• In the language itself: Polski
• ISO 639-3 standard: pol

UNESCO	Ethnologue	Endangered Languages	Glottolog
Unavailable		N/A

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• Classification: Indo-European → Classical Indo-European → Balto-Slavic → Slavic → West Slavic → Lechitic → Polish-Silesian → Polish. For more information, see poli1260 at Glottolog
• Script: Latin

In the 12th century, the Polish language adopted the Latin script ¹⁾. However, due to certain sounds in the language, the Polish phonology could not fit within Latin script. It was not until 1440 when Jakub Parkoszowic (Jacobus Parcossii) attempted to introduce an orthographic reform. It was titled the “Treatise on Polish Orthography” (Traktat o ortografii polskiej) ²⁾.

In 1549, Jan Seklucjan (Joannis Seclvcianus) lamented how difficult it was to read Polish. He wrote “A short and simple study of reading and writing in the Polish language” (Krótka a prosta nauka czytania i pisania języka polskiego). ³⁾ In response, Stanisaw Murzynowski wrote the “Polish orthography, that is learning to read and write the Polish language, as much as Poles need, written in sufficient but few words” (Ortografija polská. To jest nauka pisániá i czytaniá języka polskié(go), ilé Polákowi potrzebá, niewielem słów dostatecznie wypisaná). ⁴⁾ In it, he introduced 51 graphemes that were used to indicate the sound used to pronounce a certain letter, chosen depending on the sound needed.

The bigger developments in orthography would happen in the 19th century. In 1890, the Academy of Learning was established and they published their resolutions. However, numerous scholars, experts, and linguists protested against them and suggested a variety of changes ⁵⁾. 26 years later, more changes were suggested by the Provincial Council of State, though denied until two years after the fact. Then, in 1936 was the final major orthographic reform that happened in Poland by the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences ⁶⁾. However, in 2024, the Polish Language Council stated they will be making more orthographic changes to Polish by 2026. ⁷⁾

No visual information exists about this information yet. However, Polish has a strong pressence in the Netherlands due to the Brexit ⁸⁾. The information we have is that 0.4% of the population in the Netherlands uses L1 Polish at home ⁹⁾, and that in 2025, there are likely 300,000 Polish speaking people living in the Netherlands ¹⁰⁾.

In 2025, there are over 40 million speakers of Polish globally ¹¹⁾. As was stated before, there are likely around 300,000 speakers of Polish in the Netherlands as of 2025.

Between 1900 and 1945, there was an influx of Polish migrants. Up to 6000 Poles came to work in the mines in the province of Limburg ¹²⁾. In 1990, another influx of Polish migrants occured, leading to about 120,000 people with a Polish background by 2017 ¹³⁾. The Polish school was established in 1994 in Tilburg, and its classes take place on Saturday morning every 2 weeks. The classes are attended by chilren from exclusively Polish speaking and Polish-Dutch families.

In 1998, over 1000 schools participate in the educational program ‘School of dialogue’ founded in the Netherlands in the city of Utrecht ¹⁴⁾ Since its introduction in Poland in 2019, the embassy has been supporting the implementation of this program to the effect of an ever-growing amount of Polish schools participating. Thus, there have been more options for Polish education in the Netherlands.

On the 5th of November in 1992, the Netherlands signed the European Charter of Regional and Minority languages. They ratified it almost 4 years later, on the 2nd of May in 1996. It was only less than 2 years later since the legislation was put into action. Specifically, on the 1st of March in 1998. However, there is no explicit mention of the Netherlands providing protection under the charter to Polish.

Similarly, under the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, the Netherlands never made policies towards protecting the use of Polish, either.

Unfortunately, not much support is available for Polish education in the Netherlands, besides the availability of learning materials. These are available in physical locations like TaalTaal and Polish Culture NL, and online in the University of Amsterdam catalogue and Amazon.

Besides the options provided here, online tutorship is available for all levels of education on websites such as Apprentus ¹⁵⁾.

The Polish School Lokomotywa offers classes in Polish language, culture, geography, and history for children who are 5 years and older ¹⁶⁾.

The University of Amsterdam offers courses in Polish language and culture ¹⁷⁾.

Institutions like NPTaal and Polish Culture NL offer courses for adults, specialising in Polish and Dutch language education ¹⁸⁾¹⁹⁾.

Please provide links to online learning resources. Feel free to add points, and to structure your information using chapter heading, e.g.:

• The Federation of Polish Student Societies in The Netherlands, who integrate Polish students, support their personal and professional growth, and foster connections between talented individuals and leading Polish companies.

• TaalTaal, where you learn Polish either individually or in a group.
• Polish Culture NL, where you can learn about Polish culture and building a cultural bridge between Poland and the Netherlands. They organise events where you get lessons in a small, personalized group from an experienced teacher ²⁰⁾.