Languages of Poland
| Languages of Poland | |
|---|---|
| Official languages | Polish |
| Regional languages |
Kashubian (108,000); German (96,000); Belarusian (26,000); Rusyn (6,000); Lithuanian (5,000); Slovak (1,000); Czech (1,000); |
| Main immigrant languages | Russian (20,000), Vietnamese (3,000), Arabic (2,000), Greek (2,000), Chinese (1,000), Bulgarian (1,000), Turkish (1,000), Hindi (1,000) and others |
| Main foreign languages |
English (33%) Russian (26%) German (19%) |
| Sign languages | Polish Sign Language |
| Source | ebs_243_en.pdf (europa.eu) |
Kashubian (108,000); German (96,000); Belarusian (26,000); Rusyn (6,000); Lithuanian (5,000); Slovak (1,000); Czech (1,000);
The main language spoken in Poland is Polish.
The deaf communities use Polish Sign Language belonging to the German family of Sign Languages.
According to the Act of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages, 16 other languages have officially recognised status of minority languages: 1 regional language, 10 languages of 9 national minorities (the minorities that have their own independent state elsewhere) and 5 languages of 4 ethnic minorities spoken by the members of minorities not having a separate state elsewhere). Jewish and Romani minorities, each has 2 minority languages recognised.
The following languages are spoken in Poland as well:
Population by type and number of languages used in household contacts in 2011.
The official recognition gives to the representatives of the minority certain rights (under certain conditions prescribed by the laws): of education in their language, of having the language established as the secondary administrative language or help language in their municipalities, of financial support of the state to the promotion of their language and culture etc.
These languages are not recognised as minority languages, as the Act of 2005 defines minority as "a group of Polish citizens (...) striving to preserve its language, culture or tradition, (...) whose ancestors have been living on the present territory of the Republic of Poland for at least 100 years":
Among languages used in Poland, Ethnologue. mentions also:
but does not mention two other known defunct languages:
...
Wikipedia