How to pronounce Polish names | Learn Polish

Learn how to say Polish names with this quick video.
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5minutelanguag...
My other video in which I react to foreigners' pronunciation of Polish surnames: • Polish speaker reacts:...
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[@ciaronm.7694]

You have a fantastic ability for teaching languages... especially the Slavic/Lechitic subgroups. You explain the concepts wonderfully. Major respect 👍🏻

[@english_with_aga]

Thank you so much Ciaron!

[@tianwong152]

@@english_with_aga I got a friend named Szczepan

[@sethheasley9538]

I work with a team in Poland, and heard them pronouncing "Michal" as "Meehow" but never understood the difference in the L until now. Thanks for clarifying. One of the names I make a point of getting right (because none of my other American colleagues seem to) is Grzegorz.

[@Mickeymick1131]

Now I am going to have to hear how to pronounce Grzegorz. If I recall from the video, I am guess that it is Gish-ay-gosh. Is this correct?

[@blinski1]

@@Mickeymick1131 Almost. In Polish there is different approach to pronounce consonant combinations than in English. In English when there are some hard to pronounce consonants one after another, you make entire syllable out of one of them to add some vowel space between them (like all the -ism suffixes pronounced as -isim for example). In Polish you just pronounce the hardest consonants of the cluster softer, with an aspiration or don't pronounce them at all. So in Grzegorz letter G is pronounced with aspiration, barely heard, but right before RZ, with no stop or some added vowel. And RZ is not SH, but in its original form, similar to French J, like in word 'bonjour'. And E is short, so no AY, rather EH. So it's gJEH-GOSH. :)

[@michaelasimon8229]

I love your name Agnieszka

[@kristina-km3yf]

Michaela Simon my mums name is agnieszka 😂

[@Siegbert85]

Yeah, sounds cute

[@lenovodolby7517]

What's the meaning?

[@leslirenee]

Thank you Agnieszka. I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce mine- Krzywoszyja Krzy = "Ksh" SZ = "SH" ZY would be the stressed syllable, I suppose? J= Yehuda A = ah or uh I would love to hear it pronounced and broken down for better context. I used this video and tried. Not sure what the wo in my name sounds like or if it has importance?

[@bluescreen3355]

hi i just felt the need to tell you that Jesus Christ loves you and to encourage you to google these verses and find out what they say if you haven't before! john 3:16-21 romans 5:6-8 romans 10:9-13 also there is a video on youtube you'll find it when you search up "living waters atheist couple" and you should go and hear the message and listen to both sides because he talks with 2 other people! God bless you in Jesus Christ name amen

[@accentedreality]

Thanks for the save! I was able to not horribly mispronounce a Polish last name with nearly all of these sounds in it 😅 You're an excellent teacher and now I'm going to have to watch some other stuff!

[@skipney]

Very well done. Polish language seems intimidating because of the presence of so many consecutive consonants in words. I found your channel as a suggestion while looking up how to pronounce the fighter's name "Jedrzejczyk". This tutorial is very helpful.

[@english_with_aga]

I'm glad you found it useful!

[@computerkim6558]

Finally figured out how to pronounce Mieczyslaw! Thank you so much for this video.

[@dawggonecrazee]

I have a Polish friend and find Polish so hard.Thankyou for this little bit of help xx

[@randomfamilyvideos2728]

So concise and helpful! I saw the name "Miłosz", and wondered how the "ł" was pronounced. Your video answered it perfectly!

[@nicolelouise7686]

My last name is puchalka, but is actually pronounced pu-how-ka because it's correct spelling is with a letter L with the line through the middle, this was great to watch, thank you x

[@markorollo.]

My Grandmother was Polish (from somewhere called Bakow?, we think) but came to England at the end of the war when she was still only 20. she always went by her Englishized name, Kath or Kathleen, but was really called Katarzyna, to be honest i never heard her speak Polish, even my Mother didnt, so never heard her say her real name so were never sure how to pronounce it.

