Krakow travel guide to restaurants pubs bars apartments shops and hotels in Krakow Poland

Language

Fun with words


Online Translators and Dictionaries

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

Click & Listen!

Yes

No

Hello

Goodbye

How are you?

Please

Thank you

How much does this cost?

Do you speak English?

Cheers!

I lost my passport - can you help me?

How much does beer cost?

Two beers please!

Do you have a sister?

Drop by tonight and I'll show you my stamp collection

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

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!

a few words...



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Getting to Krakow
Getting around Krakow
Tips for travellers
Money Matters
Krakow Poland
The Big Search Page


Auschwitz
Hapsburg Empire
John Paul II


Krakow Tours
Wawel Castle


Wieliczka Salt Mines
Nightlife
Krakow Stags
Hostels


Polish Summer

Polish language tips

"Intend to visit Krakow this year... Oh Lord, gotta study Polish! Thankee! :)"

Oleg Szemetow
Ukraine
May.11.2008
rates this page
4/5

"amit "

amit
India
Apr.08.2008
rates this page
4/5

"This site is very helpful. Im a 14 year old History Student and i am travelling to Poland next year to visit Auschwitz and the salt mines etc. Poland seems like such an interesting country, so much history. Anyone has any knowledge to share feel free to email. touch-of-glitter@hotmail.com Thanks."

Tiffany
United Kingdom
Apr.06.2008
rates this page
5/5

"This is an excellent site with amazing links and suggestions. Thankyou so much for this much needed help for a first time visitor to Poland. Na zdrowie!"

Val Kerry
United Kingdom
Mar.20.2008
rates this page
5/5

"I off to Krakow later this year any tips on best places to visit while there? Also I am REALLY interested to visit any disabled charities and organisations, particularly ones that cater for Deaf, and Blind people... can anyone help???? "

Caroline
United Kingdom
Mar.18.2008
rates this page
4/5

"Visiting Kracow in July and really looking forward to it. If any nice poles know a Katarzina (kasca) Bluckasz aged 27/28 from Katowice, who I was lucky enough to meet a long time ago could you please forward this e-mail address to her (tonzat@fsmail.net) and let her know that Tony Tyrer was trying to get in touch with her to see how she is doing! Many Thanks. "

Tony
United Kingdom
Mar.14.2008
rates this page
3/5

"To the guy who was disappointed that there was no mcdonalds - if you;re actully serious, and that is a real complaint, there is one at the top of florianski street, by the gate itself. If you arrive from the nigth train at 6am it's about the only thing open!"

Sophie
United Kingdom
Mar.11.2008
rates this page
4/5

"If you need a professional, efficient and creative linguistic coach to guide you through the harshness and mystification of the Polish language, you may contact me at: sylwia.gruszka@gmail.com. I speak English, French and Spanish, and I'am an experienced Polish teacher."

sylwinka
Poland
Feb.21.2008
rates this page
4/5

"We are deaf. Can you help me"

Pat
United Kingdom
Feb.19.2008
rates this page
2/5

"help!!! how much the things cost in Krakow... examples please!!! hotel, taxi, beer, dinner... thanks a lot"

Ana
Mexico
Feb.15.2008
rates this page
4/5

"My girl friend is Polish, We hope to visit Kracow later this year. I'm picking up the language quite well. It's interesting and fun to learn! This site is great! I'm going to develop a few lessons for other people in the future, will let you know when they are ready. They'll be audio based to download."

Kev
United Kingdom
Jan.28.2008
rates this page
3/5

"In terms of the toilet signs just think freudian. Triangle male. Circle female. Not so hard really is it? Whoops another freudian slip."

Ray
United Kingdom
Jan.23.2008
rates this page
4/5

"Poland is the best country which I've seen!!! Cool girls, cheap alcohol!!!"

Brian
United Kingdom
Jan.20.2008
rates this page
3/5

"Heya jst passin im 16 ahn im away 2 vist mi best friend Justyna in June who livez in Poland in Crakow (Katowice) n i have read a few commens on here of how good it iz coz i have never bn 2 Poland b4 and im really nervous so thnkz xxxx"

Kirsten x
United Kingdom
Jan.09.2008
rates this page
5/5

"The beautifulest girls in the world are from poland....never seen so many "

Pierre
France
Dec.25.2007
rates this page
5/5

"Merry Christmas is "Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia", but you can say just "Wesolych Swiat", that's more like a general "happy holidays"."

Ania
Poland
Dec.18.2007
rates this page
3/5

"How do you say Merry Christmas in Polish?"

Camille Shelhamer
United States
Dec.16.2007
rates this page
3/5

"polish is so easy!!!! Easer than english BUT U MUST BE FROM POLAND LOL"

BENEK
Poland
Dec.12.2007
rates this page
3/5

"slowly life but i think in eurepean comunnity give some lesson..."

tayfun ormanski
Cyprus
Nov.23.2007
rates this page
3/5

"Oh! how I enjoyed my visit,Oh! how I miss being there.Fantastic people,Fantastic city"

duggi
United Kingdom
Oct.21.2007
rates this page
4/5

"By the way, if anyone would like to talk about Poland with me, or anything for that matter, just drop me a line, my skype name is modnypan2006"

Mark Morse
United Kingdom
Sep.20.2007
rates this page
5/5

"I am British, i have travelled most of Poland and must say i loved it so much i had to stay. I now live in a town called Woszislaw Slaski. I just love the Polish culture, the food, people, history, arcitecture, language music, films.....everything. I am learning the language with help from books, CD's, friends and my Polish girlfriend who i have been dating and living with for almost 6 years, we are son to marry and start a family, well our family has already started, we have a cat which we brought over from the UK where we met and used to live. I don't speak much Polish as it's very difficult but i am determined to succeed, the Poles are always suprised that a foreighner, especially a Brit is speaking Polish, their praise and compliments kind of keeps me going wanting to improve, they are such good people, i'm so glad i decided to make Poland my home!"

