The Globe: Invitation to Poland

The Republic of Poland is located in Central Europe. It is bordered by

Germany

to the west; the

Czech Republic

and

Slovakia

to the south;

Lithuania

Belarus

and

Ukraine

to the east;

Russia

and the Baltic Sea to the north. The population is over 38.5 million strong.

Poland

’s landscape is very diversified. The Carpathian and the Sudety Mountains stretch in the south. Lowlands and uplands occupy the central part of the country. The northern part of Poland, comprising Pomeranian and Masurian Lakelands, is gently undulating, relatively well forested and covered by hundreds of lakes; still further to the north are the sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea coast.

Poland

’s national emblem is a white eagle with a golden crown on a red background. The national flag is white and red. Polish capital and the largest city is Warsaw, which has a population of over 1,700,000 and is located upon the longest Polish river, the Vistula. The major Polish cities include Cracow, Gdańsk, Katowice, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin, and Wrocław.

Poland

is divided administratively into voivodships (16), counties and communes. The Polish 'Złoty', literally meaning "golden", is the currency of

Poland

. The 'Złoty' is a traditional Polish currency unit dating back to the Middle Ages.

Language
Polish, the official language of

Poland

, it is the most spoken West Slavic language. It is used everyday by almost 40 million people in

Poland

and up to eight million Poles living outside the country.

Polish was once the lingua franca in parts of Central and Eastern Europe because of the political, cultural, scientific and military influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today nearly 97% of

Poland

's citizens declare Polish as their mother tongue.

Polish is considered to be one of the most difficult languages to master by non-native speakers.

There is a lot of snow in winter

Some basic vocabulary in Polish

Yes: Tak

No: Nie

OK: Dobrze

Excuse me: Przepraszam

Good day: Dzień dobry

Hi: Cześć

Bye: Cześć, Pa

Good bye: Do widzenia

I don't speak Polish: Nie mówię po polsku

I don't understand: Nie rozumiem

Famous Poles

Nicolaus Copernicus – the Polish astronomer

John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) – the pope in 1978-2005

Frederic Chopin – one of the greatest pianists of the 19th century

Roman Polanski – film director

Robert Kubica – Formula 1 racer

Maria Sklodowska-Curie (Marie Curie), the first woman to become a doctor of physics and a professor at the Sorbonne, twice awarded the Nobel Prize

Other Polish Nobel Prize winners include: Henryk Sienkiewicz, Wladyslaw Reymont, Czeslaw Milosz, Lech Walesa and Wislawa Szymborska.

My favourite part of

Poland

is the mountainous south.

My favourite city is Kraków (Cracow).

Source: http://www.poland.travel/en-gb/about-poland/