The languages of Poland include several official and unofficial minority languages. Poland is one of the European countries in East-Central Europe with more than 38 million people.
Therefore, if you want to pay a visit to the country, it will be interesting to know the languages you are likely to meet. We shall take a clinical look at the language culture that currently exist in Poland as a country.
The Official Language
Like every other country, Poland has a very vibrant official language that holds the country together despite the cultural diversity that existed among the people. Poland is one of the countries in the world that is culturally united in her language culture.
The official language in the country is Polish, and it is the language of about 97% of the people. So when you get to Poland, expect to hear the language from every nook and cranny of the country.
Polish, the oldest language across Eastern Europe regions, belongs to the Indo-European language family. The incursion of Polish started from the 10th century AD and was used for both governmental and literature purposes. The Polish language dates back to the 1550s and has continued in a stretch without any interruptions.
Minority Languages of Poland
Despite the dominance of the Polish language in Poland, other minority languages still exist alongside the Polish language. We are going to categorize them into two.
Some of the minority languages come under the ones that have been given official recognition in Poland. There is another group of minority languages in Poland that still exists today, but they do not have official recognition. We shall take each of them based on their recognition
The Officially Recognized Minority Languages
There are some officially recognized minority languages of Poland as the equation stands in Poland today. Let us take a look at each of them based on the strength of the speakers:
Also included in the list of minority officially recognized languages of Poland whose stats are not available for now are:
- Yiddish
- Hebrew
- Karaim
- Tartar
With the highest number of speakers, Kashubian is the most spoken of indigenous languages that are on offer today. This language has several dialects. The Kashubian speakers from the north might find it difficult to understand the Kashubian speakers from the south.
The Unofficial Minority Languages of Poland
There are some languages in the minority in Poland that have not been given the official seal of recognition in Poland. Among these minority languages without an official seal, one of them stands out, and we shall look at it deeper ahead of the rest.
Silesian Language
According to available stats, Silesian is the second most widely spoken language in Poland at home. Therefore, one will wonder how this language is not recognized while others with fewer speakers have gotten the seal of government. However, with an estimated 529,377 speakers, this dialect deserves official recognition.
| Language | Speakers |
|---|---|
| Kashubian | 108,140 |
| German | 96,461 |
| Belarusian | 26,448 |
| Ukrainian | 24,549 |
| Romany | 14,468 |
| Rusyn | 6,279 |
| Lithuanian | 5,303 |
| Armenian | 2,000 |
| Hungarian | 1,000 |
| Slovak | 1,000 |
| Czech | 1,000 |
This language is not recognized has to do with the dispute among linguists as to where to classify this language. Some believe it is a variant of Polish, while others believe it should be classified as a separate language. Until this riddle is resolved, Silesian will not get the official seal of recognition among the existing languages of Poland.
Non-official Languages of Poland
Other languages that are in existence but have not gotten the official seal of government are:
- Immigrant languages
- Foreign languages
- Wymysorys
Aside from the minority languages mentioned above, there are other interesting facts to be noted about the language culture in Poland. The following are some of them:
- There is one regional language in Poland
- There are ten national minority languages
- We have five ethnic minority languages.
We have put together in a tabular column the rankings of the languages spoken in Poland to realize the strengths of the ten most popular languages in Poland today.
| Rank | Language | Number of Speakers in Poland |
| 1 | Polish | 37,815,606 |
| 2 | Silesian | 529,377 |
| 3 | Kashubian | 108,140 |
| 4 | English | 103,541 |
| 5 | German | 96,461 |
| 6 | Belarusian | 26,448 |
| 7 | Ukrainian | 24,539 |
| 8 | Russian | 19,805 |
| 9 | Romany | 14,468 |
| 10 | French | 10,677 |
Conclusion
The above represents the stats about the languages that are spoken in Poland. If you want to pay a tourist visit, the above represents the derails about the culture and languages of Poland.
Read also Languages Of China.