Editing Polish language (section)

==Geographic distribution==
{{See also|Geographical distribution of Polish speakers}}
Poland is one of the most linguistically [[wikt:Homogeneous|homogeneous]] European countries; nearly 97% of Poland's citizens declare Polish as their [[first language]]. Elsewhere, [[Polish people|Poles]] constitute large minorities in areas which were once administered or occupied by Poland, notably in neighboring [[Lithuania]], [[Belarus]], and [[Ukraine]]. Polish is the most widely-used minority language in Lithuania's [[Vilnius County]], by 26% of the population, according to the 2001 census results, as [[Vilnius]] was part of Poland from 1922 until 1939. Polish is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. In Ukraine, it is most common in the western parts of [[Lviv Oblast|Lviv]] and [[Volyn Oblast]]s, while in [[West Belarus]] it is used by the significant Polish minority, especially in the [[Brest, Belarus|Brest]] and [[Grodno]] regions and in areas along the Lithuanian border. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries.

In the [[United States]], [[Polish Americans]] number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. According to the [[2000 United States Census]], 667,414 <!-- directly from the Census table. --> Americans of age five years and over reported Polish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of people who speak languages other than [[English language|English]], 0.25% of the US population, and 6% of the Polish-American population. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census (over 50%) were found in three states: [[Illinois]] (185,749), {{awrap|[[New York (state)|New York]]}} (111,740), and [[New Jersey]] (74,663).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t20/tab05.pdf |title=Table 8. Detailed List of Languages Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over : By State |publisher=Census.gov |access-date=2015-03-31 |archive-date=17 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117052130/https://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t20/tab05.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Enough people in these areas speak Polish that [[PNC Financial Services]] (which has a large number of branches in all of these areas) offers services available in Polish at all of their [[cash machine]]s in addition to [[English language|English]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pnc.com/en/personal-banking/banking/services/atm-layouts.html|title=PNC ATM Banking|website=PNC|language=en|access-date=2017-11-02|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012044/https://www.pnc.com/en/personal-banking/banking/services/atm-layouts.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in [[England]] and [[Wales]] who consider Polish to be their "main" language. In [[Canada]], there is a significant [[Polish Canadians|Polish Canadian population]]: There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in [[Toronto]] (91,810 speakers) and [[Montreal]].<ref name="census">{{cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/topics/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?ALEVEL%3D3%26APATH%3D3%26CATNO%3D%26DETAIL%3D0%26DIM%3D%26DS%3D99%26FL%3D0%26FREE%3D0%26GAL%3D0%26GC%3D99%26GK%3DNA%26GRP%3D1%26IPS%3D%26METH%3D0%26ORDER%3D1%26PID%3D89189%26PTYPE%3D88971%26RL%3D0%26S%3D1%26ShowAll%3DNo%26StartRow%3D1%26SUB%3D705%26Temporal%3D2006%26Theme%3D70%26VID%3D0%26VNAMEE%3D%26VNAMEF%3D |title=Various Languages Spoken (147), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census – 20% Sample Data |access-date=September 21, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527030141/http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/topics/RetrieveProductTable.cfm?ALEVEL=3&APATH=3&CATNO=&DETAIL=0&DIM=&DS=99&FL=0&FREE=0&GAL=0&GC=99&GK=NA&GRP=1&IPS=&METH=0&ORDER=1&PID=89189&PTYPE=88971&RL=0&S=1&ShowAll=No&StartRow=1&SUB=705&Temporal=2006&Theme=70&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |archive-date=May 27, 2008 |website=Statistics Canada }}</ref>

The geographical distribution of the Polish language was greatly affected by the [[territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II]] and [[Polish population transfers (1944–46)]]. Poles settled in the "[[Recovered Territories]]" in the west and north, which had previously been mostly [[German language|German]]-speaking. Some Poles remained in the previously Polish-ruled territories in the east that were annexed by the [[Soviet Union|USSR]], resulting in the present-day Polish-speaking communities in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine, although many Poles were expelled from those areas to areas within Poland's new borders. To the east of Poland, the most significant Polish minority lives in a long strip along either side of the [[Lithuania]]-[[Belarus]] border. Meanwhile, the [[flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)]], as well as the [[population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine|expulsion of Ukrainians]] and [[Operation Vistula]], the 1947 migration of Ukrainian minorities in the Recovered Territories in the west of the country, contributed to the country's linguistic homogeneity.

{{multiple image
| header            = Geographic language distribution maps of Poland from pre-WWII to present
| header_align      = center
| header_background = #CCCCFF
| align             = center
| direction         = horizontal
| width1            = 346
| image1            = Curzon line en.svg
| caption1          = The "[[Recovered Territories]]" (in pink) were parts of Germany, including the [[Free City of Danzig]] ([[Gdańsk]]), that became part of Poland after World War II. The territory shown in grey was lost to the Soviet Union, which [[Polish population transfers (1944–46)|expelled many Poles]] from the area.
| width2            = 275
| image2            = Languages of CE Europe-3.PNG
| caption2          = Geographical distribution of the Polish language (green) and other Central and Eastern European languages and dialects. A large Polish-speaking diaspora remains in the countries located east of Poland that were once the [[Eastern Borderlands]] of the [[Second Polish Republic]] (1918–1939).
| width3            = 290
| image3            = Map_of_the_Polish_language.png
| caption3          = Knowledge of the Polish language within parts of [[Europe]]. Polish is not a majority language of any nation outside of Poland, though areas that speak and are majority Polish are present in some neighboring countries.
}}