r/learnpolish

Hello!

I’m English but have some polish heritage, I’ve always wanted to understand the language so I’m trying to make an effort to do that now.

I’m not trying to become fluent in 6 months or anything crazy, I would just like to get to the point where I could understand and participate in basic conversation with polish people I meet - or to a level where I could enjoy polish media / music / culture and understand it. I’m not massively concerned about how long this will take but within the next 2-3 years I think sounds reasonable?

I have some questions about language learning generally as well as your advice to tailor it to Polish. Unfortunately I don’t have any friends or relatives that speak the language and I live in the UK so from an immersion perspective it’s not great.

I’ve been doing a lot of research etc recently so this is kind of my plan, Im using Duolingo and Memrise to give me some guided structure and gamification / introduce me to new vocabulary - then Anki and physical notes to help.

I’m happy to pay for tutoring / lessons but I think I want to go at my own pace for a few months.

I don’t actually have too much of a problem with the pronunciation of sounds etc I don’t think, the rules seem quite consistent. My only struggle is some combinations of letters that sound very similar to other sounds.

My main question is relating to ‘immersion’ everywhere online I see people telling me to immerse myself, put my phone language to polish, listen to polish podcasts, music, watch polish youtube and TV etc.

I’m hoping someone can advise or clarify what my goal with this should be. I have a long commute and desk job where I could in theory listen to polish content for 12 hours every day. What I don’t understand is how immersion like this actually leads to comprehension and understanding of the language. For example if I listen to a polish podcast for a few hours, yeah I might pick out a word here and there, but 99% will be completely incomprehensible. I get that it exposes you to the language and pronunciation but don’t understand how you actually start to pickup on meaning.

I guess what I want to know is how do immerse myself properly and what else should I be doing to help build understanding from the immersion? What’s the goal here? Everyone online makes it sound as if, if you listen to a podcast for an hour a day for a year you’ll just magically start understanding it?

If anyone that has been through this can give me a hand that would be great! Also any of your recommendations for podcasts, YouTube videos or channels, anything else.

A lot of youtube channels seem to be about vocabulary and word learning but I feel like something more about learning the foundation / the way words and verbs change depending on context is more along the lines of what I maybe need?

Sorry if this is a bit vague, just trying to give myself the best chance and immerse properly - to make sure I’m actually getting value out of it.

Cheers!

Sometimes you just need to say something like that with friends, but I don't want to use the basic options🤪

Hello everyone,

I originally asked some time ago about the minimum amount of polish required to be able to work in Poland. I'm now looking to provide some additional context to better frame my question.

Poland is at the moment one of my preferred locations for obtaining a master’s degree. In order to fully immerse myself in Polish culture as well as become a part of society while I’m there, I will first begin a full year of intensive studies at home before I arrive in Poland. During my time as a student working toward completing my Master’s degree, I also plan on continuing to take polish courses.

What level can I get in year of intensive learning? What level is required by local companies? What level is possible to achieve with one intensive year plus two more years of studying a master and the language? Im asking this mainly because I’m worried about internships

Hello everyone!

What do you guys believe would be the minimum level to work in a polish company (such as food manufacturing or food industry)? What level can I get in a year of intensive learning from nothing?

This is an update to my previous Reddit post.
The full context is already there, so I will keep this focused on what happened after the post.

After my Reddit post gained visibility, Vistula Polish Language School contacted me about the refund.

According to the email exchange, the refund process became directly linked to removing online mentions.

At first, they said they could process the refund by 30 days, but only if certain school names were removed from my posts.

I refused to remove my posts before receiving the refund.

My position was simple: I paid 4,491 PLN for an in person Polish course that was not delivered, and after months without a proper resolution, I had no guarantee that the refund would actually be processed if I deleted the posts first.

Then the request became more specific. They asked me to remove the mention of Polish Take Away before the refund would be processed within 30 days.

I refused again for the same reason. From my perspective as a consumer, the logic was still the same: remove negative online content first, receive refund later.