[@Anon-z4h]

Bold of you to assume I can say tzatziki without making a fool of myself :D

[@micharogalski9758]

As a representative of all Michałs globally, i would like to thank you for teaching ppl how to say my name, somehow no teacher can get it right

[@english_with_aga]

You're welcome! Hope things improve for you soon :)

[@tianwong152]

I until today, I end up pronouncing it the Russian way Mikhail Михаил

[@udittelang111]

Hey. Thank you for this. I just finished watching The Colors Trilogy by Krzysztof Kieślowski and wanted to spell the legend's name properly. After watching your short and simple video, I sure know how to say Krzysztof at least and also your name too. :)

[@english_with_aga]

Love those films!

[@udittelang111]

5-Minute Language Oh... Masterpieces, for sure ❤️

[@braveheartmoonwolfaj1969]

I’m sorry but what the fuck did you just say I’m confused the only polish word I know is Polska lol I only came here to learn how to pronounce my crushes name

[@TheCardsharp]

Your name is so beautiful and fun to pronounce! Agnieszka.

[@english_with_aga]

Thank you :)

[@kuronekoariesa]

"it's confusing, I know" . . . thank you for your understanding :D

[@ernagalvin4244]

Seriously useful video - have many Polish clients and find the names so difficult!

[@english_with_aga]

Great, glad I could help!

[@robincollins6412]

Barszczowska which is in a news story in The Christian Science Monitor

[@angelicbutnohalo]

hey! i'm really impressed of your videos. I'm polish too but i live in germany ^^ i can speak german and polish fluently but i moved too soon that i could not have learnt to write in polish, so sorry for that ^^ i learn english in school and love it.

[@english_with_aga]

Hello! Thanks for your comment :) I'm sure you could learn to write in Polish quickly if you can already speak it :) Good luck with your English!

[@angelicbutnohalo]

5-Minute Language for sure, but i'm just too lazy. thank you! good luck with your videos.

[@TheChessGiant]

Was having a hard time with Michal - thank you!

[@raczyk]

I'm polish living in Canada, and my name is Marcin. I'd have to correct everyone on my name pronunciation. So I also use Marsin at work as that is how it is spelled. Also I use Martin which is equivalent english name of Martin. Still little confused on weather I should be introducing myself as Marcin, Marsin, or Martin. Tricky name I have, wish it be simpler. Agnieszka, do you introduce yourself by the real Polish pronunciation at work or social events? Or do you use Agnes? Do you change your spelling at work?

[@asmrkaraoke4304]

Is the correct pronunciation Mar-cheen?

[@Lohoris]

Oh that's fun! Most (but by no means all) Italian words are also stressed on the penultimate syllable, but accidentally the name Agata in Italian is stressed on the first one, like in English!

[@viravitalevna]

Completely agree, I find it easy to learn polish, because my native languages are Ukrainian and Russian, which are very similar, and I already know three other foreign languages

[@rachelsireling]

Really helpful, thank you!

[@YouCanNeverEscapeMe]

Very helpful for me to know Finnish It was easier to correlate with it

[@anthonymurawski5109]

