I speak hrvatski
Some friends are traveling in Europe, and so I want to share this little anecdote from my own wanderings in 2015.
On Wednesday, I added majorly to my “I know something about Croatian so watch me now!” bucket by carrying out the majority of my restaurant conversations in the language. At dinner, I read all the items I wanted correctly from the menu. I even asked for the right drink then clarified the size I wanted. The meal ended with this tense finale:
S gets tired of waiting for the receipt.
She walks inside the restaurant AND gets the attention of the cashier.
She says, “I’m done. Can I pay?” (Sam gotova. Mogu pračati?)
Receipt is achieved!
So I was feeling pretty good Thursday morning. I got up before 8 am. Ran down to the bakery. Ordered a pretzel and donut IN CROATIAN! Even clarified that I wanted the donut with the chocolate topping thankyouverymuch. Then I wrote for three hours before I was ready for lunch. I decided to try a burgedžinica and found one in Baščaršija. I managed all my ordering in Croatian even this super complex exchange:
I’m eating here. (Jedem ovdje.) I’ll drink yogurt. (Pijem yogurt.)
Boom. I thought. BOOM!
So I was all geared up for my grand finale for the morning. I wanted to go to the bus station to check on the route and tickets for the next part of my trip into Bosnia. That meant I’d need to buy a tram ticket and take the tram to the correct station. I knew I could get this far in a conversation:
Hi! I need to go to the bus station. What do I do? (Dobar dan. Trebam iči u autobusni kolodvar. Kai radim?)
In theory, the ticketmaster would tell me things with a map (fingers crossed). Then if I needed clarification, I could ask: What station? (Stanica?) And that would be enough to get me there!
So I walked up to the little booth by the tram and began my little dialogue. But the guy interrupted me:
Oh. I speak English.
Boo. I thought BOO!
—September 2015
by Sarah Dzida
you speak that much croatian?!?! i am impressed. all i know are the things nana and baka would say - but phrases such as "you are so beautiful to me" and "what was i going to say?" would not be much help in real life!