The Polish Language

July 24, 2017

As our tour guide in Krakow put it, “All Poles have one superpower, they can speak Polish!”. As I have learned in the couple of weeks I have been in Poland, the Polish language is very difficult to pick up, and even when I have been repeatedly told how to say something, I forget it almost instantly. The language itself is filled with z’s and other letters that are pronounced in ways you wouldn’t think of. If you know how the letters or combination of letters are suppose to sound you can figure out how to read words correctly but just hearing them spoken is not going to help you at all. Despite this, I have run into very few communication issues in Poland. We are visiting popular cities that get a lot of tourists so it is rare to run into someone in a restaurant or hotel that wouldn’t be able to communicate somewhat in English. However, when we stop in random towns or visit more local establishments, we often have to do a lot of pointing and gesturing. The only words our group has learned off-hand is water and sparkling water, or niegazowana and gazowana, because in the hotel we get one bottle of each in our rooms and they have different pitchers of water at meal times.

Written By

Sarah Tyrrell

I am a rising second year International Affairs and Economics major and going on a Dialogue to the Czech Republic and Poland. This program focuses on the 20th century in Eastern Europe from World War II to the Cold War. I chose this Dialogue because I wanted to immerse myself in a different culture and learn about important events in history from a different perspective. I am excited to be able to study one of my favorite topics in depth and in the region where all of these events took place. By the end of my study abroad experience I hope to have developed new language skills that will be useful back home as well as an appreciation for another country’s customs and history.