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The Polish language
43 million people in 16 countries around the world speak Polish. The majority of them live in Poland, that is one of the most homogeneous countries as mothertoungue is concened. In the past, many Polish migrated to Lithania, Belarus and Ukraine (three territories of ex-URSS) and after War World II were stuck there. This is why nowadays in these regions there are large minorities of Polish speakers.History
Polish has always been sensitive to contacts with foreign languages. The heavy contacts with the Germans brought to Polish many loanwords that are still used today, as "handel", which in German means "commerce", or "ratusz" (from "Rathaus", which is town hall).During the Napoleon era, many French terms entered the Polish language, for instance "meble", from "meuble" (furniture) or "ekran", from "écran" (screen). The incorporation of words often produces changes in the spelling, for instance, "-cja" is the equivalent of the Latin suffix spelled "-tion" in English. Some of these words are konotacje (connotations), "inauguracja" (inauguration), konurbacja (conurbation) and dewastacja (devastation).The process of standardization of Polish had a turning point after World War II: given to mass migrations and mass education the language rapidly became more homogeneous, even if in the South and South West (the hilly areas bordering the Czech and Slovak Republics) regional dialects were still present. The dialects of the former Eastern Provinces are still spoken by the older generation in the Western and Northern territories.
Dialects
The numerous dialects of Polish correspond more or less to the divisions between old tribes. The tribes which lived in the West spoke a variety called Great Polish, while Little Polish was the language of the South-East, the Mazovian was spoken in the Centre-East and finally in the South-West it developed the Silesian variety. These dialects mainly differ in pronunciation: for instance, only in Mazovian nasal consonants are pronounced as such, while in Sileasian they are pronounced differently. To these four main dialects, we should add regional, now extincted variations, as the dialect of Warsaw, which has evoluted in Modern standard Polish.After 1945, ths Socialist Government started a policy which aimed at suppressing the development of social communities. As a result, various communities started to mix their language and from this process the modern form of Polish has originated. In particular, the communities were obliged to move around the country and their dialect started to merge, beginning the process of standardization of Polish.
Literature
Polish Literature had its Golden Age in the Renaissance Period, which counts with writers such as Andrzej Krzycki or Jan Dantyszek. They initially wrote in Latin and in their works it was evident the influence of the Italian humanists. In the Enlighment Period Poland had further contacts with Europe, in particular with England and France. The literature of these two countries influenced that of Poland, and new forms of writing such of drama and novel started to be written in Polish. What is more, it was published the first Polish dictionary and in poetry they were introduced "dumy" (ballads).But the greatest period in Polish literature came only in the Romanticism, the period in which Poland lost its independence. This serious fact resulted in new forms of drama and sonnet by which writers as Slowacki or Mickiewicz expressed their moods and sentiments.
In 1830-1831, there was an insurrection that was strongly suppressed and many writers were exiled to France. The works produced abroad are evidence of the struggle between the two opposed worlds of disinherited masses and aristocracy. The "Young Poland Movement", which had its leaders in Antoni Lange, a poet, and Zenon Przesmycki (pseudonym Miriam), dominated the 20th century literature; the movement was also called Neoromanticism, as, opposed to Positivism, it expressed the desire of a return to immagination in literature.
Slang
Polish has a quite colorful set of slang expressions, many of which come directly from food. In a pub you might ask for a "Male Piwo" (a small beer) but if you say it to your Polish flatmate he may understand hat there is "something not hard to do". And did you know that "bulka z maslem", which would be an exquisite "breadroll with butter" defines "something very easy to do"?And finally, in the last section you will find some slang expressions typically used among young people. When you meet your Polish friends, say "Wit" (Hello) when you arrive, and "siema" to ask how they are. But you can boasts all your knowledge of Polish slang if you impress your friends using two synonims of "how are you", which are "jak leci" and "jak sig masz".