can find short stories, dialogues and videos with appropriate exercises that help you memorise the new knowledge.
However, if you already know the basics and want to practice your speaking skills, applications and websites might not be the best choice for you.
2) Apart from learning the language using apps it’d be also a great idea to watch more Polish TV or YouTube, listen to Polish radio and podcasts. For example, on Netflix you can often choose Polish subtitles or sometimes even dubbing and on Vod.tvp.pl you can find steaming of Polish programs. Useful websites with podcasts are Realpolish.pl or Polishpod101.com with thousands of interesting recordings on various topics. There are also a lot of Polish bloggers that have cool videos that will help you understand everyday Polish. Try to watch more videos, series and shows, as it’s not only a great way of entertaining yourself, but also a great source of knowledge. Furthermore, it’s easy to find something which will suit your taste – from comedies to thrillers. Changing your phone/computer system language to Polish would be useful as well- it might be perplexing at the beginning, but you’ll quickly adjust to it.
3) Another extremely effective way to learn Polish is to join a speaking club. They are organized in almost every Polish city, you can find them easily, e.g. via Facebook by typing Polish language speaking club in a searching bar. Those meetings are always conducted in a friendly and pleasant atmosphere and make it possible for you not only to enhance your language skills, but also to meet a bunch of new open-minded people.
4) Another type of groups that are worth mentioning are language exchange groups. In Kraków, for instance, the most popular are Tandem Kraków and Language Exchange Club Kraków. Such groups are a perfect solution as you may find a native speaker to polish your Polish and in return, you can teach him/her a language you excel in. It’s a win-win for all!
5) If you are working in Poland, you can try to talk to your employer and ask him to finance or organize a language course for you or the whole team. If you can convince your employer that a language course would be beneficial for you and would positively influence your performance – it might work!
Learning Polish by yourself is not an easy task, you should be aware that there is no silver bullet that helps you learn any language in a week and it will require a lot of blood, sweat and tears to become fluent, but following our advice will definitely make this process less painful. Watch, listen and speak as much as you can, try to immerse yourself in the language and you’ll see how quickly you’ll become a master in Polish.