Mark Morse
United Kingdom
Sep.20.2007
rates this page
5/5

"Coming to Cracow in October,really looking forward to seeing the beautiful city/and people"

duggi
United Kingdom
Sep.19.2007
rates this page
4/5

"Kraków, here I come;D Koham Polska!!"

Sanja
Sweden
Sep.08.2007
rates this page
4/5

"I like the simplicity of explaining what you do and how"

john moore
United States
Sep.04.2007
rates this page
4/5

"Just want to say that the comments are right. I attempted my first few words after reading them. Much easier than the pronunciation guide."

Tim
United States
Aug.13.2007
rates this page
4/5

"its reall funny and also really intresting i wanna speak frequetly"

amit
India
Aug.12.2007
rates this page
3/5

"polski nie jest taki trudny jak sie wydaje no może to przez te wszystkie ż rz ch h ó ale do mówienia ortografia nie potrzebna :P"

aga
Poland
Aug.01.2007
rates this page
3/5

"Actually, this is more phonetically accurate (from an actual Pole): Thank you is Djen Koo Ye, Please is Pro she, Good day/morning is Djen Dough Breh, Hello is Chesch, Welcome is Vee Tam, Yes is Tack, No is Nye"

Dagny
Poland
Aug.01.2007
rates this page
3/5

"Very quick and dirty and technically/phonetically not lexically correct, but enough to get by: Thank you is Jen Koo Yuh Good day/morning is Jen Dough Bruh Hello is Chetch (fetch with ch at front) Welcome is Vee Tum Yes is Tock, Yes-Yes is Tock Tock No is Nyay (like Yay! but add the n at front) This was good enough for our first trip in July and helpful, friendly Poles quickly corrected us and helped us to refine our pronunciation as we and our 4 year old vainly tried to "get it". "

Bookratt
United States
Jul.31.2007
rates this page
4/5

"fajnie by bylo gdyby wersja tej gry ukazala sie w jezyku polskim... "

Shedoro
Poland
Jul.28.2007
rates this page
3/5

"An important tip when needing the loo: Girls, you're the circle. Fellas, you're the triangle. I've never quite worked out why... "

Marshka
Poland
Jul.22.2007
rates this page
3/5

"Here it is link to some page from polish university where you can find useful "survival polish" phrases. Enjoy learn polish. http://www.emapi.us.edu.pl/poland/pdf-y/polish.pdf"

Artur
United States
May.26.2007
rates this page
3/5

"You need to spell them how you say it. Iknow how to pronounce the words above but if you asked me to read them i would suffer. My girlfriend is polish and i am learning as much as i can. Cracow is my favorite european city. "

andy
United Kingdom
Apr.18.2007
rates this page
3/5

"just act like ur not saying it.IT'S AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

dustin wright
United States
Apr.17.2007
rates this page
3/5

"Ignore the accents (cedilla on e or grave over e) and just read phonetically! sz=sh cz=ch c'=chee o.=ooh. Hope this helps! Toilet=kibel or ustep or ubikacja! Good luck! "

Teresa Rzepa
United Kingdom
Apr.13.2007
rates this page
3/5

"I think Polish is a very nice language. I would like to learn it thoroughly as I would like to come to live here in Krakow one day. South africa is just too dangerous and the people here in Poland are SO friendly!"

Ben
South Africa
Apr.11.2007
rates this page
5/5

"CRACOW is the best!!!!!!!! Cien Club forever........."

Matthias
Germany
Apr.03.2007
rates this page
5/5

"as being half polish myself the language is not such a big problem for me. but i have to admit that its almost impossible for a foreigner to speak polish. nevertheless you should try to learn how to say thank you and goodbye. an some other easy words. i would also suggest to add how the words are pronounced."

tanja
Germany
Mar.29.2007
rates this page
4/5

"i have bin with polish man from cracow for two years and dont have much to say for him now but his friends and family are really nice people.its hard to learn the lanuages by looking at the words but to listens is better to learn"

lisa
Ireland
Mar.23.2007
rates this page
3/5

"i have to say we we're dissapointed dat der was no mcDONALDS"

fred
Albania
Mar.22.2007
rates this page
5/5

"it`s too hard for me"

rifat
Turkey
Mar.14.2007
rates this page
3/5

"A good site for a first time visitor to Krakow, thanks. Good to see a few basic words translated for the lazy Brits, but this could be dramatically impmoved by translating the listed Polish words phonetically. Nobody will know how to pronounce them as they are currently written."

Guy Lingard
United Kingdom
Mar.01.2007
rates this page
4/5