Language

There's no getting away from it - Polish is a tough language, any early attempts at which will have you sounding like you're whispering, gargling and choking simultaneously. Many Poles, particularly the younger ones, speak a little English, but that's no excuse not to learn at least a few of those tortuous tongue-twisters, so we've included. at the bottom of this page, a brief guide to get you started. For those who wish to get more involved, there are a host of excellent language schools and Polish courses for foreigners, many of them providing translation services, which may be necessary if you plan to stay any length of time in the city. Also, if you are looking for an English curriculum school for your children whilst working in Cracow, you can find out more details from the British International School in Cracow's website.

Below: a tough nut to crack - a mouthful of Polish consonants

What do those signs mean?

There are a whole range of Polish words which look pretty similar to their English equivalents, so signs such as POLICJA, RESTAURACJA HOTEL and TAXI are hardly going to tax most travellers, but here are a handful of others that may be useful:

Kawiarnia - Cafe
Herbaciarnia - Tea House
Ksiegarnia - Book Shop
Mieso - Butchery
Nabial - Dairy products
Sklep - Shop
Prasa - Newsagent
Dworzec - Station
Lotnisko - Airport

The Polish language uses the Latin alphabet as in English, however you will find a few extra letters, (formed from Latin letters but with an additional slash or hook), bringing the total to 32. A few letters you won't find are: q, v, and x. The only exception to this rule are direct translations from other languages (e.g. "fax') and, of course, slang and marketing-language.

We've recently added our new audio pronunciation guide (right) to help with those tricky Polish pronunciations! If you've got some good ideas on how to make our language section better, let us know!

Click to listen

Yes
Please
How much does this cost?
Do you speak English?
How much does beer cost?

No
How are you?
Cheers!
Two beers please!
I lost my passport - can you help me?

Hello
Goodbye
Thank you
Do you have a sister?
Drop by tonight and I'll show you my stamp collection

Krakow language tips

truely,polish language is hard to deal with,but i'm glad i learned it,and still i'm using it with my further studies;)

reviewed by Linyi from China on Jan.20.2012

Tak!yes!coz i was in tri city,sopot,gydenia and gdansk in 1985 - 87 working in a project luxury ship. i love this country so and i missed people like poles specially in sopot were a work also in one of the church st andrew de bobola.hope to see you poland someday

reviewed by joel l. pitlo from Philippines on Dec.21.2010

i am a national guide in tunisia.
i speak french, english and spanish frecuently, a little italian and i prepare a travel to krakow to learn polish.
a hard pronounciation language but nice.
good luck for me and for all

reviewed by sami from Tunisia on Aug.29.2010

really i like this language, i have 2 friends from poslska, i want to surprise them one day; when i speak it, no bad; i love u polska peaple;

reviewed by ibrahim from Morocco on Jul.06.2010

ya kocham polska i lubie jezyk polski,jest bardzo ladnym jezykiem.

reviewed by beji from Georgia on May.07.2010

doesn't matter what kind of collection.ve have never bad an intention.......

reviewed by victor from Turkey on Apr.17.2010

That's right Koos, and "stamp collection" can also be interchanged with "butterfly collection." It amounts to the same thing!

reviewed by Phil Atelist from United States on Mar.31.2010

I've had several women say that sentence to me. Now at last I know what it means: 'Drop by tonight and I'll show you my stamp collection'.
A special lot, those Poles ;-)

reviewed by Koos from Netherlands on Mar.29.2010

Dzen dobrzy,
bardzo dzenkue
wszistkiegó nailepszego!
Danke für Ihr kleines Vokabular, es wäre noch besser, wenn Sie dieses etwas erweitern. Alles Gute.
Jurij

reviewed by Jurij Below from Germany on Mar.23.2010

J, I suggest learning how to say that in English first.

reviewed by Anka from United Kingdom on Mar.15.2010

How do you say "I will not by this tobacconists, it is scratched." ?

reviewed by J Cleese from United States on Jan.29.2010

this website is really cool. Its really hard to learn a new language but with this website I can do this one step at a time. oh ya. my name is ola too.!!

reviewed by ola from United States on Dec.28.2009

dats kool

reviewed by federica from United States on Dec.03.2009

W polsce jest troche dziwnych ludzi ...pozatym wszystko jest cool !
pozdrawiam :)

reviewed by Eric from United States on Nov.26.2009

Do you want to learn hard but beautiful Polish language? I’m highly qualified (university diploma) teacher of polish as a foreign language and I give lessons for all levels, all age groups. With me, you will never get bored with Polish.
Hablo un poco espanol tambien
Please contact for rates
Contact me a tel 505784352, e-mail wojaczek.a@gmail.com, gadu-gadu 8833557
Ola

reviewed by Ola from Poland on Nov.17.2009

LOL, what a good laugh is that language part! Do you have a sister! ^^ but seriously, what if you really lost your passport. This lady's voice is not helping anything. No way you remember that! ^^

reviewed by benny from Netherlands on Nov.09.2009

Do you have a sister?

