Phonetic notation experiment

[Rafal]

This surprised me, because the same can definitely not be said about the relatively similar language Czech.

Then again, Czech pronunciation is quite consistent. Once you know the rules, you can pronounce word correctly. The pronunciation is, however, IMPOSSIBLE to guess if you don't know these rules.

Is that the same with Polish?

Yes, you have to know the rules. And you probably won't get them on your own.
For example you read "sz" like "sh" in English. So you read in Polish "szok" as "shock". So there are letter combinations that produce a new sound. But it's just like in English.
There are also several letters with diactrics not present in English like ą ę ć ł ń ó ż ź just like in Czech. You need to know how to say them.

The good thing for learning Polish is that it alsmost has no dialects. There used to be many dialects but today they are dying and people that genuinely use them are few, 90 years old and living in some most remote villages. Some exceptions are Silesian dialect and dialect of Polish highlanders which are still somehow popular.

[Rafal]

And here is the original English text:

Code:

"Certain plants have always been extremely valuable to us. We know one of them as yarrow. This plant became a powerful ally for us here on Earth a long time ago, as was clearly revealed by its presence in Neanderthal graves discovered in the Mediterranean basin, reportedly dating back around sixty thousand years! Yarrow is steeped in myth and legend; it is a plant that many cultures of the world have widely used and revered. It is known in Latin as Achillea millefolium and was named in honour of the Greek god Achilles; who according to legend, had course to widely employ this wound staunching herb on the battlefield. Undoubtedly a sovereign remedy of our herbal medicine cabinet as you will soon see, yarrow rightly remains a favourite of practitioners working with plant medicines. Alongside dandelions and plantains, yarrow is another of our globally available, herbal first aid plants! Wispy, feathery foliage, which superficially resembles the wild carrot. Yarrow’s laciniate leaves, with their thin and finely divided lobes, gave rise to its other common names; ‘milfoil’ and ‘thousand leaf’. New growth will re-emerge from its creeping and steadily spreading rhizomes in early spring. This root system means we regularly find the plant growing as dense mats. The basal leaves are sometimes quite large and sprawling, always on long petioles, and initially grow in a rosette. When coming into flower, the stem leaves become shorter, sessile, and alternately spaced. Yarrow blooms from June, with furrowed, flowering stems, typically reaching heights of sixty-seventy centimeters. Often referred to as ‘umbel-like’; the untrained eye could initially mistake yarrow’s flowering structure for an umbel, and place yarrow in the carrot family. However, look closely from below, and you will observe numerous flower stalks condensed together high up the stem, and you will see how they do not all originate from a central point on the stem, as per umbelliferous plants. The composite flowers taste bitter, and have a characteristic medicinal odour. Usually, yarrow has creamy white ray-florets, delicately framing the orange-tinted, central disk-florets. But pink strains of yarrow will frequently be seen. Five or six florets are typically found in each individual flower head."