the POLSKI blog

24 Aug, 2008

Polish your Polish

Posted by: Michał In: polish your Polish

Every now and then I’ll try to teach you some useful Polish words, phrases, expressions, etc. One day they’ll come useful, you’ll see!

What word shall we start with? Why not ‘Cześć’. No, no – don’t roll your eyes! I know it’s got only one vowel and two weird-looking characters, but all will be explained.

‘Cześć’ is the equivalent of ‘hi’ in English and, well, performs exactly the same function. Here’s how to pronounce it:

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Easy, eh? Just don’t get carried away. Polish people are a bit more formal and while it’s ok to say ‘Hi!’ while speaking to someone in a British shop, your GP surgery or a bus driver, in Poland ‘cześć’ is mostly reserved for friends or to greet someone you know well.

The two funny characters ś and ć are quite frequent in Polish and they simply make the letters ‘s’ and ‘c’ softer. But let’s leave that for another occasion. I don’t want to put you off too soon ;)


Related posts:

  1. Goodbyes – polish your Polish, part 4

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  • Czarny kapturek: The UK gains a lot, when we are able to have Polish people. It also means that people like me are able to live and work with no bother in Germany and
  • Czarny kapturek: I find that outside of restaurants and bars I always have to pay for toilets. Still, 50 groszy or 1.5 złoty isn't much. At least the toilets are
  • Czarny kapturek: I don't get how "ław" becomes "love", when in English it would be written "wav". Not that "wav" offers itself well to people trying to market a ci
  • Michał: Glad you like it, welcome!
  • Missy: I had been to Poland as a masters student in Warsaw ( 2006-2008), travelled all over Poland. I like it there, i am glad i found your blog. :) niec

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The POLSKI blog is written by Michał, a Polish journalist, writer, one-time language teacher and linguist, living and working in London.

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