Mother tongue is the most perfect tool for mutual understanding. Conscious of its value, the users not only benefit from the wealth of its forms, but also care about its development. The article presents the results of surveys on the perception of the contemporary Polish language. A negative image of the Polish language emerges from the analyzed material; 67% of the respondents value it negatively. The remaining respondents either evaluate contemporary Polish positively (22% of respondents) or see its systemic, stylistic and functional heterogeneity (11% of respondents). Different attitudes towards language processes and their relationships with the language behavior of contemporary Polish speakers testify to the linguistic awareness of the subjects; understanding the role and beauty of native speech gives hope for its intergenerational continuity.