Hello Agnieszka. I think you did a fine job here. I would recommend only one change. I would not say that sz in Polish is pronounced like sh in English, because sh in English is pronounced in so many different ways. For instance, it is pronounced differently in each of the following words: shoe, shallow, gush, shop, etc. So I would say that sz in Polish is pronounced almost like the sh in the English word "crush," but with a sharper sound, with the tip of the tongue barely touching the roof of the mouth immediately above the front teeth. Of course, hearing you pronounce it is more accurate than any description. But I think it is helpful for people to know where the tongue is located. You mentioned that people with English language keyboards can only type the letter l or L but not ł or Ł (or perhaps you meant that they typically type l and L instead of when the appropriate character is ł or Ł). If you use an English language keyboard with Microsoft Word, you can easily install Polish programmers to type Polish characters with no difficulty. In Windows 7, click on Start --> Control Panel --> Region and Language --> Keyboards and Languages --> Change Keyboards --> Add, and then choose Polish Programmers. You will then have a language bar at the bottom of the screen. If you see the letters EN at the bottom of the screen, the keyboard is set for English. You can left click on the EN and choose Polish. Then to create ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ż press down on the right Alt key while simultaneously typing a c e l n o s or z. To create ź, press on the right Alt key while simultaneously clicking on the x key. If you want capital letters, press caps lock before typing the Polish character. People can also go to this website (polish.typeit.org/) to create Polish letters and then copy and paste them. I'm sure there are other websites out there that enable people to do the same thing. My apologies if you are already familiar with this (you probably are!) --Antoś

[@english_with_aga]

Hi Anthony, that's a really good point - I made a generalisation there but your explanation of how 'sz' is pronounced is useful for those learners who want to dig a little bit deeper. Thanks for the tip on typing Polish characters as well!

[@anthonymurawski5109]

You're very welcome! I am glad my comments were helpful. I am teaching my 10 year old son how to pronounce his middle name: Krzysztof. As soon as I told him were to place his tongue, he was able to pronounce the sz properly after three attempts! (He was born in the United States, and my ex-wife does not speak Polish, so it was not possible to raise him in a Polish-speaking household).

[@jnzk6467]

I’m Lithuanian and I am confused if you’re British or French or polish or Lithuanian hahaha

[@english_with_aga]

I was born in Poland but have lived in the UK for many years. I'm a citizen of both countries.

[@astro4149]

Helene Rutkaus she is polish

[@isaactrippe1629]

Thank you for sharing. I’m half polish half spanish Mexican American I know my family history from my Hispanic side I know very little about my polish side and appreciate you putting this video together. I want to learn so much about Poland

[@lemmy4026]

Helene Rutkaus dame I’m Lithuania

[@sharonensor7471]

Thank you for such a fantastic Vid. Awesome.

[@gloomyalexx]

omg i used to call my cousin micheal michał and my mum told me it was because we couldn’t pronounce micheal yet, so interesting to learn it was the polish way of saying his name!

[@shafur3]

Thank you for sharing love it❣️

[@michaelsmith1262]

I loved studying Polish. Unfortunately, I had already studied and used Czech for a while before that, so I was always getting confused between Czech and Polish. A lot of similar words.

[@lcotler]

Very helpful! I would love you to instruct us on how to pronounce "Jedrzejczyk".

[@charlesatwell9976]

Thanks !

[@ciaronm.7694]

That was really informative. Thanks

[@geoffbakerhytch5623]

Great explanations, Agnieszka; as you live in London, I think you may find it helpful (and interesting!) to notice that a typical Londoner’s pronunciation of the English name, Paul, has almost the same sound at the end as ‘Paweł’ - so ‘Paul’ sounds quite like ‘Paw’! So, Polish is not so different from English (at least, some accents of English) after all! Well done; thanks for your brilliant videos.

[@english_with_aga]

That's really interesting - thanks for sharing!

[@blinski1]

I always thought that too: English-speaking person trying to read name Paweł in English probably would end up with something similar to Paul (with maybe prolonged 'au' sound), which is just the same name.

[@gosha7816]

Love your English accent 💕

[@english_with_aga]

Thank you! :)

[@angelzipp]

Dziękuję bardzo!

[@stanleydepriest9144]

Thanks. Would love someone to break down Stanczyk for me.

[@SethMcFartlane]

"It's not Pavel it's Pavel." ....okay.

[@alexfromblank]

there's a difference but it may be hard to notice if you aren't a native speaker Second time she said it, the accent is harder at the end

[@TakittixD]

Imagine it as Pavew

[@GameyDave]

@@TakittixD but then it doesn't sound how like she said it. Nightmare I can't do it :(

[@carwyn3691]

The Ł makes a W sound with your lips rounding, instead of an L sound with your tongue going up

[@NeoSaturos123]

For the second syllable, try saying "vewy", you know, a baby talk version of "very" but don't say the "y" at the end.

