Quick-start guide for reading Polish

Polish looks really scary when you first read it as an English speaker. An absolute jumble of letters that should not be combined.

But it really only looks that way, mostly because of the unusual combinations like cz, sz, and rz. Words like "deszcz" (rain) or "wczoraj" (yesterday) seem unpronounceable.

However, these letters represent different sounds from the English ones. Once you learn them you'll realize most Polish words are not that bad.

cz and sz

In Polish, the letter Z is used the same way as we use the letter H in English for the ch and sh sounds (as in cheese and sheep). In Polish, they are written cz and sz.

cz = ch
sz = sh

This is responsible for 80% of the difficulties English speakers have with reading Polish. When you understand this and start reading them in your head the same way as english sh and ch, Polish becomes much simpler.

English spellings:

Smacznego (bon'appetit) = Smachnego
Czekam (waiting) = Chekam
Mariusz Pudzianowski = Mariush Pudzianovski
Deszcz (rain) = Deshch

rz = the french 'J' sound.

J'adore, Jean-Claude...
English also has this sound in words like 'Measure' or 'Garage' or 'Vision'. Sometimes I've seen people use "zh" for this sound in English when translating foreign words. It makes sense I think and follows the logic of sh and ch.

Practice saying:

Rzeka (River)
Grzegorz (Gregory)
Rzecz (Thing)
Przepraszam (Sorry) - sounds like 'sh' in this case = Psheprasham

ś and ć

These are also just english sh and ch, but pronounced a bit softer - you don't need to worry about this as a beginner or even intermediate, it's such as subtle difference that people will not notice when you speak it wrong.

Cześć (hello) = Cheshch (softly)
Śnieg (snow) - Shnieg (softly)

Ż and Ź

Ż is exactly the same as rz. In fact many Poles will be unsure which to use when spelling certain words.

Ź is a slightly softer form of Ż. Same as with ś and ć - I suggest not worrying about it as a beginner.

Polish W = English V

Forget the english W, there is no relation. Nobody says “wodka” in English, right? Nor do they in Polish. It's a V.

Wódka = Voodka
Warszawa (Warsaw) = Varshava

The english letter V does not exist in Polish (except for loan words). So if I was Polish, my name would be written "Fastowski" rather than "Fastovski". This can be a huge hint for guessing a persons nationality - if you see a "wski" (not a "vski") they are likely Polish.

Polish C = English 'ts'

English uses it a lot at the end of a sentence for a plural - e.g. "boats".

Co (what) = Tso
Polecam (I recommend) = Po-le-tsam
Dobranoc (good night) = Dobranots

Polish CH

It makes an H sound.

Kocham (I love) = Koham
Częstochowa = Chenstohowa

Interestingly the slavic surname 'Volchek' could be mispronounced by Poles as 'Volhek'. In Polish it would be spelt 'Wolczek'.

Polish Ł = English W

The L with a strike-through makes the same sound as W in English.

The English word 'wow' could be written as 'łał' in Polish.

Why would it be this way? My theory is it gradually evolved, because in other slavic languages that share Polish words, it's still an L in those same words.

I can see how it happened because in some parts of Australia we pronounce the L lazily and it becomes a W. For example - pass the 'ball' - 'baw'. Go to 'school' - 'skoow'.

łatwo (easy) = Watvo
Koło (circle, wheel) = Kowo
Białystok =Biawystok
Łodż - Wodj

Polish J = English Y

"Jest" (is) would written in English as "Yest".

Jak (how)
Jestem (I am)
ile to kosztuje? (how much does it cost?)
Jakub (Jacob)

Polish Y

Very slavic sound. Closest to an English "I" but there is no translation.

Ty (you)
Szymon (Simon) Kołecki

ą and ę = english "on" and "en"

These letters with the tails have the letter N in them. They sound a bit french.

Dziękuję (thank you) = Dzienkuye
Są (are) = Son

The ę at the end of a word can often be ignored, it's a very subtle trailing n that you barely pronounce - French ‘bien’.

Ń and Ó

Ń sounds like the n in "canyon".

dzień dobry

Ó is like english 00.

Kraków = Krakoov

Final challenge: Polish tongue twisters

If you feel confident now, you can try reading some of these words. You don't have to pronounce them out loud - the challenge for you right now is to read all the sounds correctly in your head.

1. The famous Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz.

To say it I find it easier to break it like so:

Brzęczy-szczy-kiewicz
English/french spelling: Bjenchi-shchi-kievich

2. Polish tongue twister:

W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie
In Szczebrzeszyn, a bug buzzes in the reeds.