u/Different_Poem5013

A1: Just a little bit of everything, maybe one or two words per sentence. No full sentences! I suck, but I’m happy.

A2: If it’s in simple, <10 word sentences, I’m almost fluent! I don’t suck!

B1: I understand everything based on vibes, and can come up with a passable response. I might suck?

B2: I understand normal conversations, but speak incorrectly. Technically fluent, in the sense of flowing, but damn I suck.

C1: I can understand everything, speak correctly a lot of the time, but still sound unnatural. Damn, I suck.

C2: ???? (Please tell me your experiences)

So… I’ve been learning Serbian/Croatian for some time and I’d say I’ve reached a comfortable C1 (ie. I sound natural enough, can understand pretty much everything, have deep conversations, and sound like a reasonable person while communicating.)

So, why not date someone (casually) who speaks it?

I did. Here are 5 insights I found:

1. You have a different personality.

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I found myself to be much more self-assured while speaking Serbo-Croatian. Maybe it’s because I’ve only had positive experiences and I haven’t lived through the tough periods in this language, I feel in control of who I am and my emotions.

2. You won’t learn as much as you think you will.

The truth is, when you’re at that weird stage where you’re technically fluent but it doesn’t feel 100% native, you know so many words. unfortunately, your partner, as a native speaker, will know so much more than you and will only teach you words that might not be that useful in daily life (ie. items around the house, specific verbs for body actions, etc.) it’s certainly useful to bridge the gap between C1 and C2, but it takes an incredibly long time. Your partner will have to use rare or ultra-specific words often enough for you to absorb them, and especially in a short-term relationship, it won’t come up quite as often.

3. You have to meet the person in the language.

It’s really weird for me: once I pick a language and associate it with a specific person, it’s impossible for me to change. I sent a voice message in English to my friend (in front of my partner) and she said “it’s so strange to hear you speak English…” Chances are, if you meet someone while speaking English and establish ties in English, your relationship will stay in English.

4. It’s a great emotional filter.

When we stopped seeing each other, it was, of course, sad but maybe not as sad as if I had experienced it in English. I feel deeply in general, but in English it’s not as much in control… it’s my subconscious mind that takes over. In Serbo-Croatian, I chose how deeply I could feel.

5. It’s best when it’s the majority language.

I was in Serbia and, while speaking Serbo-Croatian to my partner, I didn’t have to switch to the community language while talking to her friends. I did come into contact with other English speakers, but when we were together, I didn’t have to switch to talk to the waiter. It was essentially full immersion, which

Counterpoint: when it’s you two vs. the world, she can preserve her native language and have someone to speak with, and you get to have a little bit of privacy as a couple. (Of course, depending on how widely spoken it is in your area - Serbo-Croatian is not so common where I live in the United States, but if I were in, say, Chicago, it wouldnt be so private.)

Please let me know your experiences; feel free to challenge my assumptions; and agree!

I present as a normal lefty… but secretly I’m not.

I was always right-handed as a child as far as writing was concerned. That said, I was mixed-handed and used my left hand for quite a variety of things growing up: basketball, archery, holding things, they way I held a shovel, and so much more. I never questioned it though.

Anyway, cue me being 14 and bored, and I say “why NOT use my left hand for more tasks?” I decide to clean the kitchen entirely using my left hand and it felt completely natural. I brushed my teeth with my left hand and it felt completely normal.

I then picked up a pen and started writing with my left hand. It took me all of one evening to write somewhat fluidly and about three weeks of practice for it to start feeling even more natural than my right hand. I stopped using my right hand for stuff and it felt fine; throwing a ball took a week of practice, using a knife approximately three days.

Now, these days, using my right hand feels weird for such tasks. I’ve been so accustomed to using my left that I am functionally a left-handed person.

I’ll keep it short here but AMA!

