Poland

According to Article 27 of the Constitution of 2 April 1997 “Polish is the official language in the Republic of Poland. This means that Polish is the official language of the constitutional organs of the State, local government authorities, and subordinated institutions, acting within the scope of their public functions; also of institutions entrusted with certain public tasks; organizations; institutions and offices subordinated to the organs of the State or to the regional public authorities; as well as representatives of State legal entities, to the extent of their public functions.

However according to the Law of 6 January 2005 on national minorities, in communes where the number of inhabitants belonging to the minority is not less than 20% of the total population of this commune, the minority language – in addition to the official language – can be used as an auxiliary language before the commune authorities. All such communes are entered in the Register of Communes with an auxiliary language. The first commune which entered into the Register was Radłów, with German as an auxiliary language. In June 2009 the Register covered 28 communes, including 22 communes with German as the auxiliary language, 3 communes with Belarusian, 2 communes with Kashubian, and 1 commune with Lithuanian. 

The legal status of the Polish language within the territory of the Republic of Poland is defined more precisely by the Law of 7 October 1999 on the Polish language, with its subsequent amendments (in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005). The regulations of this Act relate to "the protection of the Polish language” and to use thereof in the pursuit of public tasks, in trade and in the fulfilment of labour-law regulations within the territory of the Republic of Poland. The protection of the Polish language shall consist especially: in concern for the correct usage of language and the establishment of conditions for the proper development of language as an instrument of human communication; in counteracting the vulgarisation of the language; in the dissemination of knowledge about language and its role in culture; in the promotion of respect for regional language variations and dialects and the prevention of their extinction; in the promotion of the Polish language in the world and in support for the teaching of Polish in Poland and abroad. 

Entities carrying out public tasks within the territory of the Republic of Poland transact all official business and submit statements of intent in the Polish language, unless specific regulations state otherwise. This applies to statements of intent, applications and other forms submitted to official organs of the state. (Article 5)  

As regards commercial activities, according to Article 7, in commercial dealings involving the participation of consumers and in the fulfilment of labour-law regulations, the Polish language is to be used if the consumer or employee have their place of domicile in the territory of the Republic of Poland at the time an agreement was concluded and this agreement is to be carried out in the territory of the Republic of Poland. In commercial dealings not involving the participation of consumers, the Polish language is to be used only if this trade is carried out by the entities subordinated to the organs of the State or to the regional public authorities. 

The obligation to use the Polish language in commercial dealings involving the participation of consumers applies especially to the names of goods, services, offers, guarantee terms, invoices, bills and receipts as well as warnings and consumer information required by separate regulations, operating instructions and information about the properties of goods and services. The obligation to use the Polish language in information on the properties of goods and services also applies to advertising. 

Foreign-language descriptions of goods and services as well as foreign-language offers, warnings and consumer information required on the basis of other regulations must be simultaneously drawn up in a Polish-language version. Descriptions in the Polish language are not required as regards warnings and consumer information, operating instructions and information on the properties of goods if they are expressed in universally comprehensible graphic form; if the graphic form is accompanied by a description, it should be drawn up in the Polish language. 

Action may be taken against individuals or businesses that do not respect the requirements, and fines are chargeable for infractions.

Supervision of the use of the Polish language is exercised within the scope of their tasks by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the Trade Inspectorate and the district (municipal) consumer spokesman and the State Labour Inspectorate. 

According to Article 8, documents, including in particular agreements involving consumers and labour-law agreements, are to be drawn up in the Polish language. The documents may be simultaneously drawn up in one or more language versions. Unless parties decide otherwise, the basis for the interpretation of such documents is their Polish-language version. A job agreement or other document arising out of labour-law regulations, as well as an agreement to which a consumer is a party, may be drawn up in a foreign language at the request of a job-performing party or consumer who is a citizen of a European Union member-state other than the Republic of Poland and has been previously informed of the right to draw up an agreement in the Polish language. A job agreement or other labour-law document may be drawn up in a foreign language at the request of the job-performing party who is not a Polish citizen, and also in the event the employer is a citizen of a European Union member-state or is based in that state. 

Polish is the language of teaching, examinations and diploma dissertations in public and non-public schools of all types, in higher state and non-state schools, in educational establishments and other educational institutions, unless specific regulations state otherwise. According to the ordinance of the Minister of National Education and Sport of 15 October 2003, the State Commission for the Certification of Proficiency in Polish as a Foreign Language is the supreme body which supervises administration of examinations and issues certificates of the Polish language proficiency at three levels. The foreigner or the Polish citizen, residing abroad, receives an official certificate of proficiency in Polish after examination before the state examination commission.

The regulations of the Act on the Polish Language do not pertain to proper names, foreign daily newspapers, periodicals, books or computer programs with the exception of their description or instructions; the teaching and research activities of schools of higher education, schools and classes with a foreign language of instruction or bilingual instruction, foreign-language teachers’ colleges and also the teaching of other subjects, if it is in accordance with detailed regulations; scientific and cultural creativity; customarily used scientific and technical terminology; trade-marks, brand names and indications of the origin of goods and services; norms introduced in the original language in accordance with standardisation regulations.

