Languages in Poland

Polish

Polish is the official language of this medical tourism center, spoken by almost the entire population.  This language is a member of the West Slavonic group of the Indo-European family.  Other Slavic languages in Central and Eastern Europe include Slovak, Czech, and Russian.  These languages have many similarities, although Russian speakers won't necessarily understand Polish ones.  However, Slav language speakers themselves can generally understand each other quite well.

Polish, like all Slavish languages, is regarded as an extremely difficult language to learn.  This is because of the complex grammatical rules involved and the complicated pronunciation.  The ratio of vowels to consonants is much lower when compared to other languages.  On the plus side, this is a completely phonetic language, and pronunciation is easy once you manage to learn the combinations of sounds.

The Polish language has 5 dialects that are spoken by people in Mazovia, Silesia, Malopolska, Wielkopolska, and Kashubia.  Of these, the Kashubian dialect is regarded as a separate language in itself.  The northern and western part of this medical tourism hub saw large numbers of people moving in after the Second World War.  These regions have seen the creation of a number of new dialects that are combinations of others.

Polish also tends to borrow heavily from other languages.  There are a number of words that have French, German, English, Russian, and Latin origins.  German, and Russian words made their way into the Polish language because of the periods of occupation by those countries.  German words in particular have been firmly entrenched in modern Polish.  The widespread influence of Christianity has meant the borrowing of a number of Latin words.  There are also a number of Frenchisms, such as koniak (cognac).  The Polish language is also liberally peppered with English words, like biznes (business), telefon (telephone), windsurfing, and stereo.

English

As Poland’s economy booms and thousands of Polish immigrants who had moved to England in search of better economic opportunities return home, English is becoming more widely spoken than before.  Your medical tourism facility is likely to be staffed with English speaking doctors, as well as a translation team.