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Polish Language - useful phrases
Many Poles, particularly younger people, have a fairly healthy command of the English language. Many will also be adept at other European languages with German being the most commonly spoken. Older Poles will fiercely contest that they have 'forgotten' the Russian taught to them at school but most will still have a reasonable understanding.
Mastering the Polish tongue can be a terrifying ordeal and will often result in personal degradation as shop assistants laugh at your flustered attempts. That aside, learning a few key phrases will still smooth your time in Poland and may even win you friends and admirers.
On the positive side Polish sounds at it appears. This is a great help once you know how to pronounce each letter/combination of letters. Many letters represents the same sounds as they do in English. Below we have listed those particulars to Polish.
Basic pronunciation of Polish vowels:
a sounds like 'on' in the French 'bon'
e sounds like 'en' as in the French 'bien'
ó is an open o' sound like 'oo' in 'boot'
Basic pronunciation of consonants:
c like he 'ts' in 'bits'
j like the 'y' in 'yeah'
w is pronounced like English 'v'
l like the 'w' in 'win'
n like the 'ny' in 'canyon'
cz and c like the 'ch' in 'beach'
dz like the 'ds.' in 'beds'
rz and z like the 'su' in 'treasure'
sz and s like the 'sh' in 'ship'
drz like the 'g' in 'George'
r is always rolled and stress is generally always on the last but one syllable
Think you've got that? Here are some words and phrases to get you started.
Civilities
|
| cześć |
(cheshch) |
hi/bye |
| dzień dobry |
(jen do-bri) |
good morning/afternoon |
| dobry wieczór |
(do-bri vyeh-choor) |
good evening |
| dobranoc |
(dobrah-nots) |
good night |
| tak |
(tahk) |
yes |
| nie |
(neyh) |
no |
| proszę |
(prosheh) |
please |
| na zdrowie |
(nah zdrovyeh) |
cheers |
| dziękuję |
(hen-koo-yeh) |
thank you |
| przepraszam |
(pseh-prasham) |
sorry |
| kocham cię |
(kocham tshe) |
I love you |
| mam na imię |
(mam nah ee-myeh) |
My name is |
| jestem z Anglii |
(yehstem zanglee) |
I am from England |
Necessities
|
Gdzie sa toalety? |
(gdjeh song toalety?) |
Where are the toilets? |
Czy mówi pan / pani po angielsku? |
(che moovee pan/panee po angyelskoo?) |
Do you (male/female) speak English? |
Nie mówie po polsku |
(nyeh moovyeh po polskoo) |
I don't speak Polish |
Prosze to napisac |
(prosheh toh napeesatch) |
Please write it down |
Czy mozna tu palic? |
(che mohzhnah too paleech?) |
Can I smoke here? |
Jedno piwo poprosze |
(yedno peevo pohprosheh) |
One beer please |
Numbers
|
jeden |
yehden |
one |
dwa |
dva |
two |
trzy |
tshi |
three |
dziesięć |
jayshench |
ten |
General
|
lotnisko |
airport |
dworzec pkp |
train station |
dworzec pks |
bus station |
prawo / lewo |
right / left |
| jeden bilet do... |
one ticket to... |
| pierwsza / druga klasa |
first / second class |
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