START 1–3 review — Polish-only beginner course from START Polish
Beginner coursebook series
Best for: Beginners who are ready to learn in Polish only, from the first lesson, with cheap books and free audio.
- Authors
- Kamila Dembińska, Agnieszka Małyska
- Publisher
- START Polish
- Edition
- 2017–2025
- Level
- A1–A2
- ISBN
- 978-83-970623-6-8
What this book is
START is a three-part beginner series written by Kamila Dembińska and Agnieszka Małyska, teachers who run the Klub Dialogu language school in Warsaw and the START Polish publishing house:
- START 1 — Survival Polish (A1), 132 pages.
- START 2 — Beginner Polish (continuation of A1).
- START 3 — Higher Beginner Polish (A2).
The series uses the direct method: from lesson one you work only in Polish, with no translations. Each level has a student's book and a workbook with an answer key, and the audio is free to download. Each book has 10 units. The ISBN above is for the 2025 edition of START 1.
Who it suits best
- Beginners in Poland who want practical everyday Polish quickly.
- Learners in a course or with a teacher using the direct method.
- People on a budget: the books are inexpensive and the audio is free.
Who should pick something else
- Learners who want explanations in English or another language.
- Anyone already at A2+ aiming at the exam: the series stops at A2. The same publisher's Zdaj się na polski! continues to B1.
What's inside
- Short, practical lessons with everyday constructions, pronunciation practice and grammar "only as much as necessary".
- START 2 and 3 move into authentic everyday situations and all four skills.
- Workbooks with answers, so you can check yourself.
- Free audio; flipbook and teacher's materials are sold separately.
What learners and teachers say
We found no learner reviews of START anywhere we could check — the publisher's shop, Polish price-comparison sites, Amazon and Goodreads show no reviews or only single star ratings. The only substantial opinion is a professional review of START 3 in the University of Warsaw's journal Kwartalnik Polonicum (Święcka, 2017). It praises the decision to replace instructions and grammar explanations with "very clear graphic symbols", the intensive pronunciation training in every lesson, the consistent lesson layout, grammar in clear tables and authentic materials such as forms and job ads. (The reviewer later co-wrote Zdaj się na polski! for the same publisher.) An academic chapter on teaching intonation (Cychnerska and Kubicka, 2020) also lists START among the few series with regular pronunciation exercises — while noting that these exercises deliberately have no instructions, which can leave self-learners unsure what to do.
Our verdict
A sensible A1–A2 foundation if you are comfortable learning without translations — look at a sample lesson on the publisher's site before you buy. Continue with a B1 course afterwards and check your progress with our free B1 practice tests.
These reviews are independent. We are not paid by any publisher or bookshop, and we do not sell these books. Descriptions are based on the publishers' information, the books' contents and publicly available reviews by learners and teachers.