(For some reason, talking about romance comes easier to me in Croatian. Translation will be below)

Ne znam; pa ne znam… ne znam da li te volim ili jesam li ja samo lud. Valjda i to i to. Bio sam na žurci da se vidim sa prijateljem, i nije mi se sviđalo mjesto, i već sam otišao. Ušao sam pijan u Skroz Dobru Pekaru i sam brbljao čovjeku iza šaltera: “Šta da radim kad me ljubav boli?” Osjećao sam toliko emocije, ko valovi, razbijajući se o plažu. Htio sam vrištati tvoje imeImao sam žeđ da si bila tu, da bih mogao da te ljubim cijelu noć, da te grlim i da razgovaram s tobom. Mogao bih da nabrojim 50+ stvari o tebi, koje mi se baš sviđaju. Kako bih volio da si tu…

Kad smo se upoznali 10 mjeseci prije, naš razgovor je bio baš dobar i sam nešto u tebi primijetio. Hoću je sačuvat, sam sebi pomislio. I sad, tvoje ime mi zvoni u glavi. Samo pogledam na tvoje ime i baš sam slab… baš sam slab kad pogledam tvoje slike. Dok sam putovao vlakom i autobusom preko 12 sati, pomislio sam na tebe i u jedan trenutak putovanje je prolazilo. Stalno si mi u glavi i bas sam sretan što ovo doživljavam. Ukratko, opsjednut sam s tobom. Vidimo se uskoro.

I don’t know. Well, I don’t know… I don’t know whether I love you, or if I’m just crazy. Maybe it’s both.
I went to a party to see a friend, but I didn’t like the place, so I left early. Drunk, I walked into Skroz Dobra Pekara and started rambling to the guy behind the counter: “What am I supposed to do when love hurts?”

I felt so many emotions, like waves crashing against the shore. I wanted to scream your name. I longed for you to be there so I could kiss you all night, hold you in my arms, and talk to you. I could list more than 50 things about you that I absolutely love. I wish you were here…

When we met ten months ago, our conversation was really good, and I noticed something in you. I want to keep her, I thought to myself. And now your name echoes in my head. I just look at your name and I become so weak… I’m so weak whenever I look at your pictures.
While I was traveling by train and bus for over twelve hours, I kept thinking about you, and suddenly the journey flew by. You’re constantly on my mind, and I’m honestly so happy that I get to feel this. In short, I’m completely obsessed with you.

See you soon.

For those of you who grew up in mixed households, who do you speak like today? Did the gender of your parent influence it?

I (as a foreigner) speak Croatian with strong Serbian influences, but that’s because I’ve spent time learning different words and interacting with people from all across the Serbo-Croatian speaking regions. Im curious how this is for people who grew up with the language natively.

I have 10 rules for flirting:

1. Be yourself.
2. Be playful.
3. Have no expectations.
4. Compliment first things that they can control.
5. Laugh warmly.
6. Imagine a future with her in it.
7. Gentle eye contact!
8. No interrupting.
9. Ask her to tell you more.
10. Share just enough about yourself that she gets the general picture; but only put in necessary details, ie. Chekhov’s gun.

I became known as the biggest flirt that way… people tend to fall in love easily that way. And if I end up ‘friend zoned’ anyway; I made a new friend!

Kad se jebes u krevetu; biste li prozvali ime partnerice/partnera u vokativu ili u nominativu?

Pitam zato što je bolje izgovarati žensko ime dok stenjem na -a nego na -o ili -ice (npr. “Da da da Maja,” “Da da da Milica,” umjesto “da da da Milice)

A boli me uvo za muškarce nije relevantno 😂

Hey everyone,

Today was the culmination of my Croatian abilities. A year and a half of reading, writing, listening, and everything else went into this moment.

The exam worked like this:

First, I had to report to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb at 8:30. They called my name, I registered, left my phone in the lecture hall, and then went into a seminar room with the professor.

The exam consists of two parts: a written exam and an oral exam.

The written part includes listening, reading, grammar, and writing.

The listening section consists of ten questions. The professor reads a text aloud, usually something from Croatian news, and you have to answer questions about it. I was only unable to answer one out of the ten questions.

