Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Europe's Best Linguists
Why do Croatians and Slovenes speak English so well?
Residents ofbig,powerfulWesternEuropeancountries, suchasGermanyorItaly,
might think that foreigners should learn their language. But Croatians and Slovenes
are as practical as Germans and Italians are stubborn. They realize that it's unreas-
onable to expect an American to learn Croatian (5 million speakers worldwide) or
Slovene (2 million). When only a few million people on the planet speak your lan-
guage, it's essential to find a common language with the rest of the world—so they
learn English early and well.
In Croatia, all schoolchildren start learning English in the third grade. (I've
had surprisingly eloquent conversations with Croatian grade-schoolers.) And, since
Americantelevisionprogramsherearesubtitledratherthandubbed,peoplegetplenty
of practice hearing American English (with a nonstop simultaneous translation). This
meansCroatiansandSlovenesspeaknottextbookEnglish,but real English—andcan
be more proficient in slang than some Americans.
Whenever I've heard a Croatian and a foreigner (say, a Norwegian) conversing in
English, it's a reminder to me that as Americans, we're lucky to speak the world's
new lingua franca.
CroatianandSlovenearenotoriousfortheirseeminglyunpronounceableconsonantcom-
binations. Most difficult are hv (as in hvala, “thank you”) and nj (as in Bohinj, a lake in
Slovenia). Foreigners are notorious for over-pronouncing these combinations. In the com-
bination hv, the h is nearly silent; if you struggle with it, simply leave off the h, or turn the
hv into an f (for hvala , just say “FAH-lah”). When you see nj, the j is mostly silent, with a
very slight “y” sound that can be omitted: for Bohinj, just say BOH-heen. Listen to locals
and imitate.
A few key words are helpful for navigation: trg (pronounced “turg,” square), ulica
(OO-leet-sah,road), cesta (TSEH-stah,avenue), autocesta (OW-toh-tseh-stah,expressway),
most (mohst, bridge), otok (OH-tohk, island), trajekt (TRAH-yehkt, ferry), and Jadran
(YAH-drahs,Adriatic).Ifyouforgetthewordfor“thankyou” (hvala), justthinkof“koala.”
Note that Bosnia and Montenegro each have their own languages, but both are very
closely related to Croatian—using virtually all of the same letters and words listed above.
Throughout Croatia and Slovenia, German can be a useful second language (especially
in Croatia, which is popular among German-speaking tourists). And a few words of Italian
can also come in handy, especially in bicultural Istria.
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