Starting to learn Polish

Visit 

Flag of Poland

Recognizing The Flag

The flag of Poland is easy to recognize and remember. Just two colours. White above and red below.

A little like the flags of Indonesia and Singapore. 

Singapore, being Chinese speaking as well as speaking English, Malay and Tamil as national languages, has the lucky red above, plus a crescent, reflecting its origin in Malaysia. 

Why visit Poland? 

Polish is becoming the most spoken second language in the UK. Polish restaurants and cafes and shops are all over London. 

Let's get the sad facts about the past out of the way first. For a long time I did not want Poland because I thought its sad history would diminish the enjoyment of a happy holiday. (Although the same can be said about history in practically every country.)

 Poland was our ally in WW2. Due to an earlier agreement, Britain went to defend Poland when it was invaded by the German army, and the Polish exiles operated from the UK.

That's past.  Why not visit Poland?  I went there to accompnay my husband who was on business.

We visited assorted museums . Warsaw has the Warsaw ghetto, a recently established Jewish museum.

 The second city is very pretty Krakow. The city centre has a grand cathedral on a fine square. Take a trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau, and end on a slightly happier note at Schindler's factory museum.

Now let's look at the happier things and end on a bright note.

1 Amber. In Singapore I made friends with two lovely ladies who were promoting the Amber Museum. You can buy amber items from shops all over Warsaw and Poland. (And more amber, indeed, from other Baltic states with seaside and beaches bordering the Baltic sea.) Seaside Gdansk has an Amber museum.

2 Polish cuisine. Borsht, beetroot soup, the best. Thick. The way it is served in Jewish style restaurants in London such as B & K in Hatch End in London.  (Contrast with the thin Russian beetroot soup which I sampled in Bondi Beach in Australia.)

Dumplings. In soup. In main courses. With those snowy winters, you need hot filling food to warm you up.

3 Warsaw is historic but modern and clean. Like several cities in Northern Europe, old paintings and diagrams have been used to rebuild buildings with cellar restaurants in romantic, traditional style, but clean and modern with the modern benefits of lighting, plumbing, heating and cooling and so on.

The language used to be a challenge. Books with small print. Huge dictionaries. Impossible pronunciation. Mysterious. 

Nowadays we have at least 3 quick online sources

1 Google translate Polish

2 Wikivoyage Phrasebook Polish

3 /wiki/Talk:Polish_phrasebookWiki Phrasebook Polish. (Discussion on pronunciation.)

Useful Websites

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Talk:Polish_phrasebook

https://languagetsar.com/polishpod101-review/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multilingual_countries_and_regions