Hello!!

I'll keep this short and sweet,

My boyfriend is Polish and I want to start learning it as the language means a lot to him.

However, I'm a broke 15 year old, so I cannot afford to buy any resources. (Nor can I ask my parents)

I have no idea where to start and what good resources out there exist that do not require pay. I have searched far and wide, but can't find anything good!

If you guys have any niche resources or help for me, it would greatly be appreciated!

Thank you so much!

Nigdy wcześniej nie używałem polskiego w pracy, ale zastanawiam się, czy korpoludzie defaultowo używają stylu nieoficjalnego (czyli "ty"), czy przy pierwszym kontakcie z nowym kolegą albo biznespartnerem raczej zwracają się do siebie bardziej formalnie (czyli "Pan/Pani")?

Thanks from the mountain

Been living in Poland for a while now and realized my vocab is kind of stuck. I can handle everyday stuff fine, but the second I want to say something more specific or nuanced, I hit a wall.

Anyone else run into this? What actually helped you get past the “basic vocab plateau”? Right now I’m doing:

1. Watching Polish shows with Polish subtitles (not translated)
   
2. Anki, but with full phrases instead of single words
   
3. Reading simple news articles and pulling out words I don’t know

Feels like I’m missing something more structured though maybe organizing by topic (work, daily life, emotions) instead of just grabbing random words as they come up.

Curious what worked for people actually living here and using Polish daily, not just studying from a textbook.

I’ve been in Poland for 4 years, first two i was studying in a private English school where I was taught basic polish and then I started to go to a polish school. When I was preparing to go into a polish school I only practiced everything I needed to pass the 8th grader exam (egzamin ósmoklasisty), so now I’m in a position where I have blank spaces and often times when I need to have a conversation in polish people don’t understand what I’m saying. I’ve tried going to a polish course for b1-b2 and tried to learn from some student books, but I didn’t notice much of a change in how polish people understand me. I don’t know if that’s useful info, but when I write polish essays I make a lot of language errors (błędy językowe), maybe that could explain what I’m struggling with better, thanks in advance for any help

Cześć,

Jestem z Serbii i mam 27 lat.

Finding someone for face-to-face meeting or to be a pen-pal. Know basics of Polish language and interested to level up at B level.

Want to learn Polish because admire Polish history, people and nation and as part of Slavic family languages.

What about you guys 😭😭 How can I fix this?

So i am an english speaker learning polish. I live with my polish gf and so far have mainly learned just by speakinh and repetition and other things that i have taught myself, some tenses, the standard verbs and im slowly getting on with the case system. However i feel like ive hit abit of a wall. I dont know where to go from here, do i further my vocab? Do i get a book and go through lessons? Should i get a tutor? Im probably like a1, a2 level. I want to be confident in speaking but im kind of stumped on what direction to go next. Any advice?

Cześć
Im starting my journey and was wondering what the consensus on any app that’s good for a start on ABCs and pronunciation, and also any apps that are not doodoo, is babbel good? Bosuu? Etc

Cześć! To help with my own struggles learning the language here in Poland, I built a completely free web app for drilling practical, everyday vocabulary, grammar and practice.

I wanted to share it here for anyone who might be looking for a clean, straightforward study tool: popolsku.app that is genuinely free and will remain that way.

Hope you find it useful and please let me know what you think.

Sorry, I don’t have the exact wording here, but I just heard someone say something like:

nie ma tu Wi-Fi, ale ma tutaj

The point is that they said that “there is the thing” with mieć instead of być. (I know that nie ma is a curious thing in Polish which means something like there isn’t.)

Is this natural in Polish? Shouldn’t it be ale jest tutaj?

Hey! Learning Polish here, and my biggest issue has always been speaking too slowly, I freeze up looking for the right word. A friend of mine built this thing called rap-gra (basically "Rhyme Game") and I figured I'd share since it's actually helped.

It's hard at first but it got easier for me after a while.

here is the link: rap-gra.online

I think it's like 3 weeks, 3hrs or something every morning.

https://easypolish.com.pl/en/prices-and-schedule

Anyone done it?

