Do any of you yahoos differ Croats and Serbs?

Question

I was extremely offended when an American idiot wrote a book on language history of Serb and Croats (and was immedialtely attacked by Slavic languages experts from Croatia, Russia and England). I just get nauseated when people try to get money for example by writing completely false claims ignoring historical documents (not just Croatian and Serbian) trying to "put a new light" on a subject he obviously he knows nothing of just to be controversial and sell the damn book and knowing it might cause nazi activities among both nations?

To magnamamma: Croatian experts, living in Croatia or not, write books. A lot of books. Make a lot of inventions too> food for your thought, a must-check-out: pencil-penkala-Slavoljub Penkala, tie-kravata-Croats, slavistics, Josip Hamm... Check out some Croatian inventors (or mixed origins inventor as Nikola Tesla), authors, ask about some working in your country! Both Serbs and Croats write about our individual and ex Yu history but buttheads ignore it all and end up just as illiterate idiots among academics but not so educated people may and will see it differently...

Answer 1

I differ like you do since i saw in your profile that you are Croatian too. Most ppl not living in former Yugoslav countries have a trouble of understanding those issues on the Balkans. I have a lot of communications with ppl from abroad always asking questions about the language, war and other issues. It is very hard to expain linguistic differences, other things can be much more easily explained. If we want to understand at least some of the differences we have to go back to history, but not to the migration of ppl.
Croatia is largely influenced by the Italians (coastline), Austrians and Hungarian which can be seen it the language, way of life and cuisine. Serbia, on the other hand, was under Russian influence due to the royal connections. While on the coastline we use a lot of italian vocabulary, in the north around Zagreb a lot of german words are used.
Besides, the Croatian and Serbian language differ in vocabulary, pronounciation, grammar and script. Even in former Yugoslavia the official language was Serbo-Croatian, and serbian has always used a lot of foreign esp. turk loanwords. The croatian use the ijekavica and the serbian ekavica e.g lijep (cro) vs. lep (ser). During the last 15 years the changes appear even much bigger because there is a process of language purification going on in Croatia. An airplane is now in standard Cro called zrakoplov and in Serb avion. But, I always stress that I don't need an interpreter for talking to someone from the former Yugoslavia, except for Macedonian and Slovenian.
another important issue is that language is a symbol of national identity and if you lose your language you somehow lose your natural means of communication. Though it doesn't mean you have to isolate yourself from any linguistic influences because language changes due to different trends and influences.
For does feeling sorry for Yugoslavia falling apart if it were a perfect country no one would want its breakup. Even Montenegro who stayed for 15 years in a federation with the serbs couldn't wait to get out of it

Answer 2

Croats are an old catholic, middle European nation with more than 13 century of rich history, incuding figthings with Venice in the 8th and 9th century. Serbs, on the other hand, are an orthodox Balkan nation that had started a World War I and are also guilty for genocide in Bosnia and Croatia in 1990-95, better known as Serbian agression after former Yugoslavia broke up. Their language is similar, but not the same, and Croats use latinic, while Serbs use cyrilic letters. Croatian culture is very much alike culture in other Central European countries such as Austria, Hungary and Italy, while Serbian culture has strong roots in wild Balkan wars during 5 centuries old Otoman empire.

Answer 3

I agree with you about people thinking they know so much when in fact they know so little.

As to the other posts...I was really disappointed to see that people will still talk badly about Serbians, and Croatians and Bosnians and so on.
Really, Serbians are not the only to blame for everything that happened and neither are the Bosnians or Croatians or Albanians. That whole region is full of people who are passionate about their countries and that is where the disagreements come in. All of the people of former Yugoslavia went through a lot of **** and finally we are all seperate and on our own (which is what everyone seemed to want in the first place) so why continue the fight now? I am Serbian and alhough I don't live there anymore , I have Croatian and Bosnian and Albanian and Serbian friends and love them all the same.

