1936 On the Continent

land.
    Madame Curie-Sklodowska was another example of a Polish woman devoted to an ideal and capable of realising it. But it would be a mistake to think that Polish women are either bluestockings or grim heroines. On the contrary, they are smart and gay, and, as I have already remarked, statistics show they are on the average rather young. They have to work hard and have already captured posts of importance in practically all the trades and professions—but old maids are relatively rare.
    And now that you have been introduced, talk things over among yourselves.
THE POLISH LANGUAGE
    T HE Polish language is probably neither more nor less difficult than any other. The pronunciation, although at first startling to the Englishman, can be mastered once sound values of the principal consonants and vowels are learnt. The spelling is almost entirely phonetic, that is to say, every letter represents only one sound. This makes Polish a really much easier language to learn than some in which you never know how to pronounce a word, even though you know how to pronounce each separate syllable. Without going into learned linguistic theories I might point out a few principles which should assist the beginner:All the letters in a word are pronounced—
never leave any out when it seems to you that there are a few too many
.
    A is pronounced like in
master
, never like in
cat
.
    E is always short, like in
leg
, never long, like in
legion
.
    I is always short, like in
if
, never long, like in
kite
.
    J is always pronounced like
Y
at the beginning of a word.
    Ch and H are both pronounced exactly alike, like in
horse
.
    Cz is pronounced like ch in
Charlie
.
    Sz is pronounced like sh in
shop
.
    Rz andare both pronounced exactly alike, rather like j in
jar
.
    W stands for v and is always pronounced like in
victor
(pol. Wiktor).
    Y is always short like in
levy
, never long, like in
bye
.
On Pronunciation
    The Polish sounds,,,,,,,, and ł are difficult to explain on paper, and the best a foreigner can do at the beginning is to ignore the presence of the little signs above or beneath these letters and only try to get the other letters right, particularly the consonants. Later on, his ear will detect the vast difference between a simple c and a. The pronunciation given in brackets after most words in the list below is not meant to convey anything but the roughest idea of what the word may sound like. It would be impossible to transcribe more accurately the pronunciation of Polish words without having recourse to phonetic symbols, which would probably be less intelligible to some readers than the Polish spelling itself. When no pronunciation is given it means that I thought the word so easy that I could only give offence by suggesting that you could not pronounce it without my help. The phrases are arranged to follow the traveller’s probable trend of thought, from such necessities as flying to relative luxuries like the buying of braces. The Polish phrase is given first, on the assumption that one has to understand before making oneself understood, but if you can reverse this process, do so by all means.
    There are some fairly complete English-Polish dictionaries and also lists of current phrases that can be useful to a foreign visitor. In Warsaw there are several bigbookshops, two of them opposite the Bristol Hotel—Gebethner & Co. and Trzaska & Michalski. They all carry large stocks of foreign books and newspapers, including English. Gebethner’s also have branches in other Polish towns, and anything in the way of dictionaries, guide-books, new English novels, English newspapers, etc., will always be easily obtained there, or at the biggest bookshop in the town. Many of the bigger cafés also have a selection of foreign newspapers, which often includes
The Times, The Illustrated London News, The Sphere
, etc.
A Few Phrases
    Nie umiem po polsku—I don’t know Polish (Nye umyem po polsku).
    Czy Pan mówi po angielsku?—Do you speak English? (Chy paan moovi po angyel-skoo?)
    Francusku—French (frantzouskoo), niemiecku—German (nye-mietz-koo).
    Jaddo Warszawy—I am going to Warsaw (Yadem do Varshavy).
    Jadz Warszawy—I am coming from Warsaw.
    Kiedy odchodzi pocig do Berlina?—When is the Berlin train due to leave? (Kyedy odhod-zi potziong do Berlina?)
    Gdzie mogzmienipienidze?—Where can I change money? (Gdzi-ye moge zmyenitz pyenon-dze?)
    Czy mogsprzedaangielskie funty?—Can I sell English pounds? (Chy moge spjedatz angyelskye