polski.info

What polski.info is

polski.info is a free online platform for learning Polish, built for learners rather than for people selling courses. Its home page calls it "a free, multilingual online platform which focuses on the Polish language and culture", and the About page says it "can be used online free of charge" and "effectively teaches the basics of the Polish language". That last phrase sets the scope plainly: this is a resource for beginners and lower-intermediate learners, with four courses that run from A0 to B1.

The About page frames the project around practical results. Its materials are meant to help users "quickly make themselves understood in Polish", gain insights into everyday life in Poland, understand the people there better and "even to improve their chances on the job market". To get there, the platform combines learning material about life and traditions in Poland with thematically related lessons on everyday language, so cultural reading and language practice sit next to each other instead of in separate places. The page also explains why Polish is worth the effort: it is, the page says, "considered the second largest Slavic language after Russian".

Who it is written for

The About page names a wide audience. The platform is designed for motivated learners of Polish as well as for employees with various qualifications, students who are planning to move to Poland or already live there, pupils, tourists and residents of border areas.

That list explains the shape of the content. A worker taking a job in Poland, an exchange student arriving for a semester, a family living near the Polish border and a visitor who wants to manage shops and trains all need the same thing first: everyday Polish they can use straight away, plus enough background on daily life to make sense of what they hear. The course ladder and the culture material are both aimed at that first stage.

Courses, grammar and dictionary

The home page answers "What can I find here?" with three tools, and each has its own place on the site.

Courses. The home page describes them as "Distance courses of the Polish language", and the courses page lists four of them: Course A0, Course A1, Course A2 and Course B1. A0 is the starting point for someone with no Polish at all, and B1 is the top of the ladder, so a learner picks the course that matches their level and works upward. Each course on that page carries a counter, which reads 0 / 0 for a visitor who has not logged in.

Grammar. The grammar section is "A guide to the Polish grammar", a reference that sits in the main menu beside the courses. A learner can open it alongside a lesson when a form needs explaining, rather than hunting through a separate textbook.

Dictionary. The third tool is "A basic dictionary with recorded pronounciation" (the site's own spelling). Recorded audio gives a beginner a model to copy for how a word actually sounds, which written transcriptions alone do not.

The site's own description of itself lists "exercises" and "dictionaries" among its keywords, alongside "a free course of Polish" and "Internet-based courses", which matches what the three tools add up to: self-study in the browser, with reference material close at hand.

Materials, activities and the forum

According to the About page, the platform includes "multimedia materials, interactive and motivating activities and texts for reading". That gives three kinds of study inside the courses: multimedia material, interactive activities a learner works through, and reading texts. The reading side ties back to the culture material, since the lessons on everyday language are organized by theme alongside material about life and traditions in Poland.

The platform also runs a discussion forum. The About page says the forum "enables learner communication and practical use of the language", which gives self-study learners somewhere to ask questions and to write Polish to other people rather than only to exercises. For someone studying alone on a free platform, that is the main chance to use the language with others before arriving in Poland.

Ten interface languages

polski.info is multilingual in a literal sense. Its language picker offers ten interface languages: Czech, German, English, Esperanto, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian, each marked as 99% translated. A learner who reads Czech, Lithuanian or Ukrainian more comfortably than English can move around the site in that language, which matters on a platform whose audience includes residents of border areas and people moving to Poland for work.

The list follows the partner countries closely, with English, Esperanto, Russian and Ukrainian added. The site also asks its users to help with translation, with a footer line that reads "Help us translate the site! Contact us".

Materials for teachers

A separate page, "Materiały dla nauczycieli" (materials for teachers), linked in the footer as "Dla nauczycieli", offers three resources: a PDF of materials for teachers, an instructional video for teachers on YouTube, and an instructional video for students, also on YouTube. The page is written in Polish even on the English version of the site.

That page makes the platform usable as a classroom companion as well as for self-study. A teacher of Polish can read the guide, show the students' instructional video to a class, and then set the free courses, the grammar guide or the dictionary as practice between lessons. Because there is no cost, a school or language center can point a whole group at it without a budget line or a licensing conversation.

Who is behind it

polski.info is a project rather than a commercial company. The About page lists "Six partners from six countries":

• Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny im. Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie (Poland)
• Studio Gaus GmbH (Germany)
• Ostravská univerzita (Czech Republic)
• Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (Lithuania)
• Edukácia@Internet (Slovakia)
• Inter-kulturo d.o.o. (Slovenia)

Three of the six are universities, in Kraków, Ostrava and Lithuania, working with partners from Germany, Slovakia and Slovenia. The About page says "Polski.info was created thanks to the Erasmus+ programme support", and the footer reads "Funded by the European Union", followed by the standard disclaimer that the views expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The copyright line runs from 2019 to 2026, and the footer links to a support page, a privacy page and an Impressum.

Cost and sign-up

There is nothing to buy. The About page says the platform can be used free of charge, and both calls to action on the home page read "Sign up for free". Because the project is publicly funded through Erasmus+, there are no plans or tiers to compare: the courses, the grammar guide, the dictionary and the forum all sit behind the same free sign-up.

Who it suits

polski.info suits a beginner who wants a structured, free start in Polish with a clear level ladder, and who values understanding everyday life in Poland as much as the grammar. It fits the audiences the About page names: people moving to Poland for work or study, tourists, pupils and people living near the border. The ten interface languages make it especially practical for learners who read Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Lithuanian, German, Russian or Ukrainian and would rather not study Polish through English. Teachers get a ready free resource with their own guide and videos.

The main caveat is depth. By its own description the platform teaches the basics, and the course list ends at B1, so a learner who already holds an intermediate level and wants advanced material will outgrow it. It is a self-study site, with the forum as its social side, so anyone who wants a live teacher will pair it with classes elsewhere.