Interview with Alice – Intervju s Alice

From the magazine HRVATSKI! 1/2024: Two Interviews – Dva intervjua

You can read this interview in English on our blog. Compare Croatian and German version of this interview by opening the magazine HRVATSKI! 1/2024 on page 51.

Alice is a city employee, but is more of an artist at heart. She loves singing, writing lyrics and prose, drawing and dancing. She sings, including solo parts, in a gospel choir, is a member of the Cologne Writers’ Forum and takes part in public readings with her poems. She has already published two of her poems in a poetry collection. She has two adult children (a daughter and a son) and lives in Siegburg, near Cologne and Bonn. She has been learning Croatian for 8 years. In addition to Croatian, she is also learning English, Welsh, French, Dutch and Malay. She enjoys traveling, hiking and going to the cinema or concerts. In the following text you can read about how Alice decided to learn Croatian, what problems she faced and what she especially likes about the Croatian language.

You have been learning Croatian for many years. How did it come about?

Even as a child I knew a few words of Croatian, as well as how to sing Croatian folk songs, because my mother is a Danube Swabian. Unfortunately, she did not have the patience and persistence to teach us, her children, Croatian, which is a shame, since we vacationed in Croatia almost every year. However, I gained a feeling for the language by listening and I often knew what my mother was saying, even though I didn’t understand every word. Even later, when I was around 20 or 30 years old, learning Croatian with my mother as a teacher did not work. When I was about 40 years old, I failed to study, because my children were still small and I was too stressed to be able to study well. But then, in 2015, I started studying intensively and since then I have never stopped.

Do you remember your first Croatian word?

“Mama”. (Just kidding!😊) Not really. It was probably the platitudes “Dobar dan”, “Doviđenja” and numbers, and above all “Hajde, dođi! Brzo!”😊. I immediately immersed myself in the language, especially through music, because my mother listened non-stop to her “Yugo-music”, and my father led a folklore choir, which sang folk songs from all over the world. Thanks to the inspiration my father got from his wife from Banat, the choir sang many songs from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc., which were then sung at home. I already knew how to sing „Tiho noći, moje zlato spava…“ (“Silent night, my gold sleeps”) at the age of two. I once impressed the manager of the Krk bus line so much with this song that he spontaneously invited my parents on a bus trip across the island and also for dinner (while of course I had to stay “at home”, i.e. in our accommodation😊).

Which learning methods helped you the most (Croatian language courses in Germany, Croatian courses in Croatia, talking with friends, reading, listening to the radio, watching television, traveling to Croatia)?

I have already tried all the methods😊. I started at the adult education centre. Basically, I would like to continue doing this, but unfortunately there is no longer a sufficiently high level for me, and private lessons are very expensive. For most people, a few words are probably enough for the holiday or they give up in despair.

Croatian films were too difficult for me in the beginning. I started with picture books, first with those for small children with a few words, then with those that offered longer texts. Later, I read Ana Bilić’s books, which are available in different language levels and with word lists. Reading has taught me a lot about word order in a sentence, especially regarding enclitics. Then I looked for tandem language partners. Speaking, even with mistakes, is the most important part of learning a language. I was in a relationship with a Croat for two years and in those two years I learned more than in the previous four years at the adult education centre.

It wasn’t until I knew Croatian quite well that I decided to go on a language trip. In 2022, I went on my first language trip to Zagreb for Easter.

This year I stumbled across an offer from the University of Zagreb called “University summer school of Croatian language and culture”, which lasts for four long weeks. I was delighted! The teachers, i.e. the professors, were very kind and very good, and the study program was very demanding. If you still want to visit the city, you should also plan the 5th week, because you get a lot of homework. A party and two trips to the Plitvice Lakes and Zagorje were included. It was very intense and instructive, but also a wonderful time, and I can proudly say that with 91% I finished the B2 level with the grade “excellent” (in the summer school it is the S2 level). When in a few years I have, I hope, significantly improved my Croatian, I would like to do it all again.

I plan to read, listen to podcasts and watch movies even more in the future. Also listen passively. I found out and experienced that it is incredibly useful to let a radio show or podcast play in the background without listening to it. Listening is usually undesirable. Just like a baby in its mother’s womb, the brain unconsciously absorbs the rhythm, sound and order of words and greatly promotes language learning.

In general, I came to the conclusion that the language should be learned in the same way as you learned your mother tongue. A lot of passive listening, then parroting, parroting incorrectly, without fear of making mistakes, then recognizing structures and parroting correctly. And grammar? Yes, of course… but after a few years. Well, maybe a little earlier, but without stress. Because of my job, I often talked to people who didn’t speak German well. And even in cases where someone only spoke very, very bad German, I always understood what that person wanted to say. I personally used to worry if I was choosing the right Croatian ending. I always wanted to say everything perfectly. But fear must not prevent you from speaking. The other person (your interlocutor) doesn’t care if you say it wrong. He understands you and that connects you and moves you forward. In the best case, he repeats it correctly and you learn from it.

And traveling is important. You learn along the way, yes. But above all, you get an important confirmation, when you notice that you can master everyday life with your knowledge of Croatian, and that encourages and motivates you.

How much time do you dedicate daily / weekly / monthly to learning Croatian?