[@TimCizej137]

Chopin. Please.

[@cobaltchen119]

Hope I watched this great video earlier ... I am Chinese and I have lot of Polish colleagues but I cannot pronounce their name correctly. Thanks for their kind they never blame me (but they cannot pronounce my name accurately too ^ ^). Now I got more confidence to manage it better :)

[@english_with_aga]

Brilliant - glad I could help!

[@lianaveld7929]

enjoyed trying to pronouncing/learn what's foreign to my tongue, it's good to know. How would you pronounce the Polish surname Dluzyk? The L has a stroke & Z a dot on top.

[@mateuszmilanowski5488]

Went through the pain of mis pronouncing for years, I just go by Matt now lol

[@DeezUp4Da3zz]

Thanks to this I won 20 bux at work for pronouncing a polish girls name closest to the correct way

[@amydelp1650]

I have never heard my last name in polish, my father came over from Poland when he was a year old and the name was changed to Mailki

[@irenebugg6043]

I'm so glad I found your video explaining how to pronounce the polish names. I am watching a Polish TV series on Netflix. I kept hearing the name Pawel and it didn't sound like what l was reading in the captions. Now I understand. 👍

[@english_with_aga]

Glad you found it helpful! Which show are you watching?

[@irenebugg6043]

I was watching The Woods. It was really good. I like watching foreign movies and TV shows.

[@english_with_aga]

@@irenebugg6043 I might give it a go!

[@mofoshrimp]

Great video, well done!

[@english_with_aga]

Thanks for watching!

[@Siemianowicee]

Nice video, nice and clear ! thank you !

[@AxeAzAlways]

Great lesson. Could you please include the pronunciation of the name Maciej in a future video. Thank you

[@edwardmiller6883]

Good explanation. Almost has an English accent. I reside in Alaska.

[@sebastianpereira5348]

Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz

[@MZ-uv3sr]

The moment when you realize you've probably been saying your family surname wrong all your life

[@ninieditings]

Cześć, nazywam się Claudia i jestem z Polski, ale w moim serwisie KZbin mówię po angielsku!

[@harisbakhsh547]

Thank you for the video. Could you please explain how to pronounce Michalczyk? Thank you in advance

[@0AmyK0]

Wonderfully helpful. So happy I discovered your channel. My mother's family is Polish, and my great grandmother on my father's side was as well. My grandmother wanted my parents to name me "Amelia". As a compromise, they used the more American, "Amy". My question is, how would you pronounce Amelia as a Polish speaking person?

[@english_with_aga]

Thanks Amy - glad you like my channel! :) Amelia would be pronounced 'a-mel-ee-a' with the 'ee' being quite short.

[@emmalee4520]

My boyfriends background is polish, he has an English first name but his middle name is Stanislaw and I have no idea how to pronounce it and I’d love to learn for him.

[@astroriods2078]

Even tho one word was not in there like my last name it is amazing that you are teaching people. People say closet. I got my last name because of my grandpa is polish.

[@lmd6204]

My grandfather was from Poland. How to properly pronounce Krzywicki? I think it sound like Shaveeshkee (in English)? Let me know if I'm saying it correctly. Thanks for the lesson.

[@wishwa]

You are good in breaking it down. Could you help me with the below Polish names, pronunciation please. Olszewska and Tomasz Tomczyk

[@antongulavnovik3839]

Dzięki! Mam pewne trudności z wymową Y. Świetna wskazówka! Mówię biegle po angielsku (jestem Amerykaninem), szwedzkiego i hiszpańskiego i I jak widzisz, pracuję nad moim polskim. Poszedłem do UJ w Krakowie, aby uczyć się polskiego, ale to było w 2006 roku. Zapomniałem, jak trudno jest! Pozdrawiam z Minnesoty, gdzie dostaniemy jutro dwadzieścia centymetrów śniegu ... w kwietniu!w :)) Pa Pa!

