The new colleague in Polish
An office kitchen, two colleagues discussing the newcomer in Polish. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Jak ci się podoba nowy kolega z pracy?» — How do you find the new colleague from work?; «Wygląda poważnie, ale jest bardzo towarzyski.» — He looks serious, but he is very sociable. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: an office kitchen, two colleagues discussing the newcomer. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Jak ci się podoba nowy kolega z pracy?How do you find the new colleague from work?
- Wygląda poważnie, ale jest bardzo towarzyski.He looks serious, but he is very sociable.
- A czy jest pracowity? Poprzedni ciągle się spóźniał.And is he hard-working? The previous one was constantly late.
- Bardzo. I cierpliwy, tłumaczy spokojnie dwa razy.Very. And patient — he explains calmly twice.
- Ma poczucie humoru?Does he have a sense of humor?
- Tak, opowiada śmieszne historie o podróżach.Yes, he tells funny stories about travelling.
Lines one by one
| Polish | Translation |
|---|---|
| Jak ci się podoba nowy kolega z pracy? | How do you find the new colleague from work? |
| Wygląda poważnie, ale jest bardzo towarzyski. | He looks serious, but he is very sociable. |
| A czy jest pracowity? Poprzedni ciągle się spóźniał. | And is he hard-working? The previous one was constantly late. |
| Bardzo. I cierpliwy, tłumaczy spokojnie dwa razy. | Very. And patient — he explains calmly twice. |
| Ma poczucie humoru? | Does he have a sense of humor? |
| Tak, opowiada śmieszne historie o podróżach. | Yes, he tells funny stories about travelling. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Polish in this situation?
“Jak ci się podoba nowy kolega z pracy?” — How do you find the new colleague from work? The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.