Balkan Linguistic Maze – Learn Serbian language and you will not get lost

Let me guess: you fell in love with a girl or a guy from the Balkans and decided it would be nice to learn Serbian as it is their native language. You went online and immediately started second-guessing your decision: learning Serbian language? Isn’t it better to invest your time in learning Croatian, or Bosnian or Montenegrin? Everyone says these languages are similar, but what are the real differences between these languages? Will you be able to successfully communicate with his/her friends and family or would the differences be enough to make you sound ridiculous in front of your significant other?

I know that working in a school called Learn Serbian Online automatically makes me look biased; graduating Serbian language in Belgrade University does not help either. However, my father was born in Zagreb (Croatia), my grandfather was born in Podgorica (Montenegro) while my grandmother comes from an old Mostar family (Herzegovina). Most of my mother’s family comes from the region called Šumadija which is the central part of Serbia. I have witnessed these language differences firsthand growing up and I have been successfully teaching this language to foreigners for more than ten years. Let me at least try and convince you why learning Serbian language is your best choice in navigating through this Balkan linguistic maze.

Serbian language, a member of a messed up family

You may as well picture me as a frowning old grandpa who lived through it all while reading this, but let me tell you: the story of Balkan languages is as messy as its history, identity and cultural heritage. Learning Serbian language just gives you access to this language family drama. That is precisely why most people from the region would rather talk about food, music and how hospitable we are. Now that you are to be a part of the family, before you pick sides, here are some facts.

Source Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Serbo_croatian_languages2006.png#/media/Datoteka:Serbo_croatian_languages2006.png

Every linguist worth his salt will agree that Serbian language, Croatian language, Bosnian language and the Montenegrin language all belong to the same southern fraction of the Slavic language family. Does it help if you know some Russian? In short, not much, keep on reading! Over the centuries different parts of the Balkans have been under Ottoman rule, Austro-Hungarian empire, some coastal parts even had a lot of Italian and Latin influence! This complex history left the region with a complexity of various religions, traditions and languages.

By the end of the nineteenth century the major intellectuals gathered to sign the Vienna Literary Agreement proclaiming that the folk language and soon to be literary one is one and the same. This same sentiment was predominant throughout most of the twentieth century inside of the Jugoslav monarchy and later Jugoslav socialist era. Insisting on language differences, primarily between Serbian language and Croatian language are of later date and have to do with politics more than linguistics.

Serbian language, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin (BCMS) are mutually intelligible standards of a single pluricentric language. The English language is also policentric and British and American English may serve as a good comparison for the relationship between Serbian and other Balkan languages.

What runs in the (language) family

Language families are like our own families: we may seem very different, even though we share the same genes. That is why I advise all my students to be practical when thinking about learning Serbian. Their friends, family, spouses sometimes come from an area with a strong dialect, or a specific region of the Balkans. We take all of that into account and tailor their program in such a way that they understand the nuances they will need when communicating. On the other hand, this does not mean that these languages or dialects are far apart. Let me show you some common examples.

Most of the differences my students encounter are variations in vocabulary.

Some of these variations are major, having totally different words for the same things. like:

Most of the times these are some minor phonetic details like:

There is actually a pocket edition dictionary with all of the differences between Serbian and Croatian language listed and even some very helpful materials anyone can find online. There are also many words Bosniacs are rightly proud of and I will definitely love to write more about them in some future blog posts. What I have found is that most people in the Balkans know these differences which means that for a beginner most of these will not influence the meaning.

Another important difference in the region is the script. Plainly speaking, Croatians and Bosnian people use latinica which is closer to the alphabet while Serbians consider cyrilic script as their national treasure. Good thing is, Serbian schools teach both latinica and ћирилица (this is how it looks like) so majority of people of all ages and walks of life know both scripts. For practical reasons, most of my own students start with what is close to home and learn both scripts when they feel confident enough in Serbian language. Some of them tell me it is easier for them to read in cyrillic, but I think they are just proud of learning a new script. It is worth saying that the easy ways for reading our script is one of not so many redeeming qualities of otherwise a very complex language.

Piece of advice before you start learning Serbian (or any other Balkan language)

Marija and I started Learn Serbian Online after a lot of experience in other languages schools. Honestly, sometimes it seems easier to just do the classes and collect the paycheck, but we thought we could do it better and started working on a concept of an online school we would contact if we wanted to learn a new language.
That being said, there are some very good schools out there that can help you learn Serbian language, but in order to stir away from the ones you need to avoid, here is my personal word of advice:

• Choose a progressive school and a teacher whose sense of national pride does not get in the way of their teaching. Serbian language (as well as Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin language) is hard enough and you don’t need our local identity crisis when the only thing you want to do is learn to communicate.
• If possible, invest in individual classes. You should feel free to discuss your personal language needs. Communicate openly, set your learning goals and make language learning a fun and pleasurable experience.
• You will have time and opportunity to enjoy all that this region has to offer. Learning how to communicate is the first and the most important step in that process. One of the things I am sure everyone here will appreciate is you putting in the effort to learn our language.