AHA! Learning Croatian with Bob
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    • Posts 1 -15 >
      • 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
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
    • Posts 16-30 >
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
      • 018 Picking up place names by ear
      • 019 Where did the "j" go?
      • 020 Koliko kiše smo imali?
      • 021 Požuri polako
      • 022 Mi, mi, mi, mi
      • 023 Why should we learn the grammar?
    • EXPERIENCES >
      • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 15 HOME >
        • 001 Licitarska srca
        • 002 My Aussie accent
        • 003 The upside down SIM card
        • 004 Buying fritule in Split
        • 005 Jučer ili sutra?
        • 006 Što rade ućitelji?
    • VICEVI >
      • Vicevi: Page 1
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 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?
      • 011 Declension of place names
      • 012 Dati - dativ
      • 013 Verb endings: Who is the doer?
    • Grammar reference section >
      • NOUNS >
        • 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
      • VERBS >
        • 001 Transitive and intransitive verbs
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      • 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!
    • DAKLE, ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako ....
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
  • VOCABULARY
    • POSTS 1 - 15 >
      • 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?
      • 011 Čak
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
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      • Where/What/Who? Pages 1 - 15 >
        • 001 A girl and a bird
        • 002 His left foot
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        • 005 Giorgio or Juraj?
        • 006 Tovar and friend
        • 007 Up on high
        • 008 On an island
        • 009 Water wonderland
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        • THE CITY >
          • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • PEOPLE and CULTURE >
          • 001 Advent in Zagreb
          • 002 Interliber book fair
          • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
          • 005 A night at the ballet
      • DALMACIJA: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
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Miscellaneous items #018

Picking up place names by ear

In another post (Vocabulary #007 Names of towns: A grammatical nightmare), I have talked about the complexity of learning Croatian place names: Do they behave as nouns, or adjectives? Masculine, feminine, or neuter? Singular or plural?

And in yet another post (Grammar #011 D​eclension of place names), I’ve talked about how place names are declined in Croatian (ie, change the form of the name according to its role in sentences). Challenging!


Well, it’s one thing to understand how Croatians decline place names, and to think through what the correct versions are.
​
But in my experience, it is a huge challenge for us non-native speakers to distinguish place names when listening to somebody else’s conversation or speech. Simply because often the names don’t sound like the nominative version shown on the map.
​
For example, imagine that your Croatian cousin leaves you a phone message, in Croatian, to tell you about her travels. Listen to a recording of her call, below. Can you identify all nine cities or towns that she refers to?
​
Just click on the box to listen in.  (The wording is misleading. The audio file will not download into your computer directory. You will just access the file from the cloud.)
I often get into a brain spin quite early, and from then on, there is no catching up.
 
The point of this post is just to re-assure you in case you have similar experiences. There is no substitute for lots of listening practice until the rhythm of the (modified) Croatian names becomes familiar.

And maybe you've experienced similar things with people's names when listening to speech in Croatian? Especially when you don't know of the person whose (declined) name is mentioned, and you don't know if that was a word, or a place name, or a person's name.
​
In case you are wondering, here is a transcript of my cousin’s message ......
​
Dobar dan, Bob

Mi smo sada u Veloj Luci. Uskoro ćemo ići prema Jelsi, i onda prema Makarskoj.

Sutra ćemo biti u Vodicama, i preksutra u Sisku. U subotu ćemo biti u hotelu u centru Slavonskog Broda.
​

Petar je sada u Rijeci, i sutra će biti u Zadru. Ići će u Pisu preksutra.

​
And its translation into English ….
​

Good day, Bob

We are now in Vela Luka. Soon we will go toward Jelsa, and then toward Makarska.

Tomorrow we will be in Vodice, and the day after tomorrow in Sisak. On Saturday, we will be in a hotel in the centre of Slavonski Brod.

Petar is now in Rijeka, and tomorrow he will be in Zadar. The day after tomorrow, he will go to Pisa.

​
​If you would like to replay my phone message a few times for some practice, feel free.
Želite li mali ispit? Slusajte …….
​
And a native Croatian speaker would say that much faster than I did!
Just in case, here is a transcript:

Mi smo u Jelsi. Hoćete li vi doći u Jelsu? Idem kući sutra s Marijom i Ivanom koji žive u Imotskom. Boravit ćemo na putu u Tučepima. Utorkom idemo trajektom na Korčulu s Hvara.
 
Karlo živi u Karlovcu, ali u subotu će biti u Velikoj Gorici. U nedjelju je bila prometna nesreća u smjeru Zagreba između Karlovca i Jastrebarskog.



Mačji kašalj?

​
I'm sure that part of my problem in this respect is not just the failure to instantly recognise a declined name, but as soon as I need to consider what I heard, my brain struggles to keep up with what comes after that. There is a post about this: Learning Croatian #018 My brain becomes full!
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AHA! Learning Croatian with Bob
​Correspondence: bobby.bucat@gmail.com
AHA! Learning Croatian with Bob

​Email: ahacroatian@gmail.com
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  • Home
    • TKO SAM JA? >
      • Posts 1 - 10 >
        • 001 The way we spoke
      • PHOTOS - SELFIES >
        • Selfies 1-10
        • Selfies 11-20
      • Photos - General >
        • Photos 1-10
    • Contacts
  • MISCELLANEOUS
    • Posts 1 -15 >
      • 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
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
    • Posts 16-30 >
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
      • 018 Picking up place names by ear
      • 019 Where did the "j" go?
      • 020 Koliko kiše smo imali?
      • 021 Požuri polako
      • 022 Mi, mi, mi, mi
      • 023 Why should we learn the grammar?
    • EXPERIENCES >
      • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 15 HOME >
        • 001 Licitarska srca
        • 002 My Aussie accent
        • 003 The upside down SIM card
        • 004 Buying fritule in Split
        • 005 Jučer ili sutra?
        • 006 Što rade ućitelji?
    • VICEVI >
      • Vicevi: Page 1
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 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?
      • 011 Declension of place names
      • 012 Dati - dativ
      • 013 Verb endings: Who is the doer?
    • Grammar reference section >
      • NOUNS >
        • 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
      • VERBS >
        • 001 Transitive and intransitive verbs
  • SAYINGS
    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 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!
    • DAKLE, ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako ....
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
  • VOCABULARY
    • POSTS 1 - 15 >
      • 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?
      • 011 Čak
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
      • 003 Uništiti
  • 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 - 15 >
        • 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 >
        • THE CITY >
          • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • PEOPLE and CULTURE >
          • 001 Advent in Zagreb
          • 002 Interliber book fair
          • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
          • 005 A night at the ballet
      • DALMACIJA: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
          • 001 Molin?
          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • 003 Dalmatinski rječnik
      • Zagorje: HOME >
        • 001 Autumn tones
  • NAVIGATION
    • A ROAD MAP
    • INDEX, ALPHABETICAL