Real foreign languages in fantasy settings?

I was just wondering what some people's opinions were on using say, Polish in a land where Poland doesn't exist?

I'd just change the name, I'm thinking of using Italian as my language acctually. It's easier than coming up with something:)

I don't see any reason why you can't use a real language in a fake setting. Even in a fantasy world remarkably similar languages could exist. You might want to add an author's note explaining why you chose that language.

I use a few words from other languages when one of my characters is using a term in his language, usually with an explanation of its meaning. It adds flavor. So my dwarves speak Welsh, unless my Welsh dictionary doesn't have it or the word's too close to English. Then they hop over to Albanian. So far all my elves need only speak Armenian and that's just a few words now and then, mostly names. (I got all those dictionaries from library book sales)
It's easier than creating individual languages for each race. That would take a linguist like Tolkein to do that.

... kind of reminds me how some videogames include interesting accents for the different fantasy countries.
I think this is a nice idea. Why go through the trouble of inventing a language without having the knowledge how to do so if there are plenty of interesting languages around anyway?
The only problem could be actually getting the grammar and everything right. I already saw people writing fanfiction that had extremely awful sentences in German, just because they made one of their characters talk in that language (I know that because it's my native language).
I guess apart from research it would also be wise to ask some native speakers for their input if you actually plan on publishing or generally posting it somewhere since people will always nag or remind you if something goes wrong.

Boy, I sure hope you can, cuz I have done almost exactly that!

More to the point, I like what Earthsick says: anybody in the world can sit down and mash some words out on a typewriter and say "in my language, that means 'I love you.'" (To do it WELL, with a whole consistent syntax and rules of grammar, is an exceptionally difficult and involved task which I mean to disparage not even slightly.)

But I do think there is something pretty great about introducing or re-introducing real-life languages to your readers. Not only is it a nice treat for any reader who happens to speak it (though as again with Earthsick, that does mean you better do your homework, hard!), but like BJQ says, it imparts a "flavor" to your fantasy-folks that tickles the part of our brains which relish familiar patterns. (If I introduce you to three fellows named Meringue, Fondant, and Chocolatine, you wouldn't need to parlez-vous the ol' Francais to get an idea that maybe there's a pattern in there.) It's a vast and considerably splendid world out there, and drawing fearlessly from it can only make your fantasy-world richer as a result!

Go right ahead, it's a whole lot easier than creating your own.
I used a bit of Latin in some of my stories, and it helped draw on the whole ancestors-of-ancient-humans thing I had going. Plus, it made for private conversations between two of my characters even when my main character was in the room. She never took Latin.
To this day, Ivan's last words remain a mystery to those of us who never studied the language of ancient Rome...

Ah, you have all solved a major problem for me where languages and accents are required on an alternate earth! The countries are different now, but I'm gonna let the languages survive!

Thanks! :D

I'm using Latin as the language on a different planet. I think it's fine. In my book I said that the language originated on that planet and was brought to Earth.