Key:Polish pronunciation respelling

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As can be expected in an English-language blog about the history of mostly Polish cuisine, it does mention a fair number of Polish words and names. The Polish language is notoriously tricky for native English speakers to pronounce, which is why I provide pronunciation respelling for some of the Polish words.

The scheme I use is a kind of compromise: it's as close to actual Polish pronunciation as you can get using only those sounds that exist in English. In some cases, two sounds that are distinct to Polish speakers, are approximated by the same English sound. The goal here isn't to make you sound like a native Polish speaker; it's just to help you not butcher Polish words beyond recognition.

The respelling scheme I use is meant to be as intuitive to English speakers as possible, but here's an explanation of the symbols anyway.

Vowels

All Polish vowels, stressed or not, are of uniform length, with no long vowels, diphthongs or schwas. Some of them sound similar to long vowels in English, but are pronounced shorter.

Respelling English sound How it's written in Polish
ah as in palm, only shorter a
aw as in bought, only shorter o
e, eh as in bet e
ee as in beet, only shorter i
i, ih as in bit y
oo as in boot, only shorter ó, u

Consonants

Respelling English sound How it's written in Polish
b as in bob b
ch, tch as in church cz; ci, ć
d as in dad d
dz as in dads dz
f as in foe f
g, gh as in gag g
H as in Scots loch; if you can't pronounce it, then the h in hoe is also close ch, h
j as in judge dż; dzi, dź
k as in skunk k
l as in lolly l
m as in mom m
n as in nun n; ń
p as in spy p
R as in better, especially in American English r
s, ss as in sauce s
sh as in shush sz; si, ś
t as stay t
ts as in tots c
v as in vie w
W as in wow ł, u
y as in yeah i, j
z as in zoo z
zh as in pleasure rz, ż; zi, ź

Syllables and stress

Syllables are separated with dots (·). Stressed syllables are underlined.

Examples

See if it gets any easier.

And finally, the best-known Polish tongue twister: