Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As for nonalcoholic drinks, Poles are traditionally tea drinkers, though coffee,
increasingly sold as espressos and lattes in trendy coffee shops, is making inroads. Tea
is normally drunk in a glass with sugar. The quality of the coffee has greatly improved
in the past decade, but for some reason the dark, bitter liquid called “coffee” served at
hotel and pension breakfasts is still often undrinkable.
LANGUAGE
Unless you're a scholar of Slavic languages (or you already speak some Polish), you'll
find Polish nearly incomprehensible. There are relatively few English cognates, and the
vexing combinations of consonants—“szcz” comes to mind—and accent marks (z's
with dots and l's with lines through them?) will have you shaking your head after a
couple of minutes of trying to puzzle it out. Fortunately, there are a fair amount of
English speakers around, and nearly all hotels, tourist offices, and restaurants will be
able to manage some English. German will also help, especially in areas of the south
and west, close to the German border.
USEFUL WORDS & PHRASES
English
Polish
Pronunciation
Hello/Good Day
Dzie ^ dobry
Djeen doh -bree
Ye s
Ta k
Ta h k
No
Nie
Nee-yeh
Cze 15 !
Hi! or Bye!
Chesh -ch
(informal)
Good evening
Dobry wieczór
Doh -bree vyeh -choor
Goodbye
Do widzenia
Doh vee- djen -ya
Good night
Dobranoc
Doh- brah -nohts
Thank you
Dzi 7 kuj 7
Djen- koo -yeh
Prosz 7
Please/you're
Proh -sheh
welcome
How are you?
Jak sie masz?
Ya h k sheh mahsh?
(informal)
How are you?
Jak sie pan (to a
Ya h k sheh pahn/pahn-ee mah?
(formal)
man)/pani (to a
woman) ma?
Fine
Dobrze
Dohb -zheh
Do you speak
Czy pan/pani mówi
Chee pahn/pahn-ee moo -vee poh
English?
po angielsku?
ahng- yel -skoo?
I don't understand
Nie rozumiem
Ne-yeh roh- zoom -yem
How much is it?
Ile kosztuje?
Eel-eh kosh- too -yeh?
Jad l ospis
Menu
Jahd -woe-spees
The bill, please
Prosz 7 o rachunek
Proh- sheh oh rahk -oo-nek
Cheers!
Na zdrowie
Nah- zdroh -vyeh
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