I study every day (with a few exceptions) for at least 15 minutes to an hour. This can be done very well with apps. Are you waiting for the bus? Wonderful… The three-minute task is solved. I generally learn languages ​​on the way to work and back.

Many students of the Croatian language say that Croatian is a difficult language. What do you think is important in learning Croatian?

Croatian is difficult, because it has complex grammar. For some, the pronunciation may be difficult. I think it is important to get rid of the fear of making mistakes, to repeat a lot out loud (when I study on the train, I whisper), because there is motor memory, which helps your language to pronounce words or a whole series of words correctly and automatically at some point. Observing and learning grammar is good, but then it is better to practice saying whole sentences in exercises. Anyway… talk, talk, talk. Find Croatians who want to talk to you. And please don’t focus on the difficult things! For example, Germanisms, Anglicisms or Croatian expressions, which are similar to German and English ones. And you should see grammar as a tool, not as a learning goal.

Do you have any personal advice?

I think that I have already said everything with others questions, but I repeat briefly:

• Play podcasts in the background.
• It is better to study a little a day than once a week for two hours.
• Practice out loud.
• Find a conversation partner and speak, speak, speak.
• Read texts and books to learn sentence structure.
• Listen to Croatian songs and learn their lyrics.

I have another special tip for you. I managed very well to creatively combine words, which I could not easily remember, with pictures or words with a similar sound. The more emotional or complex these images are, the easier they are to remember. I took this trick from the very interesting book “Wie man jede Sprache in nur 7 Wochen lernt“ (“How to Learn Any Language in Just 7 Weeks”) by Udo Gollub.

Look at this first example for that: I knew the word gaće (panties) a long time ago, namely from the folk song “Ćiribiribela” (These are not the sails of my boat, they are the panties of my Marica). I simply couldn’t remember that duck quacks in Croatian. (patka gače). The similarity of the words is obvious. So I imagined a duck in underpants. After that, I didn’t have to think for a second when this term appeared as a question in my learning application.

Second example: This even works, when you think outside the box: sparno = schwül (sultry), sounds similar to schwul (gay), and I think of schwules Paar (gay couple) => schwuleSPAARNO.

Third example: nagib = Hang (slope) …ein Gang ist da, wo die Erde nachgibt (a corridor is where the earth gives away)… NAchGIBt. It’s worth a try. It’s crazy, but it works. It’s worth a try. It’s crazy, but it works.

What surprised you the most about learning Croatian?

I was surprised that many idioms and expressions are used like in German and that there are so many Germanisms. I learned in Ljetna škola (the summer school) that German was also the official language in Croatia in earlier times. Then I was less surprised. What surprised me most was that at some point, contrary to what I once believed, I actually managed to give the word the correct ending without stretching the pronunciation so much that it gave me more time to think about it. 😁

What do you particularly like about Croatian? And what don’t you like at all?

I love that Croatian still respects the genitive 😁 .

But now seriously: I just love the sound of this language. The sound matches the mentality. Peace and calm in it. And while the German has a precise expression for everything (which certainly has its good side), the Croat tends to describe or explain the concept in more detail. But if he gets upset, he describes less and speaks clearly. 😁

I don’t think there is anything about this language that I don’t like at all. There is probably one thing that is difficult for me to learn: names for extended family. They can still name an uncle, aunt or uncle, depending on whether they come from the mother’s or father’s side. But the whole thing goes much further. However, I was comforted by the fact that I found out that even Croats themselves cannot remember all the terms and use them correctly. And when in doubt, they use the word “cousin” for everyone 😊.

What is your biggest challenge when learning Croatian?

The most difficult thing for me is the correct structure of the sentence and the way of expression. Here is an example of the last one: I was sitting with Branka by the river and wanted to say that the sun was already setting. I asked her if I could say it like that and I used the word, which is a literal translation of “untergehen” (to set). But Branka said “there is no sun” and I had to laugh a lot. “Why simple, Alice, when it can be complicated?!”, I said to myself. So, the biggest challenge is to express something as a native speaker would say it. This is probably true for every language.

If you could remove something from the Croatian language, what would it be?

There was a time before, when I probably wished that the declension of adjectives corresponded to the declension of nouns 🤣. But actually no, I wouldn’t change anything today.

Do you have a favorite Croatian word (or favorite Croatian sentence)?

I love expressions, which in my opinion reflect Croatian mentality:

• Nema problema!
• Može!
• Žuri polako!
• Ma!

What are your plans for the future?

I want to improve my listening skills at any cost and speak even more fluently with proper expression.

And finally, can you reveal (tell) us what your greatest desire is related to learning the Croatian language?

When I retire, I want to spend most of my time in Croatia. That’s why I would be very happy if I managed to establish personal contacts in Croatia and find a good friend. Or a Croatian partner. 🤣

What do you want to say to everyone who wants to learn or is already learning Croatian?

Don’t give up! There will come a time when you suddenly cross an invisible point (over a big threshold), from which everything becomes easier. You suddenly start to understand the language and suddenly you can interpret the meaning of new words, even though you don’t know them yet. So, for example, once upon a time, from the word “brzo”, which I already knew, I realized by myself that “speed” must actually mean “brzina”. And I was so proud of myself, when that was true. Even if you don’t know the language well, Croats will adore you when they see that you try to speak their language. I experience this over and over again.

Photos: Alice