Birth Certificate | Diploma | Marriage Certificate | Divorce Certificate | Driver's License | Police Clearance Certificate

In Poland official documents such as Polish Status Book (“Księga Stanu Cywilnego”), Polish Birth Certificate (“Odpis Zupelny”), Academic Diploma, Degree, Marriage Certificate, Divorce Decree, Driver's License, Police Clearance report, etc are in Polish. Polish immigrants to the US have to produce Polish to English certified translations of these documents for US government agencies such as USCIS, Courts, Colleges, etc.

Polish (“Język Polski”, “Polszczyzna”) is a West Slavic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. After Russian, Polish is the second most spoken Slavic language.

In addition to Poland, Polish is also spoken in Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Israel. Polish is the official language of Poland. Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, Polish is now also an official language of the European Union.

It is estimated that there are 45 to 55 million Polish speakers in the world. Within Poland, the different versions or dialects of Polish are Greater Polish, Lesser Polish, Masovian, Podhale and Silesian. Polish authorities have been fairly successful in ensuring that there is a homogenous Polish language throughout Poland. Written Polish dates back to 1136. The Polish writing system is based on Latin, but uses diacritics, kropka and ogonek. There are in all 32 alphabets. Polish grammar tends to be difficult; for example there are five genders in Polish. Polish verb conjugation and noun declension are irregular and adds to the language’s complexity. The Polish Language Council (“Rada Języka Polskiego”), which was formed in 1996, is the official regulator of the Polish language.

The term “Polonia” is usually used to refer to Poles outside of Poland. There are approximately 20 million Poles living outside of Poland and speak Polish as their native language; with the largest concentration in the United States. Many of the poles choose to immigrate to the U.S. and subsequently need certified translation of their polish documents in order to submit to USCIS.

The largest concentration of Polish community in the US is in Chicago. Seven states of the United States of America have a Polish American population of half a million or more. These states are New York, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wisconsin and California.