My best friend has just had a heart operation in Poland, I know I won’t hear from her directly for at least a couple of days whilst she rests but I want to make sure the operation went well and would like to ask her mum who does not speak any English. What’s the usual way to refer to her when texting her? I would like it to sound polite but also familiar as I’ve met her several times now. Based on a quick search, I’ve seen putting “Pani [first name]” works, but if any native Polish people could help me with this one just to make sure as for me I would not usually do first names in English when referring to friends’ mums directly. Thanks!

I made a lot of mistakes when I started learning.

I basically ignored listening. I memorised words without knowing how much they change with context and how fundamental this is.

Now I'm doing a little better, listening to a lot of content, having lessons, doing some (not a huge amount) of grammar (as I find this just impenetrable to study on its own - I'm hoping more exposure and building this gradually will help things click more).One thing I still neglect is reading.

I'm just not sure how to really go about it. I try and understand news, social media posts etc and might Google the odd word, but that's about it.

Should I be reading books? If so, what's the best method? Translate the whole thing line by line?

I start my last year of high school in a few months and I plan to be a paramedic after that. I live in a city where polish is a really common language spoken by non-english speaking residents in certain areas and the healthcare job market is pretty dire here so I want to improve my CV in advance as much as possible. I have 5-6 weeks of summer before the new school year (which will be super busy as it's the final year) and I want to lay a proper foundation for polish as soon as possible.

What's the best techniques/resources for me to use to get the basics down quickly? I don't have a tutor/can't afford one but I plan to save up for some sort of course in the future. other than that though — if apps, which ones? if immersion, what shows? which YouTube channels are the best, and for what? which books should I look at?

speaking and listening are the priority, with reading being next and writing being least important, but still something I'd want to learn. I don't have any polish-speaking friends and I'm a little socially awkward, and I can't travel to Poland or anything. preferably nothing that costs money — i don't have a job as I'm in full time education.

Hi all!

I’m a 21F first generation American, and I honestly feel ashamed I DONT know Polish. My dad regrets not teaching me as a child. It’s so awkward entering Polish spaces and not speaking the language.

Polish family friends have told me it’s too late to learn now. I have focus issues.

Is all hope lost? Will I ever learn the language? I can only say a few words with incorrect pronunciation.

Edit: I’d like to add I have plenty of first language Polish speakers in my radius to help, and I’ve found some pretty awesome Polish bands to help. I’ve already learned some new phrases today just from listening to Lady Pank lol

Edit 2: Thank you all for the encouragement! I am going to start learning. I have the next 8 weeks with nothing on my plate due to a surgery so it’s prime time to start getting the basics down! I’m living with my Polish dad right now so he will help as well :)

hey, my polish boyfriend is taking me to Poland in November of this year, i am meeting his family over there and want to learn a bit of polish before i go over there, could anybody help or know where i can get help? and if anybody knows what i should know before i go, what i should do before i go, any tips would be really appreciated, i have asked him but all he says is that im fine and they’ll love me, but i want to do more than just turning up you know , thank you :p

Thanks everyone for your input and kind messages! We have not decided on a name yet, but my husband suggested the nickname "Yui" if we name her Yuna, it seems to appeal to his friends as well, but I was surprised as it doesn't follow typical polish diminutive rules and I thought "Yui" would have even worse associations. If I named her Yuna, would it be possible for it to be her only name with a polish diminutive?

Also, I really like the Meiyu/Maja idea that many had. I was thinking of naming her Łucja, as I like how unique it is to poland, but my husband is not yet convinced.

I wanted to apologise if this all seems weird, I am new here and don't know where to ask anything. Thank you everyone for your advice.

Hey everyone,

I’m moving from Germany to Warsaw for the next two years to do my Master's at SGH. I’m super excited to live in the city! I really want to learn Polish properly while I'm there.
Has anyone had good experiences with specific language schools in Warsaw? Or do you have any other tips on the best ways to learn the language as a student?
Thanks in advance!