[@english_with_aga]

Your Polish is great!

[@kevinconnor8404]

Being an American sports fan, I would be interested in your tips on Yastrzemski and Krzyzewski. Gronkowski I think I got. LOL.

[@laurend3607]

Great video!! Thank you. My ethnicity is Polish, and I hope to visit Poland someday. I know this video is old, but I’m curious how you’d pronounce the name Sharon in Polish. My father had a heavy Polish accent and pronounced my my name as Shod-O! He’s been gone for many years now, and I miss hearing him say my name.

[@english_with_aga]

Thank you for your comment! Your Dad’s pronunciation sounds sweet 😊 I would say ‘Shah-ron’ with the ‘o’ in ‘ron’ being pronounced like in British English (rather than American)

[@xtineonutube]

Przybyła. English speaking ppl say something like "Priscilla." LOL.

[@jgbowden]

Great stuff. Thank you for posting. I'm researching my wife's family, and I believe her great grandfather's name was Walente Zuber... in the 1910 census, the census taker listed him as Valentine. In your example in the video, the W sounded like a V.. is that typical of W?... what I'm wondering is if this census taker could have heard the W as an english V, as in PaweŁ, and heard it as Valentine.

[@jgbowden]

Looks like I found it. There were a couple sites that talk about Walenty being pronounced with an English V... and derivation of the name being Valentine, so makes sense on my end. Thanks for reading.

[@juliereminiec4937]

Julka also a Polish name Ch in Russian is pronounced the same wsy

[@nolosangeles]

My granddaughter's mother is Polish. Her name is Sophia and they call her Zoshie or Zoska. Is this the proper spelling?

[@klaudiab2181]

Sophia = Zofia It's Zosia and Zośka I believe.

[@elizabethlongo4540]

Hello! Great video. Polish sound and spellings are complicated and fascinating. I recently discovered another family name on my husband’s side: Zytkevitz. I woukd love to learn how to pronounce this properly. The family changed the name to Recave in the early 1900s. I am having a hard time seeing how they got one from the other!

[@english_with_aga]

Hi Elizabeth. It's hard for me to say how to pronounce the original Polish name because Zytkevitz is an already anglicised version. But it could have been something like 'Zytkiewicz', which would have been pronounced 'zit-lee-evitch'. Not sure how they went from that to Recave but I'd assume there is no direct link between the two names.

[@elizabethlongo4540]

Thanks for attempting it! I understand that it’s a guess since the original spelling is lost in history.

[@marek9081]

2:07 - Actually it's like that in the majority of Polish words. Another easy thing about Polish language. ;) / W zasadzie to jest tak w większości polskich słów. Kolejne ułatwienie. ;)

[@english_with_aga]

That's true! Polish is easy :)

[@victoriamarus5108]

Great video session on various Polish names. Your presentation is so easy to follow. Thank you. How do I pronounce these 2 surnames? Juckiewicz Karczewicz

[@ruththomas2072]

how to pronounce the name Skelofski in Polish. This name was listed on the 1871 UK census and changed to Koski in subsequent years?

[@scqouii7908]

Hi Agnieszka! My name is Asia ^^ and i'm from poland

[@liwciasweet1755]

Jezu myślałem że Azja po angielsku xd A ja mam na imię Kajetan

[@bluelok7]

Anastasia?

[@oilaum8811]

Thanks - really clear explanations and examples (",)

[@english_with_aga]

Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching :)

[@alicedziczek227]

Would you pronounce Dziczek please?

[@augustynrososzka5094]

My surname is pronounced like your first name! I'm argentinian with polish blood.

