Polish Language Learners - Interesting and Compelling Content - Post links to any channels, books, or general content that you have enjoyed for learning Polish

Hi Everyone, I am wanting to share resources for learning Polish and one thing I have found difficult personally is finding subtitled content online in Polish. So I wanted to create a thread for fellow Polish Learners to share content. So I am going to start by sharing some interesting channels that I have found that I have enjoyed. Please note the genre / theme of what you are posting to make it easier for other learners to see if its something that interests them!

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Cooking:
Maciej Je: Maciej je - YouTube
Kuchnia Lidla: KuchniaLidla.pl - YouTube

Travel:
Kolem sie toczy: Kołem Się Toczy - YouTube

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Myślę, że ten kanał może być interesujący dla osób, które uczą się języka Polskiego. Jestem Polakiem, ale czasami oglądam go dla ciekawostek językowych. Z tego co wiem wielu obcokrajowców komentuje te filmy, a więc powinny one być odpowiednie dla ludzi takich jak wy.

Gorąco zachęcam do pisania po Polsku, ponieważ jest to najlepszy sposób, aby zmusić nasze mózgi do przedstawienia się na nowy język.


I think if you are learning polish you can find this channel interesting. I am a Polish person myself and sometimes I watch it for interesting caveats about my language. I know that there is a lot foreign viewers in comment section so it should be good for you guys.

Please try write in polish since it is the best way to force your brain to switch to another language.

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Great initiative! Here are some of my favorites:

BOOKS AND STORIES

LEARN POLISH THROUGH STORIES - Redirecting...
Highly recommended for A2-B1. It uses quite easy language, but manages to tell some charming stories, and it has a good sense of humor as well. I laughed quite a bit reading it. To buy it, check the fb page. It is self published, so you have to contact them directly.

Jajka (The Egg) - Andy Weir The Egg
A really good short story with a philosophical twist. Free online. Highly recommend!

Trzymaj się razem - Paulina Lipiec
A story about two sisters who got separated from their family. The autor also has similar short stories on her webpage and on Kindle.

MAŁY KSIĄŻĘ - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A great read for B1-B2 level, and a really nice story. I tried to read it earlier, but I found it a bit too hard at the time (A2).

Brothers Grimm, various famous folk tales Baśnie braci Grimm

PODCAST
REAL POLISH PODCAST (B1+) https://realpolish.pl/
My favorite podcast. Piotr’s 100 Daily Polish Stories inspired Steve to create the ministories courses at LingQ. The podcast covers a variety of topics. Transcript available with membership.

POLSKI DAILY (A1-B2) - https://www.polskidaily.eu/
Podcast and content creator for beginner and intermediate. Transcripts available with subscription (not too pricey). I recommend “Polski Daily Stories and Talks”, her Podcast series.

POLISH WITH JOHN - Polish with John - Ioannes Oculus
One of the better ones if you’re at A2 and want to start listening to longer content. Transcripts are free for the earlier episodes, but the newer ones are at Patreon for 1 dollar a month.

SWOJSKI JĘZYK POLSKI https://swojskijezykpolski.com/
Podcast with transcripts by Agnieszka Podemska. Covers a variety of topics concerning life in poland, work, health, people.

YOUTUBE

BEZ PLANU BezPlanu - YouTube
Amazing travel vlogger from Poland. Very engaging stuff, no subtitles unfortunately.

ROBERT MAKŁOWICZ - Robert Makłowicz - YouTube
Charming and famous tv personality Robert Makłowicz travels Poland to taste local foods and visit interesting places. Every episode has subtitles.

ARLENA WITT Arlena Witt - YouTube
Her channel is dedicated to teaching English, though examples of pop culture series and films. All episodes are fully in polish with subtitles. She also has a podcast which is relatively new, but still worth checking out.

FABRYKI W POLSCE Factories in Poland - YouTube
Mini documentaries about polish factories.

ARHN.EU arhn.eu - YouTube
Gaming related content, with great production quality and very engaging. Has some subtitles, but not for every video.

OTHER WEBSITES

CDA, polish video sharing site https://www.cda.pl/

TVP.VOD. Free polish tv series (with a ton of ads) https://vod.tvp.pl/
I recommend watching Rodzinka.pl, a family sitcom with subtitles

Kasia I Tomek - comedy series https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x71s54p

VOLANTIFICATION https://volantification.pl/
Lifestyle blog about relationships and advice on interpersonal relations.

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Tak, to dobry kanał, ale moim zdaniem raczej dla bardziej zaawansowanych.
Polecam materiale z Easy Polish i Polski Daily. Suskripce nie są zbyt drogie i jest bardzo ciekawa treść dla poziomów A1-B1.

I wouldn’t force no one to write in Polish here. There are other platforms where you can do this. Everyone should do it how she or he preferes and feels more comfortable. Moreover, the forum should be open and accesable to everyone in my opinion. I like using the Polish language and do it with friends and tutors regularly but I also know that for the first 6 months I didn’t like to produce output because the lack of vocabulary made me feel uncomfortable and it was just painful to write anything.

