HOME | DD

Description
Pronounciation

In this part you will learn how to read certain polish letters. Polish alphabet consists of 32 latin signs, some of which have diacritic marks (in Poland we call them "ogonki" - tails - as in ą and ę, "kropki" - dots - over ż, and "kreski" - lines - over ć, ń, ó, ś and ź and in the middle of the ł). This does not include also letters like q, v and x, which are never used in Polish unless it's a foreign word (quo vadis, DVD).

The letters, their pronounciation in IPA and rough English pronounciation:
a - /a/ - far
ą - /ɔ̇̃/ - nasal a, similar to long... in French mon
b - /b/ - ballet
c - /ʦ/ - something new to English readers. Read about it here: Wikipedia: Voiceless palatal plosive
ć - /ʨ/ - palatalized c or cz - Wikipedia: Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate
d - /d/ - dentist
e - /ɛ/ - Everest
ę - /ɛ̇̃/ - nasal e, similar to ben.
f - /f/ - fallen
g - /ɡ/ - goofy
h - /x/, /h/ - help
i - /i/ - internal
j - /j/ - yellow
k - /k/ - key
l - /l/ - least
ł - /w/ - wheel
m - /m/ - mom
n - /n/ - nose
ń - /ɲ/ - palatalized n
o - /o/ - ortography
ó - /u/ - mood
p - /p/ - pearl
[q] - /k/ - query
r - /r/ - Rover
s - /s/ - sad
ś - /ɕ/ - palatalized sh
t - /t/ - triumph
u - /u/ (mood), sometimes /w/ (wheel)
[v] - /v/ - voodoo
w - /v/ - voodoo
[x] - /ks/ - Xavier
y - /ɨ/ - umm... it's y, a vowel. Quite new to English readers, it is an i with tongue lowered a bit.
z - /z/ - z(ed/i)
ź - /ʑ/ - palatalized ż
ż - /ʒ/ - journal

These are not all of the polish language's sounds. For the remaining ones there are digraphs; these are:

ch - /x/ - help
cz - /ʧ/ - chip
dz - /ʣ/ - voiced c
dź - /ʥ/ - palatalized dż
dż - /ʤ/ - jam
rz - /ʒ/ - journal
sz - /ʃ/ - chef

Additionally, letter i has a special meaning: just after letters c, n, s, z and digraph dz makes the sound 'softer'; it means that c becomes 'ć', n - 'ń', s - 'ś', z - 'ź' and dz - 'dź'. If the letter after i is a consonant, then i is pronounced, and if it's a vowel, it's either not pronounced at all (after c, n, s and z) or pronounced similarily to /j/.

I hope you found this helpful. If you encounter any difficulties, lecture of Wikipedia: Polish phonology may help.

~Pawelabrams

Description
Pronounciation

In this part you will learn how to read certain polish letters. Polish alphabet consists of 32 latin signs, some of which have diacritic marks (in Poland we call them "ogonki" - tails - as in ą and ę, "kropki" - dots - over ż, and "kreski" - lines - over ć, ń, ó, ś and ź and in the middle of the ł). This does not include also letters like q, v and x, which are never used in Polish unless it's a foreign word (quo vadis, DVD).

The letters, their pronounciation in IPA and rough English pronounciation:
a - /a/ - far
ą - /ɔ̇̃/ - nasal a, similar to long... in French mon
b - /b/ - ballet
c - /ʦ/ - something new to English readers. Read about it here: Wikipedia: Voiceless palatal plosive
ć - /ʨ/ - palatalized c or cz - Wikipedia: Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate
d - /d/ - dentist
e - /ɛ/ - Everest
ę - /ɛ̇̃/ - nasal e, similar to ben.
f - /f/ - fallen
g - /ɡ/ - goofy
h - /x/, /h/ - help
i - /i/ - internal
j - /j/ - yellow
k - /k/ - key
l - /l/ - least
ł - /w/ - wheel
m - /m/ - mom
n - /n/ - nose
ń - /ɲ/ - palatalized n
o - /o/ - ortography
ó - /u/ - mood
p - /p/ - pearl
[q] - /k/ - query
r - /r/ - Rover
s - /s/ - sad
ś - /ɕ/ - palatalized sh
t - /t/ - triumph
u - /u/ (mood), sometimes /w/ (wheel)
[v] - /v/ - voodoo
w - /v/ - voodoo
[x] - /ks/ - Xavier
y - /ɨ/ - umm... it's y, a vowel. Quite new to English readers, it is an i with tongue lowered a bit.
z - /z/ - z(ed/i)
ź - /ʑ/ - palatalized ż
ż - /ʒ/ - journal

These are not all of the polish language's sounds. For the remaining ones there are digraphs; these are:

ch - /x/ - help
cz - /ʧ/ - chip
dz - /ʣ/ - voiced c
dź - /ʥ/ - palatalized dż
dż - /ʤ/ - jam
rz - /ʒ/ - journal
sz - /ʃ/ - chef

Additionally, letter i has a special meaning: just after letters c, n, s, z and digraph dz makes the sound 'softer'; it means that c becomes 'ć', n - 'ń', s - 'ś', z - 'ź' and dz - 'dź'. If the letter after i is a consonant, then i is pronounced, and if it's a vowel, it's either not pronounced at all (after c, n, s and z) or pronounced similarily to /j/.

I hope you found this helpful. If you encounter any difficulties, lecture of Wikipedia: Polish phonology may help.

~Pawelabrams