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Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrian, Serbian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| nox Diglot Groupie Croatia Joined 6648 days ago 62 posts - 62 votes  Speaks: Croatian*, English Studies: German | Message 1 of 47 13 August 2006 at 6:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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Let's admit it, it is THE SAME LANGUAGE. Of course there are differences, mostly in vocabulary, reflection of the 'yat' and some grammar forms such as:
verb + infinitive in Croatian and verb + 'da' + verb (conjugated verb) on Serbian. Croatian: Moram ići. Serbian: Moram da idem. (I have to/must go) 'ići' is the infinitive and 'idem' is 1st face, singualr of that infinitive. Moram - 1st face, singular. Considering the yat sound, Dalmatian dialect is more distant form Croatian standard than Serbian standard is. I think (I don't know) that those 4 countries share the same language, with some differences in standards. It only makes the language richer. The only problem is naming the language, since Bosnians (or Bosniaks, im not sure?), Croatians (Croats), Montenegrians and Serbians (Serbs) are definitely different nations. Croatians never say they speak Serbian or Bosnian. I am really not sure about this, but I think only Montenegrians say they speak Serbian, except Serbians, of course. I'm interested in your comments and opinions. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6943 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 2 of 47 13 August 2006 at 10:06am | IP Logged | |||||
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I take the side that the languages are very similar, but I am also aware that the the speakers of these languages/variants have different historical and cultural backgrounds.
I suspect that a lot of people still get emotional about language and really tie it more closely to their ethnic origins than a lot others do. In much the same way, I observe that Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders share a common language (albeit with some variations in vocabulary and grammar, which by the way do not often hinder understanding.), but that doesn't mean that we should lump these people in the same group just because their language is common. For me, the practical problem of the argument over Serbo-Croatian and the like is that when I was looking for courses to learn Croatian, the high-quality "old-school" courses from FSI and Sljivic-Simsic were made in Serbo-Croatian. I said it once and I'll say it again: It's a shame that such courses with lots of exercises and audio material are spoiled because of politics. I guess that I'll need to wait until I can get my hands on the new materials from Ronelle Alexander. *sigh* 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Magnum Bilingual Triglot Retired Moderator Pro Member United States Joined 6904 days ago 359 posts - 353 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian*, French Studies: German Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 47 13 August 2006 at 10:46am | IP Logged | |||||
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nox, from a practical standpoint, anyone who knows Serbian will be able to understand Croatian, and vice versa. I know in Serbia there is a strong movement away from the Latin alphabet to Cyrillic. I met a person from Bosnia once, and I have no idea what language he was speaking. It was not Serbian, or Croatian, or anything I could even remotely understand.
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| sapedro Triglot Senior Member Portugal descredito.blogspot. Joined 6905 days ago 216 posts - 219 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, French Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Greek | Message 4 of 47 14 August 2006 at 3:28am | IP Logged | |||||
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Magnum, Bosnian has a "mountain" accent :D
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| nox Diglot Groupie Croatia Joined 6648 days ago 62 posts - 62 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English Studies: German | Message 5 of 47 14 August 2006 at 1:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Magnum, I doubt he spoke any of the 'BCMS' languages, if you didn't understand him.. Maybe the 'mountain' accent, whatever it is, had a role in this case? :))
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| Sinfonia Senior Member Wales Joined 6531 days ago 255 posts - 261 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 47 14 August 2006 at 2:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
It was very likely Albanian; but possibly Turkish or Romani or Aromanian...We'll never know... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Magnum Bilingual Triglot Retired Moderator Pro Member United States Joined 6904 days ago 359 posts - 353 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian*, French Studies: German Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 47 14 August 2006 at 3:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
It sounded like a middle eastern language he was speaking. It's funny, because I was sitting across from this guy on a 10 hour train ride. We didn't speak the first couple hours, until he told me he was from Bosnia in English. I told him I was Serbian. That's when he said some things to me in his language and we didn't say another word the rest of the trip. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sinfonia Senior Member Wales Joined 6531 days ago 255 posts - 261 votes Speaks: English* | Message 8 of 47 14 August 2006 at 4:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
Oooh, you can almost feel the atmosphere still! Albanian would make most sense, for obvious reasons -- it does have a certain 'middle eastern' sound about it, I find. Looking back, you must be almost glad you *couldn't* understand him :-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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