Croatian Language Learning Failure

I worked hard on my Croatian, but since arriving here I have found it very difficult to use the language at all. In this video I talk about why I think this was a language learning failure, and why it isn't the end of the world.

[MrPragnienie]

It's inspiring to see you admit to failure, and yet, not get too discouraged by it. I wish I was able to handle my failures this well. Thank you for making the video Steve, enjoy your trip. :)

[eigobug]

Ne odustaj Steve, možeš ti to! Možda bi trebalo da ideš u less touristy areas :)

[robetheridge]

I came to Croatia the first time 2 years ago and learned how to ask for a slice of pizza with mushrooms, although, it was a very bookish, non-colloquial way. I began listening to Easy Croatian on Youtube and moved back here in September. I am leaving in 3 weeks. I am happy to say that I am conversational, although nowhere near fluent. I have had to go to the ER and dentist alone, and that worked well. Next week, I will share my testimony in Croatian at a small Baptist church.

Your idea of reading more and broadening your learning scope is a great idea. I read from Hr.index online. I know a TON of Covid-19 and other medical lingo, now. Ha. Good luck on learning more and speaking better upon your return.

[rosemarybointon]

I hopelessly muddle up Russian and Croatian and so can't speak either of them properly at all! I also find difficulty distinguishing the spoken endings of the words - somehow I just don't hear them, so find it difficult to understand the sense. More listening! More spoken practice - a tutor is a good idea. I have learned to read Croatian which I find very helpful when I'm there.

[KenGrauer]

VERY interesting Steve! From my experience (studying 7 foreign languages) — some are just harder (or easier) than others to get to the stage when communication comes out — especially if in a setting where those in the country you are visiting speak much better English than your ability to speak their language ... THANKS for this video (with the scenery at the end — :)

[NetAndyCz]

Using the language is so hard in touristic areas, everyone speaks great English and wants to move on. And even if they do not move on, if their English is better than your their language, it just makes sense to communicate in the language that has the biggest overlap of understanding which is usually English.
Also, I know that producing the language is important, but understanding it is a success as well.

[alenq]

Thanks for yet another inspiring video Steve! Hope you had a good time here in Croatia. And if you ever want to learn more Croatian by talking to a native speaker, let me know! :)

[annettemcnabb]

I love your honesty, its why i follow and truly listen to your advice, thanks once again for sharing and love the video!

[jamesgranger]

Thanks Steve for sharing your experience. Beautiful opening shot! Always appreciate hearing about your experiences. Peace

[Actualizediv]

Hi Steve! Beautiful views indeed. Trogir is awesome. I was amazed by the beauty of the heritage of the city and its architecture. I guess the next bigger city you're going to visit is SPLIT, which is close. *Nastavi s učenjem tog prekrasnog jezika i nastoj ga govoriti cijelo vrijeme! Ugodan boravak!*

[arnoldsuarez]

Thank you for sharing this video. It is really motivating.

[romaapluto]

Wow!!! Super interesting and realistic perspective...Food for thought!!

[ugur]

enjoy your trip Steve when you come back you'll study hard on it and maybe next year this time you'll have great time with your Croatian there

[goatwarrior]

A problem you might run into in Croatia is regional dialects. Dalmatia has it's own distinct dialect, which can be confusing. For example, they tend to end verbs, where the case is the person saying they are doing, with N instead of M. So I might say trčim, I am running, but in Dalmatia they might say trčin. It's a subtle difference, but one you might run into as well as other idiomatic peculiarities. I believe the dialect in Dalmatia is so noticeable because they had their own language there for a long time, Dalmatian. Sadly, it went extinct at the end of the 19th century.

[mirasplace]

Can you share what you learned? As an online teacher of Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian, I agree: nothing is lost. Use the language more often if you get a chance. Govorite hrvatski sa ljudima i uključite se u online grupe. Potražite instruktora. Slušajte vijesti i gledajte hrvatske televizijske programe ili YouTube video na hrvatskom. Puno sreće vam želim!

[jean-lucchevrier]

I found out too that Croatian was easy with a knowledge of Russian (words, grammar...) but, as I was learning Italian and Spanish together for business purposes, I quickly was mixting Croatian and Russian. So I stopped studying Russian. The second point is I asked my Croatian online teacher to not speak English or German if possible and started real dialogs after five lessons in order to have my mind focus on Croatian. (when starting a new language from scratch, I always have 12 lessons at the minimum with a native teacher. The most difficult thing in my case is "stress". As you don't find vocabulary books with the four tones, you have to guess or use your knowledge of Russian or others slavic languages wich leads to think in Russian and start to mix. So with knowledge of the basic rules of stress, I randomly put tunes on words with a short rising on A and long falling on O or U in order to get the drum little music of the language with many mistakes but the spirit of it is there :-) I am creating my own easier grammar sheets too for cases.

[TheTutorialsHelper]

Go maybe somewhere east of zagreb, maybe some village in slavonia or go somewhere close by karlovac, there are only locals, little to no tourists and you'll have a great way to practice <3

[stepheng]

Rather than focus on people that are working, I have found it more effective to target fellow tourists who speak the target language in a setting where they have the time and inclination. So if you are sitting on the beach and the person next to you is a native German speaker they are more inclined to help you with your German because they have the time. Also a way to test their inclination, is to have the book you are using for learning clearly visible. That way it encourages them to ask you about your language learning and the conversation starts. I did this with Norwegian with a couple who spoke perfect English but were happy to help me practice

[andrearruda]

It's not a failure at all. It's just a language learning reality. It takes time, but eventually, you'll get it.

[markchavez]

I feel you on this one Steve. I’m learning Swedish right now. And apparently every single person in Sweden has perfect English. I think the way to go is to do Skype lessons.