The reading section consists of two texts. In one, you have to summarize the content, and in the other, you answer true/false/not enough information questions. I think I got through that section without any major issues. There were some words I didn’t know, but I was able to figure them out from context. You don’t need to understand every single word perfectly. What matters is being able to understand and summarize the main ideas.

The grammar section consists of several tasks. In one exercise, you’re given three words and have to create a grammatically correct sentence using them. In another, you fill in a missing word. There’s also a section where you have to explain the meaning of various idioms. The only one I didn’t know was “A lie has short legs.” None of the other candidates seemed to know it either. I also didn’t know what the word “obuka” meant. For some reason, I thought it had something to do with an island.

The writing section consists of a 250-300 word essay on a given topic, such as artificial intelligence or the environment in Zagreb. I think I did well on that part. I started with my own experience and then expanded my arguments, using fluent and relatively advanced Croatian.

For the oral exam, the professors assign you a topic and you have to give a short monologue. My topic was Croatian media. I talked quite a bit about HRT, how its influence is declining, and how social media is becoming increasingly important. They also asked me what I read. I almost started a debate when I mentioned that I had read The Damned Ones by Ivo Brešan and had just bought books by Ivo Andrić and Vuk Karadžić the day before.

I spoke quite fluently during the exam. I didn’t spend much time searching for words, and I rarely hesitated.

So now I’m waiting for the results. If it turns out that I really do have a C1 level of Croatian, I’ll write another post explaining exactly how I learned the language.

Cheers!

Bok ljudi,

Danas je bio vrh mojih sposobnosti na hrvatskom. Godina i po dana čitanja, pisanja, slušanja, i svega toga sam napravio za to. Ispitni rok funkcionirao onako:

Prvo, morao sam se javiti u FFZG u 8:30. Pozvali moje ime, registrirao sam, ostavio sam mobitel u predavaonici i zato sam otišao u seminarsu sobu sa profesoricom.

Test nastoji od 2 dijela: pisani test, gdje ima slušanje, čitanje, i gramatiku; i zato usmeni ispit.

Slušanje se sastoji od 10 pitanja, gdje profesor(ica) čita naglas nešto iz hrvatskih vijesti i morate sažet rezimirati. Nisam mogao odgovarat na samo jedno od 10 pitanja.

Čitanje se sastoji od 2 članka, jedno je isto tako da rezimirati sadržaj, i drugi je da odgovarate na točno/netocno/nema informacija. Mislim da sam to prošao bez problema. Neke rijeci nisam znao al mogao sam se snaći od konteksta - ne trebate savršeno znati svaku riječ, nego umjeti rezimirati ono sto pročitaš.

Gramatika se sastoji od 3 dijela: daju 3 rijeci i morate složiti ispravnu rečenicu s njima. Štoviše, zahtijevaju da popunite nedostajuću riječ. I također ima dio gdje morate objašnjavati neke izreke. (Jedina koju nisam znao je bila “u laži su kratke noge” - niko nije znao što to znači). Nisam znao šta je obuka… mislio sam da je obuka kao otok.

Pisanje se sastoji od jednog eseja od 250-300 rijeci o nekoj temi: AI, okolina u Zagrebu, ili nešto tako. Mislim da sam to dobro učinio - prvo sam naveo vlastito iskustvo i zato raširio argument, koristeći tečni i napredni hrvatski.

Zato na usmenom dijelu, profesorice određuju temu i morate predstaviti monolog. Ja sam morao govoriti o hrvatskim medijima - puno sam brbljao o HRTu i kako njezin se utjecaj smanjuje, i kako društvene mreže povećavaju. Pitale su mene čitam li i skoro sam provocirao nešto kad sam rekao “čitao sam Prokletnike Iva Brešana, i jučer kupio sam nešto - Iva Andrića i Vuka Karadžića.” Pričao sam dosta tečno na ispitu i nisam bas tražio rijeci, nisam se oklijevao.

Tako… o tome kako sam naucio hrvatski. Sad cekam rezultate, ali nakon sto potvrđujem da imam pravi C1, napisat ću nešto o tome, kako sam točno naucio hrvatski.

Lijep i srdačan pozdrav!!