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Foreigners have several times conquered Poland, but few foreigners have ever mastered the pronunciation of Polish. It has a peculiar letter similar to L which is pronounced like W; W is pronounced like V or F; CZ like SH; SZ as in the word "azure." Poles also frequently half tick off an extra consonant or two that is hitched in front of many words, and pronounce OW at the end of words as in "woof-woof."
The names of various places and people connected with the War in Poland, together with rough approximations of their pronunciation (suitable for U. S. tongues):
Warszawa (Warsaw): var-sha-va
Bydgoszcz: bid-goch
Wisla (Vistula) : vees-wa.
Tczew: cheff
Poznań: posh-nine
Grudziadz: groo-jaj
Lódź: wooj
Mlawa: Wa-va.
Czestochowa: ches-to-Ao-va
Kraków: kra-koof
Lwów: voof
Rzeszów: shay-shooi
Chojnice: hoy-weet-sa
Katowice: kat-o-veet-sa.
Brześć: shetch
Pszczyna: sh-chee-na
Przasnysz: shas-nitch
Przemyśl: shem-ishl
Puck: pootsk
Luck: wootsk
Smigly-Rydz: shmig-wy-rij
Slawoj-Skladkowski: swa-voy-skwad-kof-ski
Swistoslawski: svis-to-swav-ski
Kasprzycki: kasp-sheet-ski
Moscicki: mo-cheet-ski
Stachiewicz: stahi-evish
Raczynski: rash-een-ski
Lukasiewicz: woo-feasz-evish
Potocki: pot-otski
*In 1927 at the Geneva disarmament talks U.S. Delegate Hugh Gibson said : "This conference has become a matter of hogs, fogs, and bogs."
