Polish language is said to be one of the most difficult for foreigners to learn. Its pronunciation is not a piece of cake. The crews that have come to Szczecin try to communicate in English or German, but there are some ambitious ones as well. A crewman of Atena, Sweden (class B) had made an effort to learn some words in Polish before he arrived in Szczecin.
The mini-dictionary that the sailors received seems to be interesting. Apart from some courteous phrases (good bye - do widzenia, please-proszę, thank you - tack, bless you - na zdrowie), there are such indispensable words as: a ship - statek, a yacht- żaglówka, a crew - załoga, a deck - pokład, as well as some ‘shopping’ expressions: how much - ile kosztuje, water - woda, I don’t understand - nie rozumiem, vodka - wódka. The Swedish sailor must have wanted to learn something about the history of Poland, as he learnt the word ‘communism’ (komunizm).
