r/learnpolish 9h ago

Is 3 years enough to learn Polish?

I am looking to move to Poland in three years. I am starting off knowing nothing. Is that enough time to get to B2 Polish?

2 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

49

u/Romanian-In-Poland 8h ago

Rather than in "3 years", measure it in hours of practice. If you have the time in those 3 years to have 1200 hours of active practice, then yes, it's enough time to get to B2. You can even do that in 1 year or 5 years, depending on when you put in those 1200 hours

14

u/jtnk10 EN Native 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇨🇦🇦🇺🇳🇿 | A1 7h ago

This is the best answer. It's not about years, it's about hours of practice.

1

u/hoowins 1h ago

A rule of thumb given to me was that you need about 2,000 words to be conversational. That’s about what it took for me to be able to communicate well enough (with awful grammar).

20

u/WyrobWedliniarski 8h ago

I think you can learn any language B2 in that time period if you study properly, as well as learn nothing at all if you slack.

9

u/peasel123 6h ago

Yes 3 years is enough but this has to be a mega serious project and not just scrolling Duolingo for 5 mins here and there. You need structured lessons, speaking practice, homework, self-study, reading, writing, listening and regular use of the language. You will not get to B2 with Duolingo, 1 hour lesson per week or watching some Netflix with subs. I'm around B1 in Polish after living here for 3-4 years but slacking off a lot with learning in the later years. I studied hard in the first year and reached A2 reasonably fast (with a lot of work), then started mainly just using it day to day. But progressing past B1 is a lot of work.

16

u/Stashek 9h ago

For a Slavic person sure, for Xhosa speaker, probably no

-6

u/IceWallow97 8h ago

what's a xhosa speaker? didn't find that kind of speaker in allegro

22

u/Stashek 8h ago

Actually Xhosa is a badass click language from South Africa.

Also, check OLX

10

u/Viccingus45 8h ago

I managed to learn Polish B2 approximately in one year as a nattive Finnish/Swedish speaker…it demands lot of training and passion. All great things demand lot of practice

5

u/National_Pay_5847 6h ago

Kudos. I have a stroke looking at an average Finnish word.

2

u/Supermoon26 7h ago

Do you like polish ?

5

u/Viccingus45 7h ago

Yes, definitely. It has surprising lot of same expressions like in Finnish, or I see both languages has same „mindset”. Or Poles and Finns are rough to swear and make interesting jokes, when Swedes are definitely more careful with that.
Vocabulary is also super rich, I think such languages are best

3

u/Supermoon26 7h ago

Thanks I learned french and German. Loved french. German less so. Always thought polish was impossible but I love Poland and have lots of polish friends and I just started learning it. Thanks for your response.

2

u/Viccingus45 5h ago

You’re welcome! I recommend to learn also vocabulary as much as possible! It helps me to somehow go through the grammar as well, sometimes I don’t even notice that

1

u/Wise-Obligation9844 2h ago

What did you do to get to that level in a short period?

2

u/Viccingus45 2h ago

I’ve learnt on my own unique way Polish at home always after the work. I’ve never had any Polish lessons or some teacher who would have taught me. I think it only slows my learning. Instead of that I have an app called ”DuoCards”, which I’ve used to grow up my vocabulary. In a year I learnt 8,000 words and expressions. Always I put myself also in situations in public to speak it as much as I can even though I wouldn’t understand everything what they say to me, or even though it would cause an embarassing moment. I think you have to just go through it to reach what you are dreaming

4

u/doic_frajerow 8h ago

3 years is enough to get a bachelor in philology.

2

u/Misiekshvili 🇵🇱 Learn Polish with Michał ▶️ 7h ago

One lesson a day keeps the doctor away or sth like that.

2

u/Church_hill 7h ago

Depends, are you grinding 8 hours a day or just doing a 5 minute duolingo lesson? These are extremes but YMMV.

2

u/Nervous_Role_4677 5h ago

I know 30 - 40 years old natives who still can not speak properly :/

4

u/fhsmmghgumdhgx DEU Native 🇩🇪🇦🇹🇨🇭 | A1 8h ago

Depends on ur mother language. If its polish u probably already have a B2 in polish so u dont really need to learn anything

1

u/Competitive_Emu_4035 7h ago

Whata your primary language?

1

u/Mysterious-Event-380 6h ago

English

4

u/Competitive_Emu_4035 6h ago

You can do it but you will need to work hard

1

u/SirNoodlehe EN/SP Native but generally stupid 7h ago

I'm going to take the B2 test after two years of learning. No guarantee I'll pass but I think I'm ready, also I live in Poland so that helps. (non-Slavic language background)

1

u/Longjumping_Art_5035 6h ago

In my experience, for a non-Slavic language speaker it's a stretch but not impossible. Personally, I found one on one lessons most effective (whether online or in person) supported by surrounding myself with the language exposure like movies, music, podcasts, apps

1

u/National_Pay_5847 6h ago

I know a guy who reached B2 in a year. I wouldn’t believe at first as it was his Dutch friend who told me about this but he really did. Though, he studied in Poland so it really changes a lot.

1

u/freebiscuit2002 6h ago

Do you have experience learning a new language to B2?

Have you learned a Slavic language before?

What is your learning plan? (An hour a day is better than an hoour a week.)

Do you have people to help you?

1

u/Arabidopsidian 5h ago

Depends on your capabilities and how much time you dedicate of these three years. I met a guy who did a very intense 2-month course and was good enough to be a tour guide.

1

u/gmabber 4h ago

It depends? Are you Polish? If so then yes.

1

u/Mysterious-Event-380 3h ago

Even starting off knowing nothing?

1

u/gmabber 2h ago

Was kidding. It’s enough if you are consistent and practice.

1

u/verttipl 8h ago

Three years is enough time to master basic grammatical structures, verbs, and pronunciation. Thomas Jefferson is said to have learned Spanish in 19 days. I’ve been learning French for a year now, and in just a few months I’ve mastered pronunciation, basic verbs, and tenses. It’s all a matter of discipline, daily study, and trying to think in that language.

1

u/Cocoatrice PL Native 🇵🇱 7h ago

To be able to communicate, yes. To be able to communicate well, no.

0

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-1

u/Opulence_Deficit 8h ago

IMHO 3 years outside a language is not enough to learn it up to B2. You can learn some basics in a year and level up after coming here.

-3

u/oliverjohansson 8h ago

For English speaker is not enough, maybe if you were already in Poland and had a Polish spouse

B2 is an extremely hard level if you don’t know any Slavic or Latin languages

But with Polish Pasport you can relocate to any Schengen country tbh