Many historical events of the twentieth century influenced the ethnic composition of the population of Poland. The Second World War, the post-war migration of its inhabitants and bordering states led to the fact that the country became virtually mono-ethnic, and only the only state language of Poland was officially proclaimed - Polish.
Some statistics and facts
- More than 37 million residents of the republic choose Polish as the language of home communication.
- A little more than 900 thousand people speak the other languages in everyday life. The most popular are Silesian, Kashubian and English.
- 57% of Poles speak at least one other language besides their mother tongue.
- Polish is the official language of the European Union among 24 others.
- In total, at least 40 million people speak the state language of Poland on the planet.
- In addition to literary Polish, the inhabitants of the country use four main dialects - Wielkopolska, Lesser Poland, Mazovian and Silesian.
- The languages of national minorities in Poland are Belarusian and Czech, Yiddish and Hebrew, Lithuanian and Russian, German and Armenian.
Hissing silesian
About half a million Poles named Silesian as their mother tongue. Scientists consider this dialect to be a transitional one between Czech and Polish. It is widespread in the Upper Silesia region and its main phonetic difference from the state language of Poland is the pronunciation of hissing sounds instead of whistling ones.
Interestingly, even overseas there are Poles who speak Silesian. In the state of Texas, its speakers live very compactly and isolated, which allowed the Silesian dialect, even in the United States, not to be replaced by English in everyday life.
Russian in Poland
Together with German and English, Russian is one of the three foreign languages studied by the inhabitants of Poland in schools and universities. During the existence of the USSR and the People's Republic of Poland, it was obligatory and is still owned to one degree or another by the majority of Poles of middle and older age.
In recent years, interest in the study of Russian has been breaking all records in Poland, and a number of organizations are operating in the country that are engaged in its popularization.
Tourist notes
At least 30% of Poles are able to speak and understand English, and therefore a tourist has a high chance of getting the necessary information even without knowing Polish. In hotels and restaurants, there is certainly an English-speaking staff, menus and other necessary information in tourist areas are translated into English.
