Poland Languages

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Poland Beginning Research
Record Types
Poland Background
Poland Genealogical Word Lists
Cultural Groups
Local Research Resources

Description[edit | edit source]

The languages spoken in Poland are [1] [2] [3]

  • Polish - the official and predominant spoken language. 97% of the population declare Polish as their mother language. 37 million (2011).
    • one of the official languages of the European Union, also a second language in parts of neighboring Lithuania.
  • Silesian - spoken by 529,377 (2011).
  • Kashubian - a recognized regional language spoken by 100,000 people in the northern regions of Kashubia and Pomerania on a daily basis. 108,140 (2011).
  • English - about 32% of Polish citizens are knowledgeable with English. Spoken by 103,541 (2011).

The Minority Languages spoken in Poland are [4] [5]

Word List(s)[edit | edit source]

Polish is a Slavic language related to Russian and Czech. It is used in genealogical sources throughout Poland. Before 1918, Polish-speaking territories were divided between Russia, Germany, and Austria. Records written before 1918 may be in German, Russian, Latin, or Polish.

  • In Russian Poland, Polish was the official language for vital records from 1808 to 1868. From 1868 to 1917, Russian was the official language.
  • In German Poland, most records were kept in German or Latin, though some were kept in Polish.
  • In Austrian Poland, most records were kept in Latin. Some records were kept in German and some in Polish.

Most materials used in Polish research are written in Polish. You do not need to speak or read Polish to do research in Polish records, but you should know some key words and phrases to understand the records. Because the Roman Catholic Church was the predominant religion in Poland, many records  are in Latin. Other languages in Polish records include German, Russian, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Old Church Slavonic.
For word lists and help researching in Polish records, see:

Alphabet and Pronunciation[edit | edit source]

Alphabet

Pronunciation

Pronunciation Guide

c = ts
ch,h = kh
ć,cz,ci = ch
ś,sz,si = sh
ż,zi,rz = zh
ą = om, on
ę = em, en
j = y
dz = j
ł = w
w = v

Language Aids and Dictionaries[edit | edit source]

Dictionaries

  • Phillips, Janet. Oxford essential Polish dictionary : Polish-English, English-Polish. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Gavira, Angeles and Angela Wilkes. Polish English visual bilingual dictionary. New York: DK Publishing, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Grzebieniowski, Tadeusz. Langenscheidt's pocket Polish dictionary : English-Polish, Polish-English. New York: Langenscheidt, 1985. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Roczniok, Andrzej. A Polish-Silesian dictionary. Zabrze: Narodowa Oficyna Śląska, 2012. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Frymark, Stanisław. English-Polish- Kashub dictionary. Wilno, Ontario: Wilno Heritage Society, 2008. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Jeliński, Marian and David Shulist. Kashubian-English-Polish dictionary. Żukowo: Fundacja Skansenu Pszczelarskiego, 2011. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Kierst, Wadysaw. Concise dictionary, English Polish and Polish-English. Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna, 1957. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Kierst, W. English-Polish and Polish-English dictionary. New York, N.Y.: Saphrograph, 1956. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Pogonowski, Iwo Cyprian. Practical Polish-English, English-Polish dictionary. New York: Hippcrene Books, 1985. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Stanisławski, Jan. McKay's English-Polish/Polish-English dictionary. New York: Random House, 1988. Available at: WorldCat.

Online Dictionaries

Language Aids

  • Fokker, A. A. and Emilia Smolikowska. Anatomy of a word-class : A chapter of Polish grammar. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Bartonlini-Salimbeni, Beth. Italian grammar for dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Makurat H. The Grammar of the Kashubian Language. n.p.: n.p., 2018. Available at: WorldCat.

Additional Resources[edit | edit source]

  • Polish for beginners : a comprehensive guide for learning the Polish language fast. n.p.: n.p., 2020. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Miłkowski, Marcin, Georg Rehm, and Hans Uszkoreit. The Polish language in the digital age. Berlin: Springer, 2012. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Shea, Jonathan D. Russian language documents from Russian Poland : a translation manual for genealogists. Unlimited, Buffalo Grove, Ill.: Genun Publishers, 1989. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Poland Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Lessons on Handwriting Handwriting Lessons on FamilySearch Learning Center:

Polish grammar may affect the way names appear in genealogical records. For example, names of your ancestors will vary from record to record in Polish.

For help in understanding name variations, see Naming Customs.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Poland," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland#:~:text=Polish%20is%20the%20official%20and%20predominant, accessed 24 May 2023.
  2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Languages of Poland," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Poland, accessed 24 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Polish language," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_language, accessed 24 May 2023.
  4. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Languages_of_Poland," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Poland#National_minority's_languages, accessed 24 May 2023.
  5. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Languages_of_Poland," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Poland#Household_languages, accessed 24 May 2023.

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