I repeatedly offered a fair solution:

The school refunds me the 4,491 PLN.
Once the money is visible in my account, I remove my own posts.

I even offered to remove my own posts on the same day the refund reaches my account.

Later, I also offered to sign a written commitment limited to my own posts on my own Reddit and Trustpilot accounts.

Despite that, they still insisted that I remove the Polish Take Away mention before the refund.

At one point, they also proposed a 5,000 PLN contractual penalty if posts and comments were not removed within 7 days after the payment was credited.

I did not accept that, because I can only control my own posts. I cannot control third party comments, screenshots, reposts, cached pages, search engine results, archived copies or content copied by other people.

Honestly, I do not know how this should be interpreted legally. If any lawyer or consumer rights specialist in Poland is reading this and can give an opinion, especially about linking refund timing to removing online mentions and about the proposed 5,000 PLN penalty, I would really appreciate it.

As a consumer, this felt very wrong to me. I paid for a course. The course was not delivered. I requested a refund. Then the refund discussion became connected to removing online mentions before receiving my money.

This whole email exchange took hours and affected me a lot emotionally. I just wanted my money back so I could move on with my life.

Please also check Trustpilot and search for:
polishlanguage .pl

You can still find comments from other people describing similar experiences.

I want to be clear:

This is my personal experience.
I am not posting this to attack anyone.
I am posting this because I do not want other foreigners to go through the same situation.

Please be very careful with:

- Polish Take Away
( polishtakeaway .pl )
- Vistula Polish Language School
( vistulapolishlanguage .pl )
- Hello Polish
( polishlanguage .pl)

Regarding Polish Take Away, I personally archived screenshots and screen recordings comparing the websites.

From what I documented, Polish Take Away appears connected to the same school structure. I recorded the websites before any possible changes. The layout, regulations, footer and contact details appeared strongly connected to Vistula Polish Language School.

Because of this, from my perspective as a consumer, Polish Take Away does not look unrelated.

I personally do not recommend Polish Take Away or Vistula Polish Language School based on my experience.

I have emails, screenshots, screen recordings, payment proof, the issued school document, the regulations and the full refund correspondence archived.

At this point, since the refund has still not been processed, I will need to continue through consumer and legal channels.

Please research carefully before paying thousands of PLN upfront for language courses in Poland, especially if you are a foreigner

I’m learning Polish at the moment but I’m still very early. I’m not even A1 yet, maybe about halfway through the beginner stuff on the app.

For ages I was nervous to actually say anything out loud. On the app it feels fine, but around real Polish people at work I kept overthinking it.

I finally just went for it and used a few basic words and phrases, like gdzie jest…, greetings, and other simple stuff.

Nothing impressive, not a proper conversation yet. Just small bits.

But they were actually sound about it. Nobody laughed or judged me. They helped me, corrected me a bit, and encouraged me.

One person even used some slang back at me in a joking friendly way, like cutting me off for a laugh, and it made it feel less awkward.

It made me realise I was building it up too much in my head. Even a few words in public felt like a big step.

I’d love to know the best way to actually learn Polish properly from here. What helped you most when you were still really early?

Like this: you decide to watch a movie on a steaming service (whether that will be through Prime Video or Netflix) including physical media such as DVD or Blu Ray, does a Polish voice dub over (lektor, usually it's a man who narrates on top of the dialog) by default or can you revert back to the original audio enabling Polish subtitles instead?

Just to clarify from the beginning: this post refers specifically to the private language course platform connected with: vistulapolishlanguage pl
NIP: 9452141293

I am making this update mainly for Google SEO and organic visibility, so future foreigners and students searching these names online can find real experiences before paying thousands of PLN upfront.

Since my previous post gained visibility online, several foreigners contacted me privately thanking me because they almost paid these platforms before seeing the warnings.

Unfortunately, my situation is still unresolved.

I paid 4,491 PLN in February 2026 for a one year in person Polish language course in Kraków connected with Vistula Polish Language School.

Until today:
• ZERO classes happened,
• no teacher was assigned,
• no books or promised materials were delivered,
• and I still have not received my refund.