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Hmm… Perhaps my wording was more forceful than I intended.

@toroboro
Dont worry: we also write in German, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese in the LingQ forums.
So people could write in Polish, too!

If the need arises, deepl.com can help with the translations.

In short, come as you are… :slight_smile:

Does someone have experience with audiobooks and generally reading modern literature in Polish?
Is there a original Polish book series you would recommend?

PS: My target for the end of the year is to read (struggle through) the Witcher. Someone here tried it already?

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If you want to explore polish fantasy I recommend Achaja (start with Achaja Tom 1):

It is should be easier to read than witcher by a lot and it very action heavy series. This author does not try to be “clever” by using poetic language and rare or archaic words. And what is important for learners: once you get used to that author style there is a lot of content to read. I think books from this universe have about 5000 pages.

Here you have a preview to check if it is not too hard (should be a bit easier than Witcher):

Książę Archentar, jeden z siedmiu Wielkich Książąt królestwa Troy, siedział zasępiony na zalewanym czerwonymi promieniami zachodzącego słońca tarasie zamku. Młodziutki paź, który przyniósł wiadomość, stał za nim przestępując z nogi na nogę, nie wiedząc, czy ma odejść bez pozwolenia, czy stać, narażając się na gniew pana, jeżeli ten uznał, że zadanie chłopca skończyło się wraz z przyniesieniem listu. Paź dopiero zaczynał służbę na zamku. Jeszcze dziesięć dni temu mieszkał u rodziców w wiosce, potem zabrano go i przebrano w dworskie szaty. Owszem, był wcześniej przyuczany do służby, ale co innego nauki, a co innego poczuć na własnej skórze, co to jest obowiązek. Teraz cierpiał z powodu niewiedzy.

Książę Archentar jednak w najmniejszym stopniu nie zwracał na niego uwagi. Trwał zasępiony w przepastnym fotelu ustawionym tak, żeby można było podziwiać rozjaśnione teraz blaskiem słońca morze. Półprzymknięte oczy zdawały się sugerować, że drzemie, ale nie, książę nie spał, jego myśli krążyły intensywnie wokół córki — piętnastoletniej Achai. Achaja była niezwykle wykształconą dziewczyną — nawet jak na warunki królestwa Troy, gdzie nie odmawiano dziewczętom prawa do nauki. Z natury bystra i inteligentna, pod ręką najlepszych nauczycieli szybko przerosła większość chłopców. Achaję nauczono pokonywać kobiece słabości, wyszkolono w fechtunku tak, że była w stanie władać nie tylko krótkim mieczem piechoty, włócznią, nożem i sztyletem, ale nawet dwuręcznym, ciężkim mieczem rycerskim z łatwością równą tej, z jaką inne dziewczęta posługiwały się igłą do haftowania. Szermierskie zdolności młodej księżniczki pozwalały ciężką szablą jazdy odpierać ataki nawet dwóch naraz instruktorów fechtunku. Achaja potrafiła strzelać z łuku jak chłopak, biegać i pływać jak chłopak, jeździć na koniu jak chłopak, z rozkraczonymi nogami, ale… Ale chłopcem raczej nigdy nie zostanie.

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Dziękuję bardzo, to jest koniecznie bardziej łatwiej niż Wiedźmiń. Mam też część tekstu Wiedzmina ale tam są 46 % nowych słów, Achaja są tylko 34 %. To jest jeszcze za dużo, ale mam nadzieję, że za kilku tygodniach jestem gotowy hahaha

Sorry for my bad Polish, I didn’t use any dictionary or translator to write this :smiley:

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Twój polski jest z pewnością lepszy niż mój niemiecki xD.

34% powinno być okay. Myślę, że jeżeli przemęczysz jeden rozdział to bardzo szybko dojdziesz do poziomu, który pozwoli ci na czerpanie przyjemności z czytania. Trzeba się do stylu autora przyzwyczaić a potem to już z górki.

Jeżeli będziesz miał jakieś trudności to daj znać, a chętnie pomogę.

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I personally highly recommend playing Skyrim in Polish. It is fantasy-themed, so does a good job introducing you to these words, but what really surprised me was how simple the vocabulary used is. It is very much common (albeit fantasy) words, and is not literary at all. This makes it very accessible to people who aren’t quite yet at the level where they can read modern Polish novels, and provides a good primer for fantasy books later on.

For what it’s worth, I’ve played Skyrim at least twice through like this (though this was definitely not the only thing I did to learn Polish) and I can very comfortably read and understand books like The Witcher, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings without a dictionary (though I do like to use one so that I can learn new words here and there!).

