Poland Facts and Figures

The national colors of Poland are white and red, and the coat of arms is the White Eagle

Flag of Poland

The white in the flag is on top, red is below, (the RGB values of the red are 227, 66, 52).

Flag of Poland

Flag of Poland

The colors, which are of heraldic origin and have a history dating back to 1831, are one of the three constitutional symbols of the Republic of Poland, along with the coat of arms, the White Eagle, and the national anthem, Mazurek Dąbrowskiego.

The Polish flag is a rectangular piece of cloth in the national colors, with or without the Polish coat of arms on the white stripe. The Polish Flag Day is celebrated on 2nd May.

Emblem

The emblem of Poland consists of a white eagle on a red field. Its current apperance consists of a turned towards right, single-headed, crowned eagle with golden claws and beak, upon the red shield. The heraldic description of the national emblem is a silver eagle with the golden crown pictured on a red field.

According to the legend, the White Eagle emblem originated when Lech, Poland’s legendary founder, once saw a white eagle against the setting sun which appeared tipped with gold. He was so delighted with the view that he decided to settle nearby and chose eagle as his emblem.

National Anthem of Poland

Since 1927 the Polish national anthem is the ‘Dąbrowski’s Mazurka’. Originally called the “Anthem of the Polish Legions in Italy”, from its initial verse, “Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła” it is also informally known in English as “Poland Is Not Yet Lost” or “Poland Has Not Yet Perished”. The words were written by Józef Wybicki in 1797.

The song originated during the formation of the Polish Legions in Italy in 18th century. Józef Wybicki, a poet and an officer in the Legions, wrote it in Reggio Emilia in July 1797 to the tune of a mazurka.

Beginning with the words, “Poland has not yet perished,” it was a patriotic call to arms to save the Polish state which had fallen under foreign rule. It quickly became very popular with the Polish Legionnaires and eventually, after Poland regainded independence in 1918, was declared the national anthem.

Currency

The Polish ‘Złoty’, literally meaning “golden”, is the currency of Poland. The ‘Złoty’ is a traditional Polish currency unit dating back to the Middle Ages. When in the early 1990′s the currency underwent re-denomination. the old złoty (PLZ) became one new złoty (PLN).

The monetary unit [PLN] is is also marked as [zł.]. 1 złoty is divided into 100 groszy [gr.] The banknotes come at 200, 100, 50 and 10 zloty, and coins in 5, 2 and 1 zloty, and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 groszy.

Currency can be exchanged in banks or exchange counters (kantor).

Złoty has a floating exchange rate, and has shown some fluctuation in the last few years. Between the years 2000 and 2005 złoty has strengthened against US dollar, while maintaining steady rate against euro. The exchange rate for UKP fluctuates between 5.5 and 6.5 złoty per pound sterling.

On entering the EU, Poland has pledged to substitute her currency with the Euro; the date of substitution has not yet been set. Currently, it is forecast that the change of the monetary system will take place between 2009-2011.

Language

Polish, the official language of Poland, it is the most spoken West Slavic language. It is used everyday by almost 40 million people in Poland and up to eight million Poles living outside the country.

Polish was once the lingua franca in parts of Central and Eastern Europe because of the political, cultural, scientific and military influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Nearly 97% of Poland’s citizens declare Polish as their mother tongue.

Polish is considered to be one of the  more difficult languages to master by non-native speakers. Unlike English, Polish is pronounced phonetically. Once you understand where to break the word, and that the second-to-last syllable is always stressed, you’ll do okay by keeping the following in mind.

One note: if the word looks nothing like it sounds, put it down to some uniquely Polish characters, like [ą] [ę] or [ż]. The Polish alphabet does have its own surprises. If confused, just look it up in a good dictionary.

