Meryl Streep and the Polish accent in *Sophie's Choice*

While preparing to play Sophie in the 1982 film *Sophie's Choice*, Meryl Streep worked on Polish and a Polish accent. A 1981 TIME article said she planned to study Polish five days a week for three months; later, the actor recalled practicing at home. The claim that she mastered the accent “in a few weeks” is therefore not supported by these sources. A linguistic study examines how convincingly her speech reproduces Polish phonetic features, so calling it “highly authentic” is a judgment, not an undisputed fact.