Awesome - got all I need now, thanks :)

reviewed by Stu from United Kingdom on Oct.21.2009

LOL "come over in the evening, I'll show you my stamp collection" LOL!
We all know what that means, don't we...
Anyway, when in Rome... try and learn a word or two, we really appreciate it.
Leave "chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie..." for your next vistit.

reviewed by Greg from Australia on Oct.14.2009

yea- 'papaski' , 'pa' , 'papa' means all same - bye bye

reviewed by g.w.w. from Poland on Oct.03.2009

"Two beers Please" - I'm learning that one at least. Cheers!

reviewed by Jigger from United Kingdom on Oct.01.2009

what does "Papaski" mean at the end of a text message? i thinkit is bye bye but not sure

reviewed by Col from United Kingdom on Sep.21.2009

i wish you would put more voce things

reviewed by unnone from Canada on Sep.17.2009

I would have like to show you Cracow but now I am in Zakopane for summer season.
Do you know it?have you ever been there?Great and different city as well as Cracow.If you need any comfy accomodation or help when there, please do feel free to contact me.May be an other time as you will be leaving soon and you need at leat 5 days to visit fully Zakopane.So for next time, check our website www.ogrodygorskie.pl.
take Care .See you

reviewed by lolozabojat from Poland on Aug.22.2009

just arrived in Krakow from US. would love to have someone show me around or someone that doesn't know the place either and we can explore together. I'm here for a week stayin close to Old Town from august 16 to 25

reviewed by amanda from United States on Aug.16.2009

hi, greetings to all polish folks... and the others too :) i moved 19 years ago to germany, was a lot time ago in Krakow. Poland is a great country and we have the most beautiful girls :) cee ya all & hf

reviewed by Tadeusz'78 from Germany on Aug.14.2009

Hi, i´m from the 17 June until 19 June 2009 in Crakow. I moved with 7 years to Germany, so I speak a little bit polish as well, looking for someone, who show´s me amazing places in Crocow. Looking to hear from you!

reviewed by babs from Germany on Jun.03.2009

my browser shows characters.
Are there deaf / sign language groups in Krakow?

reviewed by s. wall from United States on May.03.2009

The site is really informative. Me and my boyfriend fly to crakow on Sunday for a few days and I can't wait to see the sites. It looks a beautiful place. My Polish needs ALOT of work though!

reviewed by Kate from United Kingdom on Mar.31.2009

bardzo dobry krakow zmienyl sie bardo PS prsepraszam za 'dobry'polski

reviewed by lemi from Macedonia on Mar.09.2009

It's "Polski" or "Polskie" depending on the context.

reviewed by Ania from Poland on Mar.03.2009

how do you say Polish in polish?

reviewed by Jorge from United States on Feb.28.2009

Ha, I love speaking Polish! All my friends are always asking me to say words. It's very hard, but it's SOO worth it!! LOVE IT!!!!

PS-- The sign up there it a mouthful to say!

reviewed by Kasia from United States on Feb.25.2009

Hi, just like to find out if jeans and sneakers are allowed in the opera krakowska? not those dirty torn sneakers though! :)

reviewed by Ellen from Singapore on Feb.20.2009

It's such a pleasure to read all the nice comments and to know there are some people who do appreciate the beauty of Poland! I'm Polish myself but leave in the UK at the moment. My bfriend is from here as well but unfortunatelly he's not that enthusiastic about the country and its people...

reviewed by Asia from United Kingdom on Feb.17.2009

wot a place to visit.. friendly, clean and very cheap...

reviewed by knoxy from United Kingdom on Feb.04.2009

just come back from poland its 1 fantastic place to see

reviewed by andy from United Kingdom on Jan.18.2009

Could anyone translate STODDI BABBA AND STODDI PON for me

reviewed by Lina from United States on Jan.13.2009

here is web dictionary link:
http://www.dict.pl/
and here u can translate all sentenses:
http://www.poltran.com/pl.php4

reviewed by kolop from United Kingdom on Jan.12.2009

anyone from krakow? please

piramerd@msn.com

reviewed by Diary from Sweden on Jan.12.2009

is krakow nisce?

Diary
Sweden
piramerd@msn.com

reviewed by Diary from United States on Jan.12.2009

i absolutely loveee poland!!! kocham swoj kraj!!!!!! krakow is absolutely beautiful !!!!i luv poznan as well. :)

reviewed by martyna from Australia on Jan.04.2009

Yo Nalepka!

reviewed by Cesky Tesin from Mozambique on Dec.30.2008

this is it really is tak

reviewed by karina from United States on Nov.19.2008

Sobota means Saturday.
have fun in poland
Mukesh Uniyal

reviewed by Mukesh Uniyal from India on Nov.14.2008

Poland in Polish = Polska

reviewed by a from Poland on Oct.22.2008

how do you spell poland in polish

reviewed by from United States on Oct.21.2008

o znaczkach jest dobre :D

reviewed by hehe from Egypt on Oct.21.2008

You'll have a brilliant time. I certainly did the Poles are amongst the friendliest bunch of people I've ever come across and Cracow maybe the most beautiful place.

reviewed by Davey Clare from United Kingdom on Sep.30.2008

I am off to Krakow around november for a short break.I have not been to an eastern country befor, so I am really looking forward to going.This Polish translation insite is brill,Infact lets be brutful, The hole site BRILL.

reviewed by Paul from United Kingdom on Sep.23.2008

URODZILAM SIE W KATOWICACH
TO JEST CUDOWNE MIASTO
OD 30 LAT MIESZKAM W STANIE IL W MIESTECZKU ORLAND PARK
HEY! PEPLE GO TO POLAND AND YOU WILL
HAWE GOOD TIME!
CRACOW IS NICE PLACE TO VISYT
TO SHAP! EAT! DANCE! AND TO SEE
MANY, MANY MORE!
GO! AND SEE POLAND KATOWICE KRAKOW
WARSZAWE LOVE IRENA!

reviewed by IRENA from United States on Aug.16.2008

Grodzka 6
reviewed on Feb.03.2012
"Best place to have a nice and chilled evening !..."
write your own review now!

And the winners are...
Forget about the Oscars, these are the awards that count in Krakow, year on year. We refer of course to the Cracow-life Best Places accolad...