|
 |
Croatian/Bosnian | ||
Tags: Serbo-Croatian | Croatian | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| frenkie Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6345 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Croatian | Message 1 of 12 11 July 2007 at 12:20am | IP Logged |
|
Hi :)
I'm new here and I'm trying to learn Croatian, if anyone has any info or pointers, or even any reccomendations on books please post here - I need all the help I can get. Thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| msherl Newbie United Kingdom Joined 7229 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Studies: Serbo-Croatian | Message 2 of 12 11 July 2007 at 4:36pm | IP Logged |
|
The best book is Teach Yourself Serbo-Croat by David Norris (with accompanying tape). If you're more serious about becoming fluent then Linguaphone is the best of all, but you will probably have to buy secondhand from them.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7142 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes  Studies: Uzbek | Message 3 of 12 11 July 2007 at 4:50pm | IP Logged |
|
This is a question that forum member Chung might have some comments on, but if I'm not mistaken, this set is now considered the "standard" introduction to Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian:
http://www.bcsgrammarandtextbook.org/ Here's some more descriptive info on the materials, as well as references to similar materials for Bulgarian and Macedonian: http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/books/4047.htm Edited by daristani on 11 July 2007 at 4:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7154 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 4 of 12 11 July 2007 at 7:37pm | IP Logged |
|
See my notes under "Books" and "Links" in the first post of my profile for Croatian. In addition, I've added some comments about using otherwise excellent Serbo-Croatian courses (e.g. FSI) which are now spoiled mainly by political considerations.
Last year, I bought those new materials which daristani mentioned and I highly recommend them. They're a little more expensive but much more comprehensive than the Croatian and Serbian courses from "Teach Yourself" and "Colloquial...". In addition, Bosnian materials are scarce in the English-speaking world, so those materials by Alexander and Elias-Bursac may be your only option if you intend to start with Bosnian. The beauty of those new materials is that they not only present BCS evenly but they indicate which word or construction is considered "Bosnian", "Croatian" or "Serbian" and the location of stress and pitch/tone for every word. In addition, the grammar reference manual has an excellent and sobering introduction to the sociolinguistics and history of BCS/Serbo-Croatian which helps to explain to foreigners why discussions about BCS/Serbo-Croatian can still get testy (as seen a few times on this forum). The only drawback of those new materials is that there are no answer keys. If you want to use them to teach yourself, get in touch with a native speaker so that he/she can check your answers to the exercises, give you some feedback and maybe even help you with the oral exercises that need a partner. I'm sure that there are a few native speakers of BCS on this forum who'd be willing to help you via email, skype or instant messengers. Sretno! / Good luck Chung Edited by Chung on 11 July 2007 at 8:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| frenkie Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6345 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Croatian | Message 5 of 12 11 July 2007 at 10:22pm | IP Logged |
|
Thanks Chung, I'm looking into learning Bosnian specifically, I dont want to use serbian in bosnia and someone shoots me in the face thinking im a serb :)
Would you reccomend learning croatian since there is more resources available and then going onto bosnian? Or will t he BSC books get me on the right track One more thing, If i order the 2 BSC books and audio supplement, once ive finished them all, will i be pretty effeciant at bosnian/croatian? Cheers 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7154 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 6 of 12 11 July 2007 at 11:29pm | IP Logged |
|
No problem.
Actually it's not that cut and dry in Bosnia. Half of the country is a Serbian province (Republika Srpska), so speaking standard Serbian there shouldn't raise eyebrows. The other half is a Bosnian and Croatian province (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), but according to my friends in Croatia, the tensions have gone down a bit since the last war so it may not be so bad if you sometimes use something there that's considered typically Serbian. My Bosnian Serb friend from Sarajevo told me once that when she was younger she remembered when she was told by someone (a snob?) that the way that she and her family spoke was incorrect and that as Serbs they had to speak "proper" Serbian (i.e. standard Serbian as based on the dialect in Belgrade). In general, people living in Bosnia tend to speak more like their neighbours in the immediate region regardless of their ultimate ancestry. For example, Bosnian Croats will tend to speak more like their Bosniak and Bosnian Serbian neighbours rather than what the language academy in faraway Zagreb prescribes. You shouldn't get too hung up about saying the "right" word in Bosnia (unless it's obvious that you're dealing with very sensitive people), since the situation there is less clear than in Croatia and Serbia. In Croatia and Serbia, the definition of what is "purely Croatian" and "purely Serbian" respectively is clearer and more entrenched in people's minds. In a way, this is what attracts me to Bosnian since questions of usage are less rigid and in several cases, the Croatian word/phrasing is as acceptable as the Serbian word/phrasing. For me, it's one fewer thing to worry about. The BCS course by Alexander and Elias-Bursac is your best bet since it does show Bosnian beside Croatian and Serbian. All that you need to do is to follow the Bosnian dialogues and texts. If you really want to "test the waters" with Croatian before going to Bosnian then perhaps starting with something like "Teach Yourself Croatian" would work. However, you seem set on Bosnian, so I think that it'd be better to get at it directly with Alexander's and Elias-Bursac's course. The course's grammatical notes describe everything and where applicable will tell you which words or constructions are typical in Bosnia. As you go through that course, you'll see how close BCS still are to each other and depending on your effort will gain a rather active knowledge of Croatian and Serbian too. After completing the course, you should be at approximately the level of someone who has completed a 1st year university course in BCS (high-beginner / low-intermediate). Getting enough confidence to speak the language will be trickier if you'll use only the books and CDs. Try to get in touch with native speakers to help develop your speaking and listening skills in BCS. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| frenkie Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6345 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Croatian | Message 7 of 12 12 July 2007 at 1:27am | IP Logged |
|
Thanks man, I'm buying the BSC with grammar, the textbook and audio supplement tomorrow.
Also, what do you think of this. It's serb-croatian so i have shy'd away from it but I was hoping for your opinion - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0884329380/qid=1152221620/s r=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-9795787-3704945?s=books&v=glance&n=2831 55 Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7154 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 8 of 12 12 July 2007 at 8:14am | IP Logged |
|
That is the FSI course. If you use it well, you'll be at an intermediate or possibly low-advanced level. It is designed to get you comfortable in using the language by giving lots of drills.
As I've typed in my Croatian profile, the FSI course has a Serbian bent. For communicative purposes with most people it shouldn't be a problem, but there are people who may insist that you use the Bosnian or Croatian form. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
