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The Polish language uses the
same alphabet as English, but there are a few special
letters. They have "accent" marks, but are
considered as separate letters. Some of the consonants
are pronounced differently depending upon where they are
used. An example is the voiced-unvoiced consonants.
"Parking" would be pronounced "Parkink"
The pronunciation of all the
letters is as follows:
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A = A as in father
� = Nasal as the ON in the French BON
B = Same as English, except a final B is unvoiced (sounds like
P)
C = as English TS (even when it begins a word)
� = soft English CH sound
D = Same as English (final unvoiced D sounds like T)
E = as in pet
� = Nasal, almost like EN in TEN, but, same as e in pet
when it is the final letter of a word
F = same as English
G = Always a hard G as in get (final G is unvoiced as K)
H = Same as English
I = as the I in machine
J = as English Y as in yellow
K = as in English
L = as in English
� = as English W
M = as in English
N = as in English
� = as in English "NI" in onion
O = as the O in the English word FOR. NEVER pronounced "OH"
as in Ohio
� = as the oo in English FOOT, NOT as as the oo in
English BOOT
P = as in English
Q = There is no Q in the Polish alphabet!
R = Roll your R's like Spanish or Scottish
S = as English soft SSSS, never as Z
� = soft sh sound
T = as in English
U = same as O/acute, as the oo in English FOOT, NOT as as the oo
in English BOOT
V = No V in the Polish alphabet!
W = as English V (final V is unvoiced as F)
X = No X! Only found in foreign words
Y = Always used as a vowel, sounds like the i in IT. NEVER as
"eeeee", NOT even at the end of a word.
Z = as in English
� = z with accute accent) soft zh like Zhivago
� = (z with a dot over it) harder zh sound
Now we come to the combinations and
dipthongs:
CH = Same as H in English
CZ = Hard CH sound as in CHURCH
DZ = as in English "reD Zone", but....
DZ followed by an I is pronounced as J in "Jeep",
that's why "Dziekuje" is pronounced "JEN koo yeh"
RZ = Same hard zh as Z/dot (do not pronounce the R)(final RZ is
unvoiced as SH)
SZ = Hard SH sound
SZCZ = combination of both as the SHCH in "Fresh cheese"
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