People should stop fighting a battle that has lasted too long and taken too many lives.

Answer 4

No, nation is not always defined by its language. If the Serbs, Croats, or Bosniaks feel as different nations than it is their holy rights. Argentina and Chile are two different nations even when they speak the same language. Besides language similarity, each nation had a distinct history and religion, which would make creation of one nation impossible within lifespan of one or two generations. Croatia belonged to Hungary and Austria, and had not been part of the Serbian domain, while Serbia was at once regional power growing and prospering on its own. Modern era also created barriers that would make these nations impossible to coexist and the mutual dislike and historical wounds are way too deep for them to heal.

Answer 5

People always put Croats and Serbs in same context becouse of slavic language which is very similar, however difference between Croats and Serbs like day and night not only on physical level but also in mentality.Also it is very important to know about which serbs we talk about.Does from Serbia or does from Croatia and Bosnia becouse Serbs from Croatia and Bosnia are something totally diferent than does from Serbia.Does from Croatia and Bosnia are indentical as Croats becouse they are ethnic Croats which ancestors were been violently forced by serbian orthodox church to asimilate themselves into serbs but they are ethnic Croats.In general Croats are significantly taller and lightly skinned people compared to Serbs from Serbia which are much closer to people like Bulgarians, Romanians and Macedonians.Croats usualy have brown hair and green eyes and have lond and square face while serbs have dark hair also very dark skin tone and usualy have rounded heads.Also difference in character are drastic.Croats are very cold and unemotionaly people while serbs are much more emotional and passionate.Croats are more intelectual people while serbs rely more on their emotions rather on common sence.Difference between Croats and Serbs are pretty mutch the same as difference between White and Brown or Latin people

Answer 6

I differ Croats and Serbs. Two separate nations with many differences.

When it comes to the languages, I know Croatian and Serbian are not exactly the same, but very similar.

I hate it when people write a book about a subject they're no specialists in. They should leave that up to the people who know what they're talking about!

Answer 7

Wow! So Croats and Serbs don't have idiots, only us Americans! I'd really like to see a Croat or Serb treatise on American coastal southern dialect, for example---I bet he or she could likewise make some really foolish mistakes (and really pis* some people off), but I wouldn't consequently address Croats and Serbs like dogs because of someone's faulty scholarship. I don't judge an entire country or people based on one person as an example. We Americans sure appreciate who Nikola Tesla was, that's for sure! I also think it's unfair to say that the Serbs started WWI. The assassin was not acting on behalf of his government. (He was colluding with the leader of the Black Hand who just happened to have been a Serbian official, but the Serbian prime minister ordered that the assassins be arrested before they left Serbia. Unfortunately, the assassins got through.) One could just as well blame Austria-Hungary for its decision to crush Serbia and its outrageous ultimatum and the Germans for assuring that they would back Austria-Hungary in any action it took.
I was surprised that I could recognize so many cognates in your profile.

Answer 8

While Croats and Serbs have the same origins, they have become two distinct ethnic groups over the past 500 years. Both speak a siilar language, but Croats use a Latin alphabet, while Serbs use a cyrillic one. Croats are more Catholic and Serbs are mostly Serbian Orthodox.

Serbs are an odd lot. They still venerate a battle fought in 1389 that they lost. They also started WW1.

Answer 9

So why doesn't an expert from your country write the history? The reason that history is so misrepresented is that westerners write from a western perspective. Who really "discovered" America? I can tell you that many South and South Americans have their own version of this story. The white-man version is not necessarily the truth, it's just the convenient version.(Convenient for them.) Here in India, it is a known fact that the Indus River Valley civilization existed 7000 years before common era. With indoor plumbing and perfect bricks and measures...it's all a matter of whose interest it is...that's usually how 'his'-story goes.

Answer 10

ye what?

My understanding is that Serbian and Croatian are very similar languages/dialects. I know that Serbia and Croatia don't always get along.