Hamburg teacher learns Polish for love

Love speaks louder than logic

Michael’s Polish adventure started in the least academic way possible – with his heart, not his head. When he met Renata, an emergency nurse from Wrocław, he discovered something that decades of teaching couldn’t prepare him for: the vulnerability of being completely lost for words. “She speaks quite good German,” he explains, “but that was my motivation to move towards Polish.” It wasn’t a curriculum requirement or career advancement – it was simply wanting to reach her in her own language.

Michael knows what it’s like to be the expert in the room. But sitting in Tomasz’s Polish class, he’s discovered something crucial: being on the other side of the desk has reminded him just how much the teacher makes or breaks the experience. “I’m really enthusiastic about him,” Michael says about Tomasz. “He makes it really fun, and I know from experience how important it is to have a good relationship with your teacher and feel comfortable.” As someone who witnesses daily how student motivation flows from personal connection, Michael recognises that his own willingness to stumble through Polish grammar comes not just from love for his partner, but from finding an instructor who makes even his countless mistakes feel like progress.

Starting from scratch with a stubborn language

Michael thought learning Norwegian at university had prepared him for anything. He was wrong. “Polish is significantly more difficult for me,” he admits, describing how Norwegian felt familiar with its echoes of Low German, Dutch, and English. Polish, however, demands he set aside everything he thinks he knows about how languages work. Every single word feels foreign, except for obvious borrowings like “garage” or “auto” – small linguistic lifelines in an ocean of unfamiliar sounds.

The pronunciation alone makes him feel clumsy. Those diacritical marks – the strokes and hooks that transform ordinary letters into something entirely different – trip him up constantly. “It’s so unfamiliar,” he says, particularly when it comes to the consonant clusters that seem to defy his German-trained mouth. Where he once corrected his students’ grammar with confidence, now he’s the one being patiently corrected by Tomasz, trying to wrap his head around case endings that don’t behave like their German cousins. “I notice it takes time,” he reflects, “because the changes aren’t necessarily like they are in German.”

Finding balance between passion and pedals

When Michael isn’t puzzling over Polish grammar, you’ll likely find him on his road bike, cycling through Hamburg’s streets and countryside. It’s his one true hobby, the thing that clears his head after long days of teaching teenagers about ethics and philosophy or helping them navigate their first attempts at artistic expression. “It takes up quite a bit of time,” he says with the slight resignation of someone who knows that pursuing one passion often means sacrificing time for others.

The parallels between cycling and language learning aren’t lost on him. Both require patience, persistence, and the willingness to keep going when your legs – or your brain – feel tired. Both demand regular practice, consistent effort, and the acceptance that progress comes in small increments rather than dramatic breakthroughs. Just as he’s learned to pace himself on long rides, he’s having to pace himself with Polish, fighting the urge to cram daily lessons into an already packed schedule filled with lesson planning, marking, and household responsibilities.

Love, laughter, and Netflix linguistics

Michael and his partner have worked out their own version of international relations at home. When they settle in for a film night, they experiment with different language and subtitle combinations – sometimes German films with Polish subtitles for her, sometimes Polish audio with Norwegian subtitles for him. “We both get something out of it,” he grins, describing their rather unique approach to couple time. It’s practical, slightly chaotic, and perfectly fitting for two people navigating love across languages.

These shared evenings have also become possible because his sons, 22 and 14, are no longer the little boys who needed constant attention. “They’re not small children anymore,” he notes. The older one is working and applying for training or university, whilst the younger is busy with school and sports – both increasingly independent and focused on their own lives. This shift in family dynamics has given Michael more flexibility to pursue new interests, though he jokes that finding time for everything remains a perpetual challenge. The Polish lessons have become a welcome addition to his routine, offering something completely different from his usual responsibilities.

How Poland stole his heart

What started as romantic motivation has evolved into genuine cultural fascination. Michael finds himself enchanted by things he never would have noticed before – the superior taste of Polish tomatoes compared to German supermarket versions, the richness of Polish dairy products, the satisfying heartiness of pierogi and beetroot soup. “The vegetables,” he says with surprising enthusiasm, “are substantially better than what we get here.”

But it’s not just the food. He’s genuinely impressed by Polish people – their warmth, their work ethic, the way they’ll still be working on building sites when Germans have already called it a day. Wrocław has stolen his heart completely. “It’s a dream city,” he says, and this enthusiasm has sparked plans for exploring more of the country – Warsaw and Gdansk are next on his list. His parents, now retired, have become Poland enthusiasts too, regularly booking wellness holidays there and returning with glowing reports. What strikes Michael most is the sense of momentum he feels in Poland – a country moving forward with energy and optimism. He’s discovered that sometimes the most meaningful connections come from the most unexpected places.