People always say the English language is really difficult to learn and it is, but I think learning Croatian is even harder. It is a constant learning lesson being married to someone who's native tongue is different from your own. There are many more chances to be misunderstood or struggle to find the right words when trying to explain something. It takes years to master another language but if you are traveling to Croatia as an English speaking person, I can give you a few Croatian language tips to know before you go and hopefully help make your visit a little bit easier.
Igor learned English by watching English speaking TV shows and reading the Croatian subtitles and therefore matching what he was hearing with what he was reading. Many say immersion is the best way to learn a language and if you don't use it you lose it. Well, I can tell you, this is completely true. When I would visit Igor for a month at a time in Croatia by the third week I would really start to be able to piece together conversation and I could even start to form basic sentences, but then I would be out of Croatia for several months and would forget most of it unfortunately.
Igor didn't really have to begin speaking English until he began working on cruise ships in his early 30s. When I first met Igor in 2010 he had a thick accent but he spoke English really well I thought. I remember there were certain words he would get stuck recalling and so he would start to describe what he was trying to say and we would eventually figure it out together.
One of my favorite funny language moments is when Igor asked me "what is it called when you see yourself in the mirror or water?" and I replied, "reflection," and he didn't believe me! He thought I was toying with him! He did the same thing with the word "placemat," don't ask me why, I guess it just didn't sound right to him.
1. Croatian is a Slavic language. It has seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, locative and instrumental. Many times the ending of a word changes depending on the case and the ending of the word also changes depending on if it is male or female and singular or plural. I think this is the hardest part of learning Croatian because we do not use all of the same cases in English and the ending of a word does not change because of it or the word's gender.
2. What IS really easy about the Croatian language is there are no silent letters, so basically once you have the alphabet down, you can read out any word with ease.
Letters Croatians have and in English we don't: č (hard ch), ć (soft ch), đ (soft j), dž (hard j), lj (ly), nj (ny), š (sh) and ž (soft g)
Letters we have in English, but they pronounce differently: c (ts), e (eh), i (ee), u (oo), j (y)
Letters Croatians don't have and in English we do: q, w, x and y
So our last name Cerović would be pronounced in English, ts-e-r-o-v-ee-ch (soft ch)
3. Even though there is only one official Croatian language, there are three separate dialects and many different accents from town to town. Some of these accents change even a mile down the road from one another. Local people will recognize which town you are coming from by the accent you speak. This aspect makes the language even more complicated to learn because you feel like everyone around you is speaking a different version. It is even hard at times for Igor to understand other Croatian dialects in parts of his own country that he doesn't travel to often.
The three major dialects used in Croatia are:
Čakavski dialect - this is Igor's dialect and is spoken in Istria, some of the islands and in the northern coastal region of the country.
Kajkavski dialect - this is Igor's mother's dialect because she was born inland in the region of Gorski Kotar, spoken in the northwest region of the country, including the capitol of Zagreb.
Štokavski dialect - spoken in the northeast region of the country as well as in the southern part, including the cities of Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik.
Another funny language story: Igor first grew up in the mountain town of Lokve speaking Kajkavski until the age of seven when he and his family moved 45 minutes closer to the Adriatic sea to the town of Tribalj where they speak Čakavski. On the first day of Igor's new school the kids giggled when he spoke because they heard his dialect and knew immediately he was new to the area.
4. In the past there were many Italians living in the northern coastal regions of Croatia. In the city of Rijeka, there is even an Italian Highschool. So if you're visiting this area you will sometimes hear a mix of Italian words into the language.
For example:
Italians say pomodoro for tomato and Croatians in this region will say pomidor rather than rajčica, the official Croatian word for tomato.
Some Croatians will say Ciao for "Hi" or "Bye" like Italians do, instead of Halo, Bok or Zdravo.
where both places speak the Čakavski dialect but both also have their own accents
and locals know right away who is from where.
5. Here are the Top 10 Most Useful Words/Phrases to know when traveling to Croatia:
Bok = Hi/Bye
Molim = Please/You're welcome
Hvala = Thank you
Račun = Bill
Koliko? = How much?
Oprostite = Pardon me
Pomozite = Help
Gdje je _? = Where is _?
Kada je _? = When is _?
Govoriš li engleski? = Do you speak English?
6. Most Croatians in tourist areas speak English and are happy to assist you in any way you may need. But, some do not, like my mother-in-law, so for example, if you bumped into someone like her at the market it would be polite to say "Oprostite" because if you say "Pardon me" or "Sorry" they might not understand you.
7. For more help learning Croatian, I suggest using a language app on your phone. You can practice on the go, at your own pace. My favorite app is Pimsleur.
For even more serious learning, I encourage you to take private or group language lessons. I highly recommend Croatian Language School with Linda. I do weekly, one on one lessons with her over Skype and I have made some huge improvements.
For all you need to know about Croatia's food scene READ:
Knowing these few tips about the Croatian language has helped me immensely and hopefully will help you before you go on your vacation. Croatians appreciate when you try to speak their language and it gives you the sense you are truly immersing yourself in the culture and customs you are visiting.
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Happy Travels! Sretan Put!
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