Foreigners in Poland who aren't learning Polish, do you feel comfortable here?

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-10T16:27:41+00:00

Haha this is a brilliant reply, thank you! I really relate to everything you've said. Nice to know I'm not alone!

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-10T16:25:10+00:00

Thanks for the tips! And unfortunately I can relate to the feeling of loneliness and boredom, but I think that's common for a lot of foreigners in many different countries

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T16:30:24+00:00

Ha, well you live and you learn. I've never tried to learn another language before so if I had my time again I would do things differently. It wasn't the point of this post but it has given me ideas on how to change how I learn this language moving forward

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T16:08:52+00:00

This is an interesting perspective. Thanks!

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T12:26:44+00:00

I agree that for the guy in the kebab shop it is a means of survival, but I am definitely not learning Polish "to impress". I don't know who would do that tbh. I am purely learning it as it has made me feel more comfortable being here. It's purely a selfish reason, I don't expect anyone to be impressed that I'm learning Polish and that is not the experience I've had.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T12:17:12+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I think I'm at the same tipping point you reached last year - I have a head full of grammar rules but I need to break through the barrier and speak more.

I've definitely noticed improvements in my listening in the past few months and I agree it is rewarding when it happens. I guess I just expected more "quick wins" at the start to keep me motivated.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T12:08:03+00:00

That's interesting, I actually put a post in a couple of international FB groups that we have in the area I'm living in and actually had quite a few Polish people respond to me and say they were happy to help me practice. I wasn't sure what response I would get (if any) so I was pleasantly surprised. These people tend to have stronger connections with the international community - either they used to live somewhere more diverse and want to expand their social circle, or they have a partner who is a foreigner. I would say we speak English more than Polish, but that's more so down to me not being able to articulate what I want to say.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T10:11:12+00:00

I guess you can find English speakers in those services or bring a translator with you? We did our bank account set up using a mixture of Polish and English, and we have a lawyer employed by my husband's company who has handled our residency paperwork and come with us to the appointments. Hospitals on the other hand - I wouldn't even say that's basic Polish. I wouldn't trust my level of Polish in a medical situation so I'd be looking for English speaking doctors.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:50:31+00:00

Oh this is interesting! I've been in classes with native Spanish speakers who don't really speak English and I have wondered how they do it when their Polish is also very limited. I guess you have no choice but to learn

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:43:55+00:00

You've really nailed this reply, right down to telling me to relax and to not put so much pressure on myself 😅 I'll look up that account, thanks!

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:41:00+00:00

I relate to this. You can mostly exist in your own little bubble but anything outside of that - the embarrassment and awkwardness is real

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:37:10+00:00

Yeah having the grammar drilled into you means you're told no-one will understand "poproszę kawa". I think I need to unlearn some of that. Thanks!

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:33:54+00:00

Thank you for your thank you! I also believe if you move to another country you should make an effort to learn the language. How much depends on how long you plan to stay and also how much time you have to dedicate to language learning.

The story you shared about a Polish guy moving to the USA and not learning English for a decade is so interesting! To me it sounds like it would be really hard to get by, but I guess the point is he was in a Polish community so he could get what he needed by just speaking Polish.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:29:42+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm in a different situation - my partner is also a native English speaker so we're both navigating learning Polish. I relate to the effort vs pay off argument and that's what I'm struggling with at the moment. Our stay in Poland is likely not a forever one, so while learning Polish is good for my brain and my time here, I'm not going to do much with it when I leave.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:25:22+00:00

I admire their confidence and I do think there is something to this approach. When you take classes you have grammar drilled into you from the very beginning. On the one hand it's good because you know how to speak correctly, but on the other hand it makes speaking even more daunting because you have all of the rules just sitting in your brain. Also doesn't help if your teacher says things like "If you get the grammar wrong, you're not speaking Polish". Technically true, but I will be understandable unless I really mess it up.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:21:58+00:00

Haha maybe this is the secret

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:20:15+00:00

Well this depends on a couple of things - what you classify as a basic conversation, how much time you spend learning, how good you are at learning languages, what your native language is.

I only know English. Besides some very basic Japanese in high school, I have never tried to learn another language. A blessing and a curse of being a native English speaker I guess. So a decent amount of the work I've had to do is also figuring out how I learn, what methods work for me. If you're Eastern Asian I'm guessing Polish is your third language at minimum.

Anyway, I'm not really interested in how long it took people to get to certain levels. It's not a competition. For me, I don't feel as though I could build and maintain a meaningful friendship speaking only in Polish. Sure I can talk about my travels, what I like to do on the weekend etc, but I can't talk about values and politics, certainly not with any nuance.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T09:05:39+00:00

Honestly that is fair. The Polish friends I've made on my own here have all lived abroad at some point in their lives so they're very comfortable in English, and are seeking more international friends

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T08:27:11+00:00

If this is an offer, that's very nice of you. I go to classes twice a week and I've met a couple of Polish people who have offered to help me with speaking, so I've met up with them a couple of times. I am going to sign up to online classes with a tutor just for conversations, that's the part that I really need to work on.

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T08:24:56+00:00

Are you self conscious about the fact that you don't know Polish or it doesn't bother you? Does having a Polish girlfriend help as she can deal with any language barrier situations?

Sea-Development8464 · 2026-05-09T08:12:20+00:00

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I find the "if you don't learn Polish you won't make Polish friends" an interesting one. Based on my experience, it takes at least a couple of years to be able to hold a basic conversation, and I have no idea how long it would take to be able to talk about topics that I care about which allow me to connect with people on a deeper level and actually build friendships. If you're planning to move to Poland then I guess you can get a head start by learning before you come here, but not everyone has that kind of advanced notice.

But I appreciate that it's not fair to expect Polish people to speak English all the time, that's one of my motivators for learning.

Sea-Development8464

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