It should come as no surprise to anyone that Polish is the sole official language of Poland. Contrary to many countries in Africa and Asia, European countries tend to be divided by language, with a single language native to the majority of inhabitants. Poland is no exception, with around 97% of the Polish population sporting Polish as their mother tongue—but the Slavic nation is nonetheless home to a handful of minority languages, including two almost fully contained within the Polish borders: Silesian and Kashubian.
With more than half a million speakers, Silesian stands proudly as Polish’s biggest minority language, outranking the country’s other major minority language, Kashubian, by around five times. Most Silesians also speak Polish, as it’s necessary for daily life in the Central European country, and as many as 300,000 ethnically Silesian people don’t speak their ancestral tongue at all. The very existence of the language is even up for debate, with most Polish linguists classifying it as a notable Polish dialect, though many ethnic Silesians disagree, viewing Silesian as a separate language closely related to Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Sorbian. With Silesian’s status as a distinct language uncertain, most translation companies just translate Polish and ignore Silesian—but not us at TranslationServices.com.
We proudly translate both Polish and Silesian, with a dedicated team of Silesian translators providing tailored services for the language. If you want to see a free quote, just ask!
What makes Silesian so unique?
Silesian is the indigenous tongue of the southwestern Polish region of Silesia, encompassing the major Polish city of Wroclaw and also dipping into Czechia and Germany. Today, most Silesian speakers reside in Upper Silesia, primarily in the provinces of Silesian Voivodeship and Opole Voivodeship. Smaller numbers of Silesian speakers may also be found in neighboring areas of Czechia, though Silesia and Silesian are typically associated with Poland.
Silesian is extremely similar to Polish, which is why many linguists classify it as a divergent dialect, but it also demonstrates many notable differences and, more importantly, constitutes a critical element of the Silesian identity. Silesian features a number of morphological differences from Polish and may use entirely different vocabulary in some cases, though the vocabulary is usually quite similar. One marked difference between Silesian and Polish is the lack of an interrogative particle in Silesian, with yes-or-no questions formed through intonation or inverting the subject and verb, like in English. Polish, conversely, uses an interrogative particle or intonation—but an entirely different intonation pattern from Silesian.
No matter your Silesian translation needs, we’re here to help.
Whether you think Silesian is a distinct language or a Polish dialect, we’re dedicated to providing reliable, highly tailored translation services for the tongue. Our translators are proud Silesians, speaking Silesian since childhood, and they love sharing their knowledge to help people across Poland and the rest of the world connect with their native community. Our Silesian translators come from all parts of Silesia and the regions of Czechia where Silesian is spoken, which means our team is diverse and able to accommodate the needs of various clients.
Translating your marketing content into Silesian can be a unique and effective way to market your brand to Silesian speakers, who will respect you for your dedication to their language—and we’d love to help you with this innovative promotional campaign. Or maybe you’re a language activist who wants to provide Silesian-speaking children with educational materials in their native language—we can help with that, too. Our Silesian translation team is also passionate about literary translation and localization, translating both Silesian-language stories into English for the wider world to enjoy and converting English-language content such as books, poems, games, and apps into Silesian to expand the language’s domain of use and encourage more people in the community to learn their ancestral tongue. Whatever you need, we can translate it, whether to or from Silesian.
We’re proud to provide high-quality, reliable Silesian translations for everyone. Send us a message if you’d like to get started!