Begin with the Polish alphabet. This is a modified form of the same alphabet used to write English, making it somewhat easier to learn. Characters found in Polish that are not used in English or are pronounced differently than in English include: ? (nasal o), c (ts), ? (soft ch), ? (nasal e), j (consonant y), ? (w), ? (soft n), ó (oo as in \"boot\"), ? (soft sh), w (v), y (i in \"it,\" never a consonant), ? (soft zh) and ? (hard zh). To hear someone pronounce all the letters of the Polish alphabet, see Resources below.
Learn some basic phrases in Polish. Start with: \"Dzie? dobry, nazywam si? ___. Jak pan/pani si? nazywa?\" This means: \"Hello, my name is ___. What is your name, sir/ma'am?\" To casually greet a friend, say: \"Cze??, jak si? masz?\", which means, \"HI, how are you?\" To learn more Polish phrases, see Resources below.
Memorize the numbers one through 10 in Polish: jeden (1), dwa (2), trzy (3), cztery (4), pi?? (5), sze?? (6), siedem (7), osiem (8), dziewi?? (9), dziesi?? (10).
Learn also the days of the week: poniedzia?ek (Monday), wtorek (Tuesday), ?roda (Wednesday), czwartek (Thursday), pi?tek (Friday), sobota (Saturday) and niedziela (Sunday). Note that they are not capitalized.
Use a textbook with audio resources to guide your self-directed learning. W?adys?aw Miodunka's \"Cze??, jak si? masz?\" series is ideal for native speakers of English who would like to begin learning Polish. Learners can follow the story of the Nowak family with helpful exercises, clear explanations and strong audio examples.
Seek out beginning Polish instruction. Polish has a number of difficult grammatical features that are best explained by an experienced or native speaker. Taking a class in Polish will also help you develop your speaking skills by communication with others at your level.