This is the case in examples like “piję wódkę” (I’m drinking vodka), which sounds more like “pije wódke.”. * If you buy one of our recommendations (or anything else on Amazon.com) through our links, we get a small commission paid by Amazon (not by you). They’re called the “A with a little tail” (, In fact, they sound most similar to the French [en] and [on] sounds. From our offices in Berlin and New York, we help people discover the joys of self-directed language learning. E.g., both “b” in the word “hobby” are vocalized, with a short pause between both letters (“hob-by“). Literary Polish is based on the dialects of Gniezno, Cracow and Warsaw, though there is some dispute about this. Most consulted pronunciations in Polish Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz pronunciation Grzegorz … For example, the letter ę can be pronuonced like “n“, “en” or french “on“, depending on the context. The pronunciation of the Polish nasal vowels ą and ę depends on the consonant following them. On the other hand, two consecutive consonants are mostly pronounced separately in Polish. Additional letters in the polish alphabet are ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź and ż. Also, the name “Anna” is pronounced [An-na], not [An-a]. Once you learn the rules, you should be able to guess how a word is pronounced and get it more or less right even if you've never heard it before (unlike English which is rather unpredictable). Look no further, one of Babbel’s in-house language experts spills her best advice. It contains all the tables shown on this page. Learn to pronounce with our guides. Your email address will not be published. Using our content – or parts of it – in any other than the originally intended way requires the permission of the. Interactive language software with speech-recognition technology. ?,” but be rest assured that pronouncing Polish correctly is actually quite easy once you get the hang of it. When it comes to learning Polish pronunciation, there are two things that might make it a little bit difficult for a native English speaker. Polish Pronunciation is Easy to Learn. For people from the central european linguistic area, Polish is not quite easy to learn because of its slavic origin, its pronunciation and the complex Polish grammar. Even better, there aren’t any silent letters in Polish, as there are in other popular languages like French. But, it’s not impossible to learn. Book + Audio CD. Besides being adorable, these little tails under the vowels signal that they’re meant to be pronounced more nasal. Polish pronunciation is rather regular. The polish alphabet (“alfabet polski“) consists of 32 letters (23 consonants and 9 vowels). Learn basic Polish words and phrases with our free Vocabulary Trainer Widget! This Cheat Sheet gives you a quick run-down of the Polish alphabet, Polish numbers and handy Polish phrases to make you feel more confident speaking Polish in no time. Search for a word in Polish. To learn how to speak Polish, try listening to Polish music, which can help you with pronunciation and basic vocabulary. We are a team of more than 750 people from over 50 nations with a shared passion for languages. In order to make the process a little easier for you, here are some of our Polish experts’ top tips: At first glance, this sentence might be a bit frightening (how do you even begin to pronounce the word “zmartwychwstanie,” anyway?) Each of these sounds actually has two alternate spellings: either with the small line on top, or with an additional I: The spelling with “I” usually appears in front of vowels and it marks a slightly softer pronunciation. To hear the pronunciation of the Polish alphabet and digraphs, watch the video “Polish Alphabet & Pronunciation” under Learning Polish with Videos & Podcasts. Must we really pronounce all of these letters? Learning the Polish alphabet is very important because its structure is used … Unlike English (which is not phonetic and difficult to pronounce for learners), Polish letters are always pronounced the same way. When you see a double consonant in Polish, you always say the consonant twice. Ask your questions to our community, and help others by answering their questions in return! For example, chrząszcz has only four consonants (not eight) and one vowel (ą): ch-rz-ą-sz-cz. Just a small click for you, but a giant help for our website , Your email address will not be published. Notes You can also read Polish children's books since they're designed to teach the basics of the language, like grammar and simple phrases. Polish Alphabet. That’s simple: give it an adorable name. c [+anything but i] ts, e.g. We explain why and explore some useful tips for improving it. Oh yes, we must: [sma-rtvih-vsta-nie]. In Polish, the letters q, v and x are only used in foreign words. Required fields are marked *. If you look up a video on Polish pronunciation you’re bound to see comments like “Polish looks like someone mashed their hands on a keyboard” and “Why are there so many consonants? We currently offer 14 different languages — from Spanish to Indonesian — that millions of active subscribers choose to learn. 8 Audio CDs. Polish pronunciation is rather regular. Jeść. Górecki = goo-rets-kee, Katowice = kah-toh-vee-tseh: ć, cz: ch, as in "church". Thankfully, however, there is at least one thing that does make it a lot easier. When it comes to learning Polish pronunciation, there are two things that might make it a little bit difficult for a native English speaker. Cześć. When practicing your Polish pronunciation, you should pay special attention to the letters with an additional accent on top, as those are among the most difficult ones for English native speakers to learn and pronounce. Search and learn to pronounce words and phrases in this language (Polish). The polish alphabet (“alfabet polski“) consists of 32 letters (23 consonants and 9 vowels). In order to display Polish letters correctly on Computers, websites and in web addresses, in many cases they have to be encoded: Why not support us by telling your friends? Polish is a unique and immensely rewarding language to learn. In this case, Ą is actually a nasalized O and not a nasalized A — therefore, it sounds kind of like the [an] sound in “fiancé.” You can listen to an example here with the word brązowy (brown). Learn Polish Online. The full list is: As soon as you know this, “Chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie w Szczebrzeszynie” doesn’t seem as scary anymore, does it? The most common combinations, CZ, SZ, RZ, DŻ and CH are pronounced simply as [ch], [sh], [like the S in “pleasure”], [j] and [h], respectively. All the of the information on this site is free. Even the written forms seem daunting at first. In this case, Ą is actually a nasalized O and not a nasalized A — therefore, it sounds kind of like the [an] sound in “fiancé.” You can listen to an example here with the word, Lucky for you, there aren’t any major differences in pronunciation across different regions of Poland, which is in stark contrast to other major languages like.