Polish

Polish is spoken by almost 46 million people in Poland and throughout the world, in countries as diverse as Brazil, Central Asia, Australia, Germany, Russia, and the United States. The earliest Polish settlement in the US was established in Panna Maria, Texas, in 1854. Polish is a Slavic language related to Czech, Slovak, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, etc. Poland is currently a NATO and European Union member, with Warsaw as its capital and Kraków (Cracow) as an important cultural center.

Poles have always been proud of their contributions to world culture and science. This includes the work of the famous medieval astronomer Mikolaj Kopernik ('Copernicus'), the two-time Nobel prize winning chemist/physicist Maria Sklodowska ('Marie Curie'), and the composer Fryderyk Chopin. Poland is also known for the 1980s Solidarity movement, which played an important role in the collapse of communism. Two famous Polish figures from this era are Lech Walesa (Solidarity leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate), and Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla).

UT Austin’s Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies offers first-year Polish (POL 506, 507), second year (POL 312K, 312L) and third year (POL 325, 326), as well as conference courses in advanced Polish.

A student at UT can minor in Polish language or major in Russian, East European or Eurasian Studies. 

The Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (CREEES) at UT offers competitive scholarships for undergraduates and graduate students from any department of college to fund study of Polish language here at UT or in Poland.

We also offer scholarships to be used for the study of Polish language and culture, or research related to Poland in any field. 

Students with prior knowledge of Polish who are looking to continue studying Polish or trying to receive credit may contact the instructor, Bernadeta Kaminska (BernadetaKaminska@austin.utexas.edu), or UT Testing Services for information on placement or credit. See a Polish Proficiency Test with UT Austin Writing Sample.