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Learning Croatian: MY AUSSIE ACCENT

17/12/2018

1 Comment

 
Obviously there is a law in Croatia that there must be a bakery (pekarna or pekarnica) no more than 75 metres from another bakery. Through Aussie eyes, the density of bakeries is quite phenomenal!
 
Picture






​
And in every one, I see crusty white bread that gets my juices flowing.

How can I walk past?

Why can’t I find bread like that at home?

​The only question is “
Cijeli kruh ili pola?”



The thing is that bakeries provide an ideal opportunity for learning Croatian. After all, what sort of a baby step is it to ask for a loaf of white bread?
 
But they also provide an ideal opportunity to fall on one’s face, as the following anecdote will show.
 

Context ....

In Australia we have people (both citizens and visitors) from dozens of countries.

​Because we mix with them in so many facets of life – family, work, sport, arts, school, neighbours – most of us are pretty good at identifying approximately where they have come from by their accent when they talk English.
 
For those of us of Croatian origin, it is usually quite easy to tell if someone comes from Croatia, Italy, Greece, Germany, or Russia. People from each of these countries seem to be locked into their particular form of “pidgin English”.

Of course, there are even differences between the accents of people from various parts of Croatia.

​I am not talking about the use of different words for the same thing, but different tones, different styles of talking, and different abilities to say certain words.

 
Currently I am trying to distinguish the accents of people from Šibenik and Split. (If you believe that, you’ll believe anything!)

I can imitate the voices of people from some other countries when they speak English, but it occurs to me that I cannot define, nor analyse, the features that are characteristic of people from Italy, compared with those from Croatia.
 
Except I suppose that many people from the Balkans say “v” instead of “w” (“Ven is bus coming?”), and “d” or “t” instead of “th” (“Dis ting is no good”).
 
No, I am not making fun of “newstrayans”, as we used to call them: I am so full of admiration for people who have re-started their lives and learnt new ways, and new languages – often as adults.
 
But the “imperfections” and differences are fascinating. Which brings me at last to my point - which is at my expense…
​

I did not grow up speaking Croatian, so I have an accent – and one that tells Croatians that I come from Australia.
 
How do I know this? Well first of all, it simply must be the case. Secondly, I have experiences ....
​

My experience ....

One morning with Mateja in Zagreb, I decided to buy some white bread. I told her that I was going to use the opportunity for language practice, so she began to take photos and videos of the occasion.
 
Firstly, I had to get my order word-perfect. So easy!
Practice makes perfect. Under the watchful eye of my mentor, Mateja.
​
When I had attained absolute perfection (and confidence), I went in. Mateja waited outside, throwing me in the deep end, and watching.

I got the bread that I wanted, but things didn’t go well. It was a bad day for me. Here is how it went…
​

Picture













​
“Dobar dan. Molim vas, jedan bijeli kruh.”
​

No problems! The transaction went along beautifully, just as though I were a stari Zagrepčanin.

Until, as she took my money ….


Picture









“Izvolite. Još nešto?

Jeste li ……….”  [Wait for it].



​
​


​Ajme meni! And I thought that I spoke such perfect Croatian! 

Reflections ….
 
OK, so I have an Aussie accent! No question.
 
But what sort of accent? What are the characteristics of my accent? How does it sound to Croatians?
 
How can I know, so that I might improve it? Is it possible to know your own accent?

​

​
Click here to go to   Aha! Croatian: A ROAD MAP

​

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  • HOME
    • Navigation: A ROAD MAP
    • Contacts
  • LEARNING CROATIAN
    • CROATIAN: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Kosa, koza, koža
      • 002 Pronouncing 'au'
      • 003 Can language influence behaviour?
      • 004 First day of the week
      • 005 Do Croatians assign gender to objects?
      • 006 Za četiri dana, na dva dana
      • 007 My brain becomes full!
      • 008 Sretan rođendan ti
      • 009 Na kavu, po kavu, za kavu?
      • 010 Until you don't do it
    • CROATIAN: Posts 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
    • DAKLE ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako!
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Where are the pronouns?
      • 002 Padeži and noun endings
      • 003 Endings of pronouns and adjectives
      • 004 "u" ili "na" ?
      • 005 The declensions of Tko? and Što?
      • 006 Ja sam na Trgu bana Josipa Jelačića
      • 007 Going and coming: u-iz, but na-sa
      • 008 Sav - All, every
      • 009 Number of subjects and the verb 'biti'
      • 010 Koga nazoveš? Komu telefoniraš?
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Declension of place names
    • GRAMMAR TITBITS - HOME >
      • 001 Dati - dativ
    • GRAMMAR REFERENCE SECTION HOME >
      • 001 Questions that define the case of nouns
      • 002 All nouns have gender
      • 003 Nouns in the nominative case
      • 004 Nouns: Declension categories
      • 005 Declension of regular nouns
  • SAYINGS
    • SAYINGS: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Ne daj se!
      • 002 U tom grmu leži zec!
      • 003 Baš me briga!
      • 004 Mačji kašalj!
      • 005 Što je, tu je!
      • 006 Eto ti ga na!
      • 007 Na licu mjesta
      • 008 Sve si to ti kriv!
  • VOCAB
    • Vocabulary: POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Even dying is not easy!
      • 002 To laugh or to smile?
      • 003 Nahraniti, sahraniti .... schmahraniti
      • 004 Prefixes that modify verb meanings
      • 005 Prefixes on base verb stati
      • 006 Country names - noun or adjective?
      • 007 Names of towns: A grammatical nightmare
      • 008 Countries: What do we call their citizens?
      • 009 Baš
      • 010 What a joke! vic or šala?
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
  • STUFF
    • STUFF: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Bookara
      • 002 Crossies?
      • 003 Jučer ili sutra?
      • 004 Ućitelji
      • 005 Požuri polako
      • 006 Kakav stil!
      • 007 The people of Magorje
      • 008 Where did the "j" go?
      • 009 koliko je kiše 50 litara po kvadratom metru?
      • 010 The dark side of the moon
    • Vicevi (Jokes)
  • EXPERIENCES
    • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 10 HOME >
      • 001 Licitarska srca
      • 002 My Aussie accent
      • 003 The upside down SIM card
      • 004 Buying fritule in Split
  • ABOUT CROATIA
    • Republika Hrvatska: HOME >
      • 001 Anthem: LIJEPA NAŠA
      • 002 Map of Croatia
      • 003 Županije: The counties of Croatia
    • Where/What/Who is that? HOME >
      • Where/What/Who? Pages 1 - 10 >
        • 001 A girl and a bird
        • 002 His left foot
        • 003 A rebel
        • 004 Čuvarica Omiša
        • 005 Giorgio or Juraj?
        • 006 Tovar and friend
        • 007 Up on high
        • 008 On an island
        • 009 Water wonderland
    • REGIONS, CITIES, TOWNS: HOME >
      • ZAGREB: HOME >
        • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • 002 Advent in Zagreb
        • 003 Interliber book fair
        • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
      • Dalmacija: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
          • 001 Molin?
          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • Dalmatinski rječnik HOME >
            • Keywords A - J
            • Keywords K - N
            • Keywords O - R
            • Keywords S - Ž
            • English to Dalmatian
      • Zagorje: HOME >
        • 001 Autumn tones
    • SPORT: HOME
    • CULTURE: HOME >
      • 001 A night at the ballet
  • TKO SAM JA?
    • Tko sam ja? Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 The way we spoke