The institution which shall express opinions and dispense advises on issues concerning use of the Polish language is the Polish Language Council (Rada Języka Polskiego), acting as a committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Every second year, it shall present a report on the protection of the Polish language to the Parliament of the Republic of Poland. 

The Council, upon a motion by the minister in charge of culture and the protection of national heritage, the minister in charge of education and training and the minister in charge of higher education, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the Chief Inspector of the Trade Inspectorate or the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, or at its own initiative, expresses by means of a resolution its opinion on the use of the Polish language in public activities and in trade within the territory of the Republic of Poland involving consumers or the execution in the Republic of Poland of labour-law regulations, and establishes the principles of the Polish language’s orthography and punctuation. 

Learned societies, associations of authors and higher schools (i.e. tertiary schools or universities)  may refer any issues on the use of the Polish language to the Council. In the event of significant doubts arising in its official business concerning Polish-language usage any state or local government authorities may seek the opinion of the Council. Producers, importers and distributors of goods or services which do not have an appropriate name in Polish may request the Council for an opinion concerning appropriate terms for the said goods or services. 

Besides the Polish Language Council, some other national institutions are engaged (according to their statutes) in the cultivation, protection and/or promotion of the Polish language.

The law which amended the law on the Polish language (11 April 2003) created a legal foundation for officially certifying knowledge of Polish as a foreign language. Two depositions from the Ministry of National Education and Sports dated 15 October 2003 allow foreign nationals to receive certificates confirming their level of knowledge of the Polish language. There are three levels: elementary, intermediate, and advanced. In some countries, the Polish language is prized as giving access to Polish universities and the Polish job market. This law also facilitates access to the Polish language for the Polish community abroad, which represents 20 million people (of which 10 million in the United States and two million in Germany and Brazil), or the sixth-largest diaspora in the world.

A decree of application by the Ministry of National Education made on 4 October 2001 states that all migrants must be enrolled in school in the same way as Polish children, i.e. according to the school catchment areas which are based on where the parents live. This principle applies to nursery, primary and secondary schools. Schooling is free for all pupils, regardless of nationality, until the age of 14. After this, foreign national pupils must pay for their schooling.

Between 1385 and 1795, the countries which are now known as Lithuania and Belarus, together with a large part of Ukraine and Poland, formed one state as part of a voluntary union. The religious tolerance of the state at that time attracted a number of followers of different religions. Before the Second World War, minority nationals in Poland made up around 30% of the total population. This demographic split was shaken up so badly by the Holocaust that today, minorities make up just 3% of the population.

In conformity with the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages signed in 2003, the Polish authorities distinguish between three categories of minority and regional nationals: the members of nine national minorities, the members of four ethnic minorities and a community which uses a regional language.

The minority nationals are the Germans (according to the minority speakers: 300,000 to 400,000), Belarusians (250,000 to 300,000), Ukrainians (300,000), Lithuanians (30,000), Russians (20,000), Slovaks (15,000), Czechs (3,000), Jews (5,000) and Armenians (1,500). The ethnic minorities are the Ruthenians (50,000), the Roma (20,000), the Tatars (2,000) and the Karaites (150). The only regional group recognised is the Kashubians (250,000 to 300,000). In total, 1,200,000 people belong to regional and national minorities, even though the latest census statistics from 2002 on ethnicity and nationality only note 417,000, including the Germans (147,000), Belarusians (48,000), Ukrainians (34,000), Slovaks (2,000). The strongest concentrations of minority nationals can be found in the provinces of Warmia-Masuria, Podlachia and Opole.

The law on national minorities was adopted on 6 January 2005 by the Diet. It introduces a definition of national minorities. It specifies that the term refers to a group of people whose origins are other than Polish, who have traditionally lived in Poland and who are a minority in numerical terms when compared with the other citizens. The law is characterised by support for the culture, traditions and languages of minorities as well as protecting their national awareness. It also specifies that whether or not one considers oneself to belong to a minority is a matter of free, individual choice. It guarantees that all national minority citizens are equal before the law, as well as the following rights: to develop their culture, create their own associations, practise their religion, have free access to the medias, use their own language in their public and private lives, use proper names in their own language, make public information available in their language, study their native language, etc.

The law provides for the creation of a National Minorities Council, a consultative body which reports to the Prime Minister. It also aims to ensure that all national minorities are represented as well as they can be in Parliament. At present, minorities are represented quite well at local council level, but very poorly in the administrations of the provinces, where the Germans and Lithuanians have demanded to be represented. Minorities have a lot of difficulty in getting elected to a Parliamentary seat. Only the German minority has succeeded in gaining any seats, thanks to their strength in numbers in the region of Opole.

