The Polish Language

Polish is spoken by over 44 million people worldwide, the vast majority of which live in Poland, where it is the official language. A significant number of Polish speakers can also be found in Germany, Israel and Slovakia.1

Polish falls under the Lekhitic subgroup of the West Slavic language family. It is a close relative to Czech, Slovak and Sorbian (a minority language spoken in the eastern part of Germany).2

Polish has numerous dialects, but according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, four stand out because of their large number of speakers: "Great Polish (spoken in the northwest), Little Polish (spoken in the southeast), Mazovian, and Silesian."3

Finally, Polish is a language that has borrowed a great many words from it neighbors in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Belarus. One can also find borrowed words from Latin, Italian, French and most recently English.

Below are some brief but important facts about Poland and its people:

  • Capital: Warsaw
  • Currency: Zloty (PLN)
  • Government Type: Republic
  • Population: 626,349 (July 2004 est.)
  • Internet Country Code: .pl
  • Internet Hosts: 804,915 (2004)
  • Internet Users: 8.97 million (2003)

For additional demographic information on Poland and its people, please see the following link: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pl.html

For information on The Polish Writing System, please see our Quick Facts Library.

1 "POLISH: a language of Poland" Ethnologue.com
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=PQL
[Accessed December 10, 2004]

2 "Polish language" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9060625
[Accessed December 10, 2004]

3 "Polish language" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=28238
[Accessed December 10, 2004]