After many negative reviews about Vistula became visible online, I personally noticed the communication and branding shifting more toward “Hello Polish”.

If you want to research this yourselves, do not just visit the website directly.

Search this on Trustpilot:
polishlanguage pl

You can already find several older negative comments and complaints from previous years connected with that platform as well.

Now another thing seriously caught my attention
Polish take away language school:
polishtakeaway pl

I archived screenshots and recorded videos comparing the websites because the structure, layout and presentation appeared extremely similar to the previous Vistula website used during my experience.

One detail that especially caught my attention was the footer:
“© 2026 Scuola by Vistula”

To avoid misunderstandings:
I am not making legal accusations or claiming verified ownership structures. I am only documenting what I personally observed and archived during my experience.

However, from my perspective as a customer, these platforms appeared highly interconnected.

I also documented that:
• old regulations I archived displayed one NIP,
• later the same regulations appeared updated with a different NIP,
• the previous NIP appears closed in March 2026,

I cannot state legal conclusions from this, but I considered it important to document and preserve everything carefully.

As an immigrant myself, I know how hard it is to lose thousands of PLN while trying to build a life in another country.

I honestly only wanted to study Polish, communicate better with my girlfriend and integrate properly into life in Poland.

Instead, since February 2026, I have been dealing with silence, delays, confusion and an unresolved refund situation.

Please research very carefully before paying upfront to:
• Vistula Polish Language School
• Hello Polish
• Polish Takeaway

Please be careful!!!!

I find German much more difficult than Polish. However, people say Polish is difficult. Why?

I’m finding that I can recognize simple Polish much better than I can produce it. “Czy mogę tu kupić bilet?” makes sense when I read it, but if I try to answer a normal question like “Co robiłeś wczoraj?” out loud, I suddenly start guessing endings.

My routine is split now: Anki for vocab recall, Duolingo/textbook for basic structure, Easy Polish videos with subtitles for listening, Pimsleur when I want scripted responses, occasional italki if scheduling works, and Issen for low-pressure speaking because I don’t have Polish speakers nearby. 

The useful thing I noticed is that passive recognition and spoken retrieval are really different skills. Silent study lets me skip over cases and word order. Speaking for even 5 minutes while making coffee exposes it immediately. My current mini-method is repeating the same 10 everyday questions for a week and forcing a full answer, not just single words. After a few days I stopped pausing so much on robiłem/robiłam and basic accusative answers like “kupiłem bilet” felt less random.

If you also understand Polish more than you can answer it, I’d suggest picking 5 to 10 boring daily questions and answering them aloud every morning before adding harder material. What speaking method helped you move from understanding Polish to answering more naturally?

I’m neither living in Poland nor Polish. But will go to the University of Zielona Góra for an exam in March next year. Any good language schools/programmes in that region? The university taught course is apparently meant for Erasmus students so I don’t think I can register for that. Maybe I’m wrong.

Hi, currently google translate is really bad when it comes to translating even the most basic things into polish, but i'm curious if that's the case with chatgpt? i've been learning polish for awhile now and to me it seems like everything it tells me in polish sounds natural "enough", but obv native speakers would be better in telling the difference. Its based in english language first, after all.

There were already some posts here about this series, we can buy these two language books on the website 44.pl , or from Empik, they even appear in Biedronka.

E.g. I started reading this one today: https://www.swiatksiazki.pl/szalenstwo-i-zbrodnia-czytamy-w-oryginale-barwione-brzegi-7526119-ksiazka.html

If any native Polish speaker has read them (to practice reading English), does the Polish text appear to be real?

I'm already reading the fifth book I bough from this series, and the English text seems ok, though I don't read 100% of the English version. I can't judge the Polish text, I hope I'm not just practicing reading with machine translated nonsense.

I'm mainly asking, because I've just purchased a two-language book from a different publisher, with Polish and Hungarian text side-by-side, and the Hungarian (my native lang) text is obviously machine translated, without any proof reading.