Article 27 of the Constitution specifies that the rights of national minorities as provided for in ratified treaties will be protected. Article 35 states that all ethnic minorities and national minorities have freedom to develop their own language. At present, minority languages are used before the commune authorities in only 28 communes.

In the justice sphere, the law on the constitution of common law tribunals of 27 July 2001 allows individuals who do not speak or speak very little Polish to express themselves in front of the judges in a language which they do know or to receive the services of an interpreter for free.

As far as schooling is concerned, the Polish education system in principle guarantees the right to learn a minority language and takes responsibility for creating the right conditions for such lessons and for organising lessons in minority languages. In addition, in conformity with Article 35 of the Constitution, it is possible to receive teaching in one’s native language. This is available at all levels, from nursery to secondary school. Most schools which offer lessons in minority languages are public establishments run by the local authority. Nonetheless, a very limited number of schools are in a position to be able to offer this choice.      

Representatives from the Jewish minority only have founded private establishments known as Lauder-Morasha, with the help of the Roland S. Lauder foundation. In Poland, there are no national minority schools, but Polish schools can be divided into four categories:

• schools where the language of teaching is the minority language in language, literature and history lessons, where enough volunteers are available and outside school hours
• bilingual school (with equal time spent teaching in Polish and another language)
• school councils which can authorise schools to provide supplementary classes in a minority language
• local authorities which organise inter-school groups where pupils from several different schools are brought together to be taught in their native language

In principle, a class can be formed wherever there at least seven primary school pupils or 15 secondary school pupils who wish to learn. The problem lies both in the fact that it is optional and in the numbers requirement. In total, the Germans have 170 schools, the Ukrainians 70 and the Lithuanians two. Belarusian is taught as a second language in around 50 primary schools and two Belarusian schools. In total, more than 450 establishments offer teaching in a minority language. The publication and printing of school textbooks, as well as the drawing up of school curricula are both financed by the State.

In the media world, there has been a significant increase in the number of publications. The Ministry of Culture and Heritage has announced that all national minorities have the right to publish their own magazine in Polish or another language. Almost all the cost is met by the State. All the country’s minorities now have a newspaper in their own language. Some public radio stations broadcast programmes in minority languages, but most minorities have their own local stations which broadcast mostly in German, Ukrainian and Belarusian.

Since the fall of Communism, the Polish Government has signed a number of international treaties. The treaty of good neighbourliness and friendly cooperation signed with Germany in 1991 has served as a model for the protection of the rights of all minorities. Similar agreements have been reached with Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus and Russia. These treaties guarantee the right to non-discrimination, to learn and receive teaching in one’s native language, to spell one’s name as it is in one’s own language, to profess and practise one’s religion, to found one’s own associations and to hold exchanges with citizens of other countries which speak the same language.

Official instructions specify that two lessons of 45 minutes each per week in primary school should be devoted to the study of a foreign language during the fourth and fifth years and four in the sixth year. At gimnazjum (a kind of secondary school), three lessons per week of 45 minutes each are devoted to foreign languages during the three years. In general secondary schools, each of the two compulsory languages is assigned two to three lessons per week. In technical or vocational colleges, between two and six lessons may be devoted to the compulsory language, depending on the type of establishment.

A second language chosen by the head of the establishment may be taught as an optional subject for two lessons a week. For the specific intensive French programme, and the DELF preparatory programme, the number of lessons is generally increased to six. For higher education, 100 hours per year are permitted. Education authorities plan to make one foreign language lesson of 45 minutes per week the norm in the first three years of primary school from Autumn 2008.

In Autumn 2005, French was studied by 256,000 primary and secondary school pupils (270,760 in Autumn 2004, so a reduction of 14,760 pupils). Percentage-wise, the number of pupils studying French is decreasing slightly, from 4.4% in 2004/2005 to 4.3% in 2005/2006 (statistics published by the Centre for Continuous Education, CODN). Traditionally little taught at primary level (1.2%), it is becoming less popular in secondary schools, dropping from 43,108 to 28,600 pupils or from 2.6 % (2003/2004) to 1.7 % (2004/2005). It should be noted that at college only one language is compulsory, which partly explains the growing hegemony of English and Germany at this level of teaching. In general secondary schools, where two languages are compulsory, the growth is quite spectacular. Numbers have risen from 94,800 (2003/2004) to 100,210 (2004/2005). French is chosen by 13.4% of college students (12.6 % in 2003/2004). For the first time ever, French is overtaking Russian to be the third most taught language at this level. Poland’s admission to the EU has certainly contributed to this rise in the number of pupils learning French in colleges.

English and German remain in first and second place with 77.1 % and 43.4 % respectively. Italian and Spanish continue to improve, but in limited numbers (+ 1,130 for Spanish and + 1,460 for Italian) while Russian is in an inexorable decline (- 14.7 %).

It seems likely that, in the long term, English will maintain its hegemony while German, French, Russian and Spanish share the market in second languages.