As a Slavic language with multiple cases and declensions, Polish may seem a little daunting. However, there is nothing about the Polish language that you won’t be able to master if you make some effort. It also doesn’t make Polish any less worth learning.
There are many great reasons why you should learn Polish, and in this article, we will take a look at a few of them.
It is not as hard as it seems
Polish is actually more approachable than many other Slavic languages. First of all, while many Slavic languages use a Cyrillic script, Polish uses the Latin script most Indo-European and many other languages do. You won’t have to learn a whole new alphabet, just a few unique letters and digraphs.
Secondly, Polish has some similarities, like shared vocabulary, with other Indo-European languages, which can make learning a little easier as well.
It is a gateway to other Slavic languages
If you are aspiring to be a polyglot and/or have a particular interest in Slavic languages, Polish is one of the best ways to go. If you learn Polish, learning other West Slavic languages like Czech and Slovak will be much easier, as well as the East Slavic Belorussian and Ukrainian. Learning Russian and South Slavic languages may be a bit trickier but there are still quite a few similarities that will help you do that.
It is quite a wide-spread language
Polish may not be in the top ten of the world’s most spoken language, but it is still quite a popular language. It is the second most wide-spread Slavic language after Russian. There are nearly 50 million Polish speakers in the world, with large Polish-speaking communities in Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, the UK, the US, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and other countries.
It can offer better career opportunities
Statistics show that on average, bilingual employees make 5-20% more than their monolingual counterparts. By learning Polish, you will open up a new career niche for yourself, have a wider choice of jobs and the potential to make more money.
It will help you stand out
Polish is on the ‘exotic’ side of European languages. It is relatively wide-spread but not as common as English, Spanish, or French. If you don’t want to follow the crowd and stand out among language learners, Polish is a great choice.
It will allow you to read Polish literature
Polish literature is often – very undeservedly – overlooked. But there are many great Polish authors, classical and modern, writing in different genres. Authors such as Henryk Sienkiewicz, Czesław Miłosz, Dorota Masłowsk, Stanisław Lem, Andrzej Sapkowski, to name a few, have created great works popular all over the world, and you’ll benefit a lot from reading them in original.
It is good for your brain
Learning a foreign languages ‘exercises’ your brain, improves your memory and cognitive abilities, allows your mind to stay young and sharp much longer. With all the other advantages it offers, Polish is a great choice for that.