Polish Lesson

It's come to my attention that many readers of this blog might know absolutely nothing about Polish. In the interest of encouraging you to visit Poland, here's a very basic lesson to help you get started.

Pronunciation
This may be the hardest part for English-speakers who start learning Polish. Polish has a number of longer words with sounds that might often tongue-tie English-speakers. Here are some VERY basic approximations to help you start reading Polish words. This should not be considered an exact replication of the sounds, it's only meant as a start. (For example, there is a difference between cz and ć, but it's hard to hear when you start learning). I'll try to find audio files as well.

cz = "ch" (like "chalk")
ć or ci = "ch" ("cheek")
sz = "sh" ("shark")
ś or si = "sh" ("sheep")
drz or dż or dzi or dź = roughly "j", but best to listen to audio of the different z's (z, ż, ź) to hear the difference
rz = "rj" (similar to a strong rolled r; BBC compares it to the "s" in "treasure")
c = "s" or "ts" (NOT /k/)
j = "y" (i.e. Jakub is pronounced more like "Yakub")
ń = nasal "n"
ł = "w"
w = "v"
ą = "on" (think French)
ę = "ehn" (like French "bien")
ó = "oo"


Now that you've mastered many of the basic sounds, take a look at this chart from the BBC. They do a more precise job at explaining some of the sounds, and they also include helpful phrases. For those of you who might know the IPA or just want more info about the history of the Polish language, here's the Wikipedia link with phonology and orthography.

EDIT: And because BBC continues to be amazing, here's their link for audio files to pronounce the Polish alphabet.

Powodzenia! (Good luck!)