A Question About Polish Alphabet and Orthography

Maybe I'm not the only one to find Polish spelling a little bit confusing and intricate...

Allright, I understand that there's a reason for using for instance "?" or 'RZ' which have an important etymological value.

But did the Poles ever consider introducing the quite simpler and more sensible system of diacritics used in Czech or Croatian? (instead of the 'CZ'/'SZ' or even 'SZCZ' and other consonant clusters)

Another question: how come there is a 'W' for 'V' in the Polish alphabet, and no 'V' at all?

Thanks for any information you can provide!

Sorry, I know I'm no help, but I have also found Polish spelling a little confusing... "Rz" and of course if there's "si" do you pronounce it /si/ or just "sh" i dunno...

It's confusing. Though probably not as much as English :-P Don't think you're alone.

Oi, Skippy, this is for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bA1Up0_h_s

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Poles avoided both the German and Russian systems of spelling for political reasons."

But why do they use a 'W' for the 'V' sound (like in German), and consequently have no 'V' in their alphabet?
I find it a little bit weird.

Speaking of the weirdness of the Polish language OïL, it has an additional letter in its alphabet system and that is "Ł" or "ł" which represent the sound of the English "W".

Now, I'm also wondering why they did not adopt "V" to represent the French/English "V" and "W" for English "W" sounds.

The slashed L has an etymologycal function: it sounds similar to an English W but is used where the Slavic root (and other Slavic languages) feature a plain normal L.

It's the same for 'RZ': it sounds like a voiced 'SH' or a French 'J', but here again there was originally a real R. Example: 'Rzym', whose pronunciation doesn't hint at the fact that it's the Polish name for the city of Rome!

That band, Elvis Jackson, they were pretty good... lol I wish they sang in Slovenian though...

Yeah, me too. I guess I should have posted that in English forum...LOL