# Languages in Poland



## bus5ojp (7 mo ago)

Hi all, 

This is a very specific question, and there might be no one on here who can answer, but I want to ask anyone who lives in (or is familiar with) Poland about the prevalence of language theres? I'm doing some research on it.

*ENGLISH - a common statistic I'm getting is around 40% of Poles who can speak English to some extent. If anyone can also offer more precise estimates on the percentage you think can speak basic and good English, would be helpful
RUSSIAN - I found a stat that says 97% of Poles can speak Russian to some extent, but it seems a bit high. Is this correct? Perhaps that stat is for BASIC Russian. What percentage of Poles can speak basic and/or fluent Russian?

Any feedback on this from people who live there appreciated. Thanks all!


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## danielmeyers (5 mo ago)

It is very difficult to determine the number of people speaking different languages in Poland in percentages and numbers. I have been to Poland many times, it is a beautiful country and very kind people, with many monuments of historical architecture (Krakow, Warsaw), and well-developed infrastructure. Poland is ideal for life, and for some time I even thought about moving to this country. As for your question - it's very difficult to answer in percentages how many people speak English and Russian. I can safely say that all young people speak English quite well because English is learned at school. I did not have any problems with it. The older generation speaks almost no English. As for the Russian language, 97% is a very, very inflated figure. Maybe, simply, you have an old statistic, which dates back to the time when Poland was under the control of the Soviet Union. This was around the end of the nineties when Russian was the second compulsory language in Polish schools instead of English. Since then 30 years have passed and the older people, even those who understood and communicated in Russian, don't use it now, plus in Poland, the anti-Russian sentiment is very strong, so even if a person understands Russian and can communicate in it, he doesn't do it on principle. Therefore, 97% is out of the question.


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