Poland Languages

Word Lists
Most materials used in Polish research are written in Polish. You do not need to speak or read Polish to do research in Polish records, but you should know some key words and phrases to understand the records. Because the Roman Catholic Church was the predominant religion in Poland, many records are in Latin. Other languages in Polish records include German, Russian, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Old Church Slavonic.

For word lists and help researching in Polish records, see:
 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List

Lessons on Handwriting
Handwriting Lessons on FamilySearch Learning Center:
 * German Paleography Seminar - 10 classes
 * German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
 * Old German Script
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)
 * Reading Russian Handwriting
 * Reading Russian Documents: The Russian Alphabet
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 1
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 2
 * Additional Russian Paleography Classes
 * Russian for Everyone: The Russian Alphabet
 * SGGEE Cyrillic Handout.pdf for months and numbers in Russian cursive.
 * Latin in German Church Records
 * Latin for Genealogists

Polish grammar may affect the way names appear in genealogical records. For example, names of your ancestors will vary from record to record in Polish.

For help in understanding name variations, see Personal Names.

Pronunciation Guide
c = ts ch,h = kh ć,cz,ci = ch ś,sz,si = sh ż,zi,rz = zh ą = om, on ę = em, en j = y dz = j ł = w w = v

Language Aids
The FamilySearch Library has genealogical word lists for Polish (34098), German (34067), and Latin (34077). The following books and English-Polish dictionaries can also aid you in your research. You can find these and similar material at many research libraries:

Kierst, W. English-Polish/Polish-English Dictionary. New York, New York: Saphograph Co., 1956. (FS Library book 491.85321 K847e.)

Pogonowski, Iwo Cyprian. Practical Polish-English, English-Polish Dictionary. New York, New York: Hippocrene Books, 1985. (FS Library book 491.85321P751p.)

Another valuable research tool for reading records of the former Russian territories of Poland is:

Frazin, Judith R. A ''Translation Guide to the 19-century Polish-language Civil-registration Documents: (Birth, Marriage and Death Records). 2nd ed.'' Northbrook, Illinois: The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, 1989. (FS Library book 943.8 V27.) This book is now online at Google Books: http://books.google.de/books?id=qSEBjYeyUpAC&amp;pg=PA154&amp;lpg=PA#.

To read the Russian language records of this same area after 1868 use:

Shea, Jonathan D. ''Russian Language Documents from Russian Poland: a Translation Manual for Genealogists. 2nd ed.'' Buffalo Grove, Illinois: Genun, 1989. (FS Library book 943.8 D27.)

The Polish genealogical Word List published by the FamilySearch Library is available at this link: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Poland_Genealogical_Word_List

Learning: Polish Language, Common Word Translations is available online.

Word List
This list contains Polish words with their English translations. The words included here are those that you are likely to find in genealogical sources. If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Polish-English dictionary.

Polish is a Slavic language related to Russian and Slovak. It is used in genealogical sources throughout Poland. Before 1918, Polish-speaking territories were divided between Russia, Germany, and Austria. Records written before 1918 may be in German, Russian, Latin, or Polish.


 * In Russian Poland, Polish was the official language for vital records from 1808 to 1868. From 1868 to 1917, Russian was the official language.
 * In German Poland, most records were kept in German or Latin, though some were kept in Polish.
 * In Austrian Poland, most records were kept in Latin. Some records were kept in German and some in Polish.

Polish is also used in the records kept in some Polish communities in the United States.

Polish records often contain Latin and German words. See the German Genealogical Word List, and the Latin Genealogical Word List. Or at the following link:http://204.9.225.220/eng/Search/rg/frameset_rhelps.asp?Page=./research/type/Word_List.asp

Additional Resources
This word list includes words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Polish-English dictionary. Several Polish-English dictionaries are available at the FamilySearch Library in the European collection. Their call numbers begin with 491.85321. See Poland Encyclopedias and Dictionaries.