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Hey, a really great idea to collect some ressources to learn Polish :slight_smile:

Books:
“Czytaj 1-4” (A1) - by Anna Stelmach: some really nice little stories with audio - you can buy the books for e.g. at Amazon

“Portret Nataszy” by Paulina Lipiec (A2-B1): a very entertaining short-story about a Polish family which was divided by time, ocean and a woman. - Amazon ebook

“Być jak Polak & Nie o takim życiu marzyłam” by Paulina Lipiec (A2-B1): this book contains two short-stories written in simplified Polish but full of useful vocabulary and interesting characters - Amazon ebook

“Czytam po polsku. 12 opowiadań z ćwiczeniami” by Paulina Lipiec (A2-B1): book at Amazon or at publishers page - prolog.

Podcasts:
My Polish - Podcast for Polish learners (B1-B2+): with transcripts on the website, many interesting topics, episodes are a little longer than for e.g. at Polish with John, and more challenging

other Ressources:

Bookbeat - Streaming platform for eBooks and audio books where you can find both in different languages, also in polish :slight_smile: there is a lot of stuff. Some ressources have both, ebook and audio, especially stuff for kids. Sadly you can’t use both resources at one device at one time. Maybe in the future.

Babbel - I liked that app for the beginning, it is fun, great to practice pronunciation and it provides also some grammar exercises in tiny understandable bits. I’d say it’s great for A1-A2.

Textfee/ textfairy (app) - to scan Polish texts so you can import them into LingQ, for example from Textbooks

Poznaj Świąt- an intresing Magazine about world, cultures and travel. On the website you can find older issues for free. This source is definitely advanced.

Netflix series:

Sexify- a comedy show

Ultra Violet - a crime show

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Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated!

Czytam po polsku. 12 opowiadań z ćwiczeniami" by Paulina Lipiec

  • I was looking at this book the other day, what’s it like? How long are the stories, and did you enjoy reading it?

My Polish - Podcast for Polish learners (B1-B2+)

  • Could you leave a link on where to find it? I tried googling and looking it up on spotify and podcast app but I can’t find it
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@Jazzclips The stories of Paulina are really good and you get them together with a lot of other material for a small suscription. Really nice content. Sometimes I feel that it’s a bit more challenging than the level indicates, at least when you just listen to the story.
You can write me at jufabo[@]web.de if you want to xchange more on Polish resources. :slight_smile:

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Sure :slight_smile: the Podcast is listed by “Podcast for Polish learners”. Here you can find it on Spotify;

Here at speaker. You can download the audio at this page (there is also Polski dayli and Polish with john):

Here at Magdas page:

https://www.mypolishcourse.com/blog/

Here you can also find the transcripts!

The 12 Shortstorys by Paulina Lipiec just arrived and I didn’t read them yet. I’ll import them to LingQ via textfairy first :smiley: But I really like her other content, so I bet they are great. Can’t wait to read them. The story’s are about 5 pages long. There are also some exercises and word lists. Idoms are marked.

This is the index:

  1. ZIĘĆ Z ANGLII | EMIGTACJA, BOŻE NATODZENIE

  2. AUTOSTOP | czasowniki ruchu, ZAINTERESOWANIA SPOT

  3. PANI PELAGIA | internet, polskie SŁODYCZE

  4. TAJEMNICZA SĄSIADKA | relacje międzyludzkie, zainteresowania: MUZYKA

  5. MAŁY DOMEK | mieszkanie, MIASŁO

  6. MIŁOŚĆ W PODESZŁYM WIEKU | zainteresowania: książki, PIENIĄDZE

  7. ATLAS GRZYBÓW | czasowniki ruchu, ZAINTERESSOOWANIA: Sport

  8. HENIO SZUKA DOMU | pies

  9. POŻAR | trudności w życiu, Wypadki, gotowanie

  10. POMARAŃCZOWY ROWER | praca, zainteresowania: rower

  11. POWRÓT DO PRZESZŁOŚCI | Podróż: latanie

  12. SEKRET DZIADKA | historia RODZINY, EMOCJE

By the way. Yesterday I found this course about controversial topics by Paulina Lipiec. Looks great :smiley: it’s B1 and higher.

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Hey all. I’m going around lingq letting everyone about this new transcriber project I just published. I got frustrated looking for content on YouTube that actually had subtitles, so I decided to make something myself. If you’re so inclined, please check out the project and try it out for yourself. Please feel free to leave an issue on here if something is broken or if you need something else added. Oh! And please give it a star if you find it helpful. Thank you!

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Hi!

I found a website with tons of free polish books and audiobooks that you might want to check out. It’s a state funded project, so it’s perfectly safe to use.

This section has graded readers: Lektury szkolne | WolneLektury.pl

For importing to LingQ, I recommend using the TXT option, as some of the pdfs don’t import perfectly. Not all the books have mp3s, but lots of them do. Happy reading!

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thanks for sharing peeps!

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Has someone here made experience with YA novels in Polish? What would be the easiest genre of books aimed to native speakers?

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