[@adamspeaking373]

Agnieszko, your name is one of my favorite polish names! 😋🙌🏼

[@english_with_aga]

Thank you! :)

[@ForeverWithUTR10]

How about iwona, monika and julia?

[@heidibiswas8327]

How do you pronounce Chopin ? Thank you

[@NeoSaturos123]

I think there's two extra sounds you could have taught how to pronounce. The CI sound, as in Maciej or Marcin, as well as the SI, as in Basia or Kasia. I guess substituting those sounds for CH and SH respectively works, but I wonder how you'd explain it.

[@english_with_aga]

Good point! They're a bit softer than 'sh' or 'ch', it's almost as if they were followed by an 'e' sound.

[@RootlessNZ]

Thank you so much for this. I am reading Tolsty's War and Peace, in English, and on page 317 of my copy a Polish officer is mentioned. His name is Przhebyzhewski. My interpretation goes somewhat like the following: Prebishevski. Please can you give the Polish pronunciation for this name. I can read IPA symbols.

[@AliciaMarkoe]

Thank you, how about "Siwkiewicz" please? I don't know if it is Polish or not, but KZbin suggested your video.

[@magdaisoslo]

I’m Lithuanian and my name is Magda

[@ricciparadiso6054]

How would you say Marek?

[@foreverlovesophie]

How do you pronounce Waleska? Thank you

[@jroc3060]

I bought a case of zyweic beer. No idea how to pronounce it properly but I definitely enjoyed it

[@english_with_aga]

haha

[@nuviar3231]

The tennis player Iga Swiatek . People say sviontek something like this. I don't know I'm Spanish

[@greatlash220]

I've been doing some family history, and I have a family member whose last name is Lukazzewska. How do I pronounce it correctly?

[@patrycjak3709]

I am from Poland and my name is Patrycja 🙃

[@english_with_aga]

Hi! Thanks for watching my video :)

[@eduardobraivein8496]

5-Minute Language How do you pronounce : 1) Zdzislaw/Zdzislawa? (both names with a stroke-L). 2) Wroclaw (also stroke-L). 3) Wisla (ditto).

[@scarlett5745]

Mine's Wojdacz

[@DSzem1]

@@eduardobraivein8496 Zdgee-swav Vroc-wav (c like in cent) Vis-wa

[@eduardobraivein8496]

Yarbles Thx

[@MelissaZaucha]

How would you pronounce Zaucha?

[@juliaclol]

My last name is Czarnawska and everyone pronounces it wrong. Oh also my parents were born in Poland and I was born in USA so sorry for my bad polish!

[@english_with_aga]

I can imagine - it's a tricky name!

[@jeffreyprice773]

Hi, How do you pronounce dulewicz in Polish? Thanks..

[@tomtate2732]

An excellent video, Agnieszka. I found it very helpful. Thank you. Could you explain the syllable emphasis for Walczak, please. Am I right in thinking the name is pronounced Vahl-chuck?

[@english_with_aga]

Thanks Tom! Yes - that's exactly how it's pronounced. The first syllable is stressed.

[@EJSJ54]

Very interesting! Agnieszka. How would I pronounce my name Szek? When my grandfather came over from warsaw they gave him the name Shank.

[@Ultrajamz]

How about Wojciech

[@FredericaMussolini]

Piotr, Jerzy and Zbigniew , pls 👌

[@JanM351531351]

What about szcz

[@martug.5519]

How should I prononunce Chopin, the composer?

[@adamnoir5014]

I need to know how to pronounce Stanisław Leśniewski and Jan Łukasiewicz, please

[@OfficialSeVeNGamingZooboopoo]

Mine Is kwiatkowski, people always get confused how kw is pronounced as F

[@sarajohnson3962]

How do you say sara in polish ?

[@pikulsky]

Great video and very helpful explanation! Thank you! Btw, what about "Maciej" ?

[@ewertongtr]

Well, it's pronounced like "Matchiey"

[@antarjones7888]

What about "Kaziamiez"?