Learn Polish for Russian speakers
Polish stories generated at your level, with one-tap translations into Russian. Closer than you think.
Free to start · no card · your first story in 10 seconds
What Russian speakers already know
Russian and Polish share a deep Slavic skeleton: cases, verb aspect, free word order, and grammatical gender all work in familiar ways. Roughly a third of everyday Polish vocabulary will feel obvious on first sight — woda, mleko, dom, czas, ojciec. That head start lets you skip the painful first 200 hours that monolingual English speakers spend on basics.
The friction points
- Polish uses the Latin alphabet with extra letters (ą, ę, ć, ł, ś, ź, ż) — readable on day one, but tricky to pronounce without exposure.
- Nasal vowels (ą, ę) have no direct Russian equivalent and need ear training, not flashcards.
- Word stress is almost always on the penultimate syllable — opposite of Russian's mobile stress, which means even known words can sound foreign at first.
- Several common words mean the opposite of what they look like to a Russian speaker (see false friends below).
False friends to know first
Words that look familiar but mean something else. The first ones to learn so you don't embarrass yourself.
What Polish looks like in Newt
Generated by Newt at the level you set. Tap any word for an instant Russian translation, definition, and pronunciation — no leaving the page.
W Warszawie często pada deszcz, ale to nie problem.
В Варшаве часто идёт дождь, но это не проблема.
Half the words map directly to Russian — pada/падает, deszcz/дождь, problem/проблема.
Mój brat pracuje w sklepie obok dworca.
Мой брат работает в магазине рядом с вокзалом.
Notice the false friend: sklep here means shop, not crypt.
Why Russian speakers pick up Polish
Russian-speaking immigrants and refugees make up one of the largest learner cohorts in Poland — there are over a million Ukrainian and Russian speakers in Warsaw, Kraków, and Wrocław alone, most of whom are picking up Polish for work, university, or long-term residency. Reading is what gets you from "I understand cashiers" to "I can read an HR contract".
Read → tap → save → repeat
- Tell Newt what you care aboutPick a topic (cycling, history, coffee, indie games — anything). Newt writes you a short Polish story around it at your level.
- Tap any word for instant translationTap a word — Newt shows the Russian translation, definition, and pronunciation in a popup. No page-switching.
- Save the ones you don't know yetSaved words land in your vocabulary list with the sentence you met them in — context comes free.
- Newt reuses them in your next storyEach new story tries to fold in 2-3 words you recently saved, so you meet them again in fresh context. That's how vocabulary actually sticks.
- Spaced repetition catches what slippedA short daily review session brings back words the algorithm thinks you're about to forget. Same idea as Anki, except you never had to build the deck.
Common questions
How is this different from Duolingo for Polish?
Duolingo teaches isolated phrases in a fixed curriculum. Newt generates short stories from topics you actually care about, at your current level, with every word tappable for an instant Russian translation. Words you save come back automatically in future stories — that's the part that makes vocabulary stick.
How is this different from asking ChatGPT to write me a Polish text?
ChatGPT can write you a story, but it forgets everything between sessions. It doesn't know which words you already learned, doesn't space them out for review, and doesn't quietly weave your saved words into the next story. Newt does all of that — it's a closed loop, not a one-shot prompt.
What level of Polish do I need to start?
Any. Newt supports A1 (complete beginner) through C1 (advanced). At A1 you'll get short, very simple texts with high-frequency vocabulary; at B2+ you'll get nuanced articles and stories. The system calibrates as you tap and save words.
Is it free?
Yes — there's a free plan with 3 fresh AI texts every day, no card required to sign up. Premium lifts the daily cap and lets you study multiple languages at once; you can upgrade anytime.
How long until I can read a real book in Polish?
Realistic timeline for Russian speakers: 4-8 months of consistent daily reading (15-30 min) to read a young-adult novel comfortably, 12+ months to read literary fiction. The single biggest predictor is hours of input — Newt's job is to make those hours easy to start.
Start reading Polish tonight
Pick a topic, your first story lands in 10 seconds. Free to start, no card.