Polish


Polish is the second most widely spoken Slavic language, and understanding Polish opens doors to a fascinating and deeply rich culture. About 20 million people of Polish descent live outside of Poland, making it one of the biggest immigrant groups in the world. Due to the large population of Poles living outside of Poland, the language and culture has spread across the world.

Leaving Certificate Polish

Since 2020 Polish is being offered as a curricular Leaving Certificate subject. Visit our FAQs for more information about learning Polish as a Leaving Cert subject.

If you are interested in studying Polish for the Leaving Cert but it’s not available in your school, check out our Saturday Classes.

Three children enjoying Polish Summer Camp

 

The 2016 Census showed that the Polish community is the biggest national minority living in Ireland with a population of 122,585. Approximately 25,000 of these are children and young people. 

Check out our “Why Learn Polish?” video playlist!

Short Course in Polish as a Heritage Language

The short course in Polish as a heritage language developed by PPLI aims to maintain and develop students’ proficiency levels in Polish and their knowledge of Polish literature and culture, in order to consolidate and deepen their literacy skills and make them more self-aware as learners. This 100 hour course is based on the Generic Short Course in Modern Languages which was in turn developed using the Framework for Junior Cycle (DES, 2015) and the Junior Cycle Short Courses Draft Handbook ‘Developing Short Courses in Junior Cycle’. The course provides the ‘learning statements’ and key skills which all short courses are based upon.

This short course is designed to stimulate students’ interest in the Polish language and culture and to nurture their desire to maintain proficiency in Polish. It will foster an attitude of curiosity and openness to both the heritage culture (Polish) and the newly acquired culture (Irish), and it will highlight students’ participation in a multicultural, cosmopolitan society. In a multicultural society, it is important that young people have the opportunity to learn about their Polish culture, appreciate similarities and differences, and learn to observe, reflect and suspend judgement when discovering new cultures while simultaneously reflecting on their own. This course offers opportunities to do this.

The specification, assessment guidelines and the learning journal are all available – click here.

Polish music playlist

Listening to music in a new language can help increase vocabulary and improve pronunciation, so why not discover some standout Polish tracks to add to your favourite playlists.

Find our top Polish song recommendations here

Visit our Spotify for some recommended playlists in Polish and more.

Polish reading recommendations

Reading in Polish or any new language is very helpful for learning new vocabulary in context and grammatical structures, all the while enjoying the benefits of a good story.

Find a book to enjoy in our Polish reading list.

Learn some classroom vocab with our Polish language mat

Language mat with Polish vocabulary and English translation

Study Polish at Third Level