Short introduction to everyday Polish

Let’s start with something simple:

  • Yes: Tak (as in tick-’tack’)
  • No: Nie (as in ‘nyeh’-nyeh-na-na-na)
  • OK: Dobrze (‘dough’ plus a ‘b’ then ‘shuh’)
    • Excuse me: Przepraszam (difficult to pronounce because it includes that oh-so-not-English combo – ‘p’ merges into ‘shey’ followed by ‘pra’ and ‘shem’)
    • What: Co (often used like an English ‘what??’ and pronounced ‘tso’)
    • Where: Gdzie ( ‘guh’ and ‘jay’)
    • When: Kiedy ( ‘key yeh dey’)
    • Who: Kto ( ‘k’ and ‘toe’)
    • Why: Dlaczego (‘dlah’ and ‘che’ and ‘go’)
    • How: Jak (just like ‘tock’ but with a ‘y’)
    • Good day: Dzień dobry (‘jean’ and ‘dough’ plus ‘bree’ like the cheese)
    • Hi: Cześć (use this one on friends only: ‘chay sh ch’ but run it all together as one sound)
    • Bye: Cześć (works like ‘aloha’, making informal comings and goings easy)
    • Good bye: Do widzenia (‘dough’ and ‘wid zen ya’ comes close enough)
    • I don’t speak Polish: Nie mowię po polsku (‘nie’ as above, ‘movie’ then ‘po’ as in really poor, and ‘pole sku’)
    • I don’t understand: Nie rozumiem ( ‘nie’ we know by now and ‘row zoo me m’ works for the operative word)
    • Help me please: Proszę mi pomoc (for those unexpected tourist emergencies – note the ‘prosze’ making yet another appearance, ‘mi’ is just like ‘me’ in English in sound and meaning and the ‘po moats’ functions as the HELP signal)
    • Please write that down: Proszę to napisać (when you ‘nie rozumiem’ but want to, stumble out ‘prosze’ as above then ‘toe’ which means it, and end with ‘nah pee sach’ which means write)

    • Political System

    Poland is a parliamentary democracy. Poland’s national assembly, called ‘Sejm’ and pronounced [seym], plays a vital role in the governmental system of Poland due to the long historic tradition of constitutional rule in the country, its political culture and contemporary experience in political governance.

    From the date of the earliest national assembly in 1493, Polish kings had to call the national assembly and regional assemblies every two years. From 1573 the system of free elections required the approval of the Sejm for the election of kings.

    Poland’s parliament is based on the two chamber system: the Sejm, the lower chamber, is composed of 460 Deputies, elected in general elections by secret ballot. The Senate, the upper chamber, consists of 100 Senators. Both cCourts and tribunals are separate and independent of the other branches of government. The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, common courts, administrative courts and military tribunals. Chambers sit for four years.

    Laws are adopted by the two houses. The Senate has the right to amend or reject a law passed by the Sejm, which in turn can overrule the decision of the senate by a majority vote. The Sejm names the members of the constitutional court, the ombudsman, the President of the Supreme Chamber of Audit and the president of the Bank of Poland.

    Also in general elections Poland elects a head of state, the President, whose term of office is five years. The President names the prime minister and, according to the recommendations of the prime minister, the cabinet, subject to the approval of the Sejm. The President cannot dismiss the government.

    The principal executive power is vested in the prime minister and the Council of Ministers, who are responsible only to the Sejm. The government can be revoked by the Sejm only by a constructive no-confidence vote.

    Courts and tribunals are independent of the other branches of government. The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, common courts, administrative courts and military tribunals.

    After a long period of Communist rule, from 1989 Poland is again a multi-party democracy. The current electoral threshold for a party to win seats in the general elections is 5%.

    Administrative regions

    Local government in Poland is organized one three levels. The largest regional level unit is voivodhsip (province). They were consolidated and reduced in number from 49 to 16 in 1999. At the next level are 314 powiaty (county districts), followed by ca. 2500 gminy (urban and rural communes).

    The other territorial units are the special units, such as the Capital City – Warszawa, the status which is regulated by has special legislation.

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    Poland (Country Guide)