Book excerpt: This volume starts with an overview of the history of teaching Polish as a foreign language from the beginning of the 16th century to 1939. The authors then present the rapid development of teaching Polish as a foreign language from 1992 to 2015. This is supplemented by information on the methodology of teaching Polish. In the next part they describe the didactics of the Polish language abroad, followed by the introduction of the Polish language policy and the promotion of Polish outside Poland. Then they present the teaching of Polish as a second language and the problems of communication. At the end, information is given about the achievements of European didactics in the field of teaching Polish as a foreign and second language. The volume concludes with a proposal for the creation of a didactics of European languages (including Slavic languages as well).