The following dictionary is available on microfilm for use in FamilySearch Centers:

Stanisławski, Jan. English-Polish and Polish-English Dictionary. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: David McKay, 1946. (FS Library film 1,045,473, item 1)

Additional dictionaries are listed in the Subject section of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

POLISH LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES

Other dictionaries and language helps, such as Polish grammar books, are listed in the Locality section under:

POLAND - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES

Description
The languages spoken in Poland are
 * Polish - the official and predominant spoken language. 97% of the population declare Polish as their mother language. 37 million (2011).
 * one of the official languages of the European Union, also a second language in parts of neighboring Lithuania.
 * Silesian - spoken by 529,377 (2011).
 * Kashubian - a recognized regional language spoken by 100,000 people in the northern regions of Kashubia and Pomerania on a daily basis. 108,140 (2011).
 * English - about 32% of Polish citizens are knowledgeable with English. Spoken by 103,541 (2011).

The Minority Languages spoken in Poland are
 * Armenian
 * Belarusian - spoken by 26,448 (2011).
 * Czech
 * German - spoken by 96,461 (2011).
 * Yiddish
 * Hebrew
 * Lithuanian - spoken by 5,303 (2011).
 * Russian - spoken by 19,805 (2011).
 * Slovak
 * Ukrainian - spoken by 24,539 (2011).
 * Karaim
 * Rusyn - also referred to as Lemko. Spoken by 6,279 (2011).
 * Polska Roma
 * Bergitka Roma
 * Tatar - also known as Tartar.

Word List(s)

 * Allen, Will and Piotr Czajkowski. Polish : phrasebook & dictionary. n.p.: Lonely Planet, 2019. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Useful Polish phrases - Omniglot
 * Most Useful Polish Phrases - PolishPod101
 * Useful phrases in Kashubian - Omniglot


 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List

Alphabet and Pronunciation
Alphabet
 * Polish alphabet - Omniglot
 * Polish Cyrillic - Omniglot
 * Silesian alphabet - Omniglot
 * Kashubian alphabet - Omniglot
 * Kashubian alphabet - Wikipedia

Pronunciation
 * Polish pronunciation - Omniglot
 * Polish pronunciation dictionary - Forvo
 * Silesian pronunciation-Omniglot
 * Silesian pronunciation dictionary - Forvo
 * Kashubian pronunciation - Omniglot
 * Kashubian pronunciation dictionary - Forvo
 * Kashubian Pronunciation - Wikipedia

Language Aids and Dictionaries
Dictionaries
 * Phillips, Janet. Oxford essential Polish dictionary : Polish-English, English-Polish. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Gavira, Angeles and Angela Wilkes. Polish English visual bilingual dictionary. New York: DK Publishing, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Grzebieniowski, Tadeusz. Langenscheidt's pocket Polish dictionary : English-Polish, Polish-English. New York: Langenscheidt, 1985. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Roczniok, Andrzej. A Polish-Silesian dictionary. Zabrze: Narodowa Oficyna Śląska, 2012. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Frymark, Stanisław. English-Polish- Kashub dictionary. Wilno, Ontario: Wilno Heritage Society, 2008. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Jeliński, Marian and David Shulist. Kashubian-English-Polish dictionary. Żukowo: Fundacja Skansenu Pszczelarskiego, 2011. Available at: WorldCat.

Online Dictionaries
 * Dictionary Polish - English - Glosbe
 * Dictionary English - Silesian - Glosbe
 * Silesian Dictionary - WikiBooks
 * Dictionary English - Kashubian - Glosbe

Language Aids
 * Fokker, A. A. and Emilia Smolikowska. Anatomy of a word-class : A chapter of Polish grammar. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Bartonlini-Salimbeni, Beth. Italian grammar for dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Makurat H. The Grammar of the Kashubian Language. n.p.: n.p., 2018. Available at: WorldCat.

Additional Resources

 * Polish for beginners : a comprehensive guide for learning the Polish language fast. n.p.: n.p., 2020. Available at: WorldCat.
 * Miłkowski, Marcin, Georg Rehm, and Hans Uszkoreit. The Polish language in the digital age. Berlin: Springer, 2012. Available at: WorldCat.