Polish for strangers

This is a very basic page in truth - just to give you an idea about Polish - basic vocabulary, phonology, how to pronounce the names. All the sound files are recordings of my voice (and they sound cheesy). Consider yourself warned against downloading them.

1. Basic vocabulary / phrases:

cześć = hi OR bye (informal greeting and informal farewell)
dzień dobry = good day (used any time of the day, we don't have your goodmornings and goodevenings)
dziękuję = thank you (literally: I thank)
proszę = please OR you're welcome (answer to "thank you")
przepraszam = I'm sorry OR excuse me (literally: I apologise; can be answered with "proszę")
do widzenia = good bye (literally: until seeing)

2. Phonology - clips illustrating some tricky aspects of Polish pronunciation

2.1 Affricates and fricatives; to put it plainly - hissing sounds (we have lots of them)
"cz" - "ć" - "c" contrast; also in words: czy (question marker) - ci (these) - co (what) yes - "ci" is correct spelling even though the sound is "ći"
"dż" - "dź" - "dz" contrast; also in words: dżem (jam) - dźwięk (sound) - dzwon (bell)
"sz" - "ś" - "s" contrast;
"ż" - "ź" - "z" contrast; "ż" is also spelled "rz"

2.2 Vowels some people mix despite they sound so different
"i" - "y" - "e" contrast; also in words: mit (myth) - myt (of tolls) - met (of finish lines) - sorry not that easy to find a 3-way minimal pair;
also: był (he was) - bił (he beat)

3. Names you always wanted to know how to pronounce

Lech Wałęsa - the famous Polish anti-communist union leader and, later, president
Krzysztof Kieślowski - the famous Polish film director
Piotr Kozłowski - the very famous Polish author of these pages

This is it as for now. Be sure to mail me (at: peterlin -at- peterlin -dot- pl) any suggestions, questions, requests or arguments you might have.
Your other options: back to main page

I owe this page, as I owe everything, to K.D. , whose smile makes the impossible happen