Good Books on Croatian?

Question

Can anybody recommend a good intro to Croatian book tape..etc...that does not have mainly Serbian grammar? I am going on vacation and would like to be able to speak a couple of phrases before I go there and would prefer not to say them in a Serbian dialect.

Answer 1

If you are wanting to learn only Croatian :
BOOKS I RECOMMEND:
1) 'Teach your Croatian' I think this is the best intro to Croatian that is easily available.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teach-Yourself-Croatian-Double-Pack/dp/0340846267/ref=sr_1_1/026-2230309-5926039?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174599556&sr=1-1

2) If you only want to learn Croatian for your holiday.. A phrase book might be more useful. Lonely planet phrase books are quite good
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Croatian-Lonely-Planet-Phrasebook-Gordana/dp/1740599969/ref=sr_1_2/202-4701220-7935014?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174596703&sr=8-2

3) Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: A Textbook with Exercises and Basic Grammar
This is a new book that I haven't seen yet but it is very highly recommended, and explains clearly Croatian grammer compared to Serbian grammer
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian-Textbook-Exercises/dp/0299212041/ref=sr_1_1/026-4911887-0169254?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174600090&sr=1-1


4) You will find that most old books that use the 'serbo-croat' label are actually much closer to Croatian than Serbian, so you could use one of those too, to learn

5) If you are seriously interested in learning Croatian there are many text books that you can order from Croatia. However I would recommend getting an English based book if you are a complete beginner as most of the explanations are in Croatian
http://www.superknjizara.hr/index.php?content=1&page=kategorija&id=80306&action=list_all&inv=cb233998491782509b2f1b72848db205

6) Here is are a few basic phrases in Croatian and audiofile.
I couldn't find any free online grammar guide for Croatian.
http://www.hr/hrvatska/language/ However this one in Bosnia is very good. And is very similar to the Croatian
http://home.freeuk.net/iandart/





The first answerer is correct , I don't think it matters whether you use Serbian or Croatian. Both languages are mutually comprehensible. As a beginner I doubt anybody would notice whether you are using Serbian or Croatian anyway. And if you do use the 'wrong' word everybody will understand what you say. And nobody will get angry for you for making a 'mistake'. It is a myth that Croats would get angry with a tourist for using 'hleb' (bread) instead of 'krug'



There are differences some between Croatian and Serbian , but these are quite minor. and a Croat would understand a Serb and vice versa...

Here are main differences simplified...

1)LEXICON Some different words are used in Croatian than in Serbian , similar to American vs British English. Speakers of either languages will understand when the other uses these words (except in general Serbians perhaps find the Croatian names for the different months difficult)

eg CROATIAN / SERBIAN
Glazba Muzika (music)
Zrakoplov Avion (airplane)
Nogomet Fudbal (football)
Tisuca Hiljada (1000)

And Croatians say Bok/ Bog for 'Hi'



2)ACCENT - Standard Croatian uses ijekavian accent (so that the 'jat' sound is added to many words. and Standard Serbian uses ekavian dialect

ie STANDARD CROATIAN / SERBIAN
lijepo / lepo (beautiful)
mlijeko /mleko (milk)
rijeka / reka (river)
vjetar /vetar (wind)

(# The letter 'J' in Croatian / Serbian sounds similar to the letter 'Y' in English)



3)GRAMMAR There are a few slight differences..As a beginner I think you won't need to know these as it can get quite complex.. However you might come accross this difference. (There are a few others too)

When asking a question in Croatian it is more usual to say the participle 'li' after the verb. In Serbian they say ' da li' to denote a question before the verb
ie
CROATIAN 'Mozes li?'
SERBIAN 'Da li mozes?' (Can I?)

This wikipedia article explains the differences between Serbian and Croatian quite well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_standard_Serbian,_Croatian_and_Bosnian#Accentuation




(# I hope you have a nice trip to Croatia. You will find that English is very widely spoken especially amongst the young and in tourist areas, but making a effort to learn Croatian always opens more doors :)) Depending on the area you visit German and Italian are also quite widely spoken. (ie in Istria quite a few people speak Italian)

Answer 2

Don't worry. You won't be able to learn that much so Croats can realize that you speak Serbian. Those two languages are very similar and for that reason I wouldn't worry about buying a book on Serbian grammer instead of Croatian. Anyway, you'll be able to find a book on Serbian much easier that on Croatian.

Answer 3

I would check each provider, and give preference to
any of them that have a separate volume for Serbian.

Contact the Rosetta Stone people:
http://www.rosettastone.com/en/individuals/contact

Try here for some phrases. There are 10 chapters:
http://www.visit-croatia.co.uk/croatianfortravellers/chapterone.htm

http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Croatian.asp
(online source of native speaker.)

BBC has a quick fix website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/croatian.shtml

http://www.amazon.ca/Pimsleur-Croatian-Understand-Language-Programs/dp/0743550544

http://www.croatiatraveller.com/Books.htm