Polish Diacritics

The Polish alphabet is based on the Latin Alphabet but uses special diacritics - or auxiliary symbols. Auxiliary symbols are ´helper´symbols. They assist the letter by changing its sound or tone. The Polish alphabet uses three auxiliary symbols. 


1. Acute Accent or kreska. ć, ń, ó, ś, ź
2. Dot above or kropka. This is used only for the letter z. ż
3. Stroke. This is used only for the letter l.  ł
4. The tail or the ogonek. This is used only for the letters a and e.  ą, ę


Lets take a look at the Polish word for Hello, Cześć. The word comes from a common slavic word meaning ´honor´. The two unfamiliar letters are ś and ć.


ś = eh - shh 
ć = che ( cheap)
c = s - eh (septic)


When we put it all together...Cześć,  the word sounds like this - Chesht. Polish letters in combinations make very unusual sounds. Like many other languages, it takes a lot of training and practice to get the sounds right. I did find a few YouTube videos with helpful instructions for people who are beginning Polish. 

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Polish is allegedly a very hard language to learn. The best way to start is by listening to the language every day. You will not understand what you are listening to, but the more you listen, the easier it will come to you.

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