How to learn Serbian on your own. Why a wife is harmful - the best! What group does the Serbian language belong to?

You do not need to be an expert to correctly answer the question of which language is official in Serbia. Of course, Serbian (aka Serbo-Croatian). However, such confidence can play a cruel joke on a traveler who decides to communicate with the local population using a phrase book, and even more so with a potential migrant. And all because Serbia is a multinational country where they speak at least 14 languages. In addition, there are regions in the state in which several dialects are recognized as official at once.

South Slavic dialects in Serbia

Indeed, the population of Serbia speaks so many dialects that it becomes quite clear why the Serbian language is needed: so that local residents can at least somehow understand each other, and also so that documents can be drawn up according to a single model. In addition to Serbian, other South Slavic languages ​​are also spoken in the country. In particular, immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe who settled in Serbia speak:

• Bulgarian
• Macedonian;
• Bosnian
• Croatian
• Montenegrin.

At the same time, the Macedonian language is the most unusual for the Slavs - this happened historically, since the Macedonians were greatly influenced by the Turks, Persians and other peoples. But to learn the Serbian (Serbo-Croatian) language for a native of any CIS country is usually not difficult.

A little about Serbo-Croatian

Serbian or, as it is often (but not always) called, Serbo-Croatian, certainly deserves the most attention. After all, this is a unique language that has as many as two “written” forms, and from the point of view of vocabulary, it is a collection of dialectisms. Strictly speaking, Serbo-Croatian is Koine, that is, a language developed for everyday communication of people living on the territory of one state. In the twentieth century, it was mainly expressed:

• Serbs;
• Croats;
• Montenegrins;
• Bosnians.

The Serbo-Croatian language (we will return to the history of its origin) can be conditionally divided into two: Serbian (Serbo-Croatian) and Croatian (Croatian-Serbian). There are many differences between them. For example, in Serbian it is customary to write down borrowed words according to the principle “as it is heard, so it is written”, but in Croatian they try to keep the original spelling. By the way, Serbo-Croatian is considered a separate language of UNESCO, designed to smooth out this difference.

How Serbs write: in Latin or Cyrillic

As mentioned above, Serbo-Croatian speech can be transferred to paper in two ways. Moreover, in the first case, it will be necessary to use the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, which is called "vukovitsa", and in the second - the Croatian Latin alphabet (gaevica). It is worth noting that Cyrillic-vukovica is rather a national symbol of Serbia than a practical alphabet, since Serbs prefer to write in Latin. At the same time, government initiatives aimed at popularizing the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet cause dissatisfaction among Croats.

However, the official alphabet of Serbia is still Cyrillic, which the local population has been using for over a thousand years. Cyrillic is used for office work, it is used by representatives of the authorities and the opposition. However, Serbian web resources, even state ones, are increasingly giving users the right to choose between Cyrillic and Latin.

What are the similarities of the Slavic languages

Fortunately for a foreigner studying local languages, all South Slavic dialects are very similar, and each of them has much in common with Old Church Slavonic and Church Slavonic. It was these languages ​​that were actively used in the first half of the second millennium by the inhabitants of Kievan Rus. Therefore, many forms of the past tense have been preserved in Croatian, Bosnian and other languages. For example, when it comes to the future, people from Southern Europe say “I want” and not “I will” (this is exactly how it is customary to build sentences in modern Ukrainian).

What else are the similarities between the Slavic languages ​​used in Serbia? For example, if we talk about how similar the Serbian and Bulgarian languages ​​are, then the elements of their similarity can be listed endlessly. So, in most Slavic languages, the stress is placed freely (only in Polish it always falls on the penultimate syllable). In addition, in Ukrainian, as well as in Serbian, Bulgarian and Macedonian, there is a vocative case. But Polish and Czech in terms of lexical composition are more reminiscent of Russian than Ukrainian (if we are talking about simple commonly used words).

How did the modern Serbian language develop?

So what caused the total linguistic confusion? The fact is that Serbia was not always an independent state: it was liberated in the second half of the 12th century. from the rule of Byzantium country in the XV century. was conquered by Turkey, while part of it went to the Austrian Empire. In the twentieth century, the Serbs participated in many wars, and then conquered new territories (in particular, some areas of Macedonia and Montenegro), then lost them. Naturally, the conquerors brought their languages ​​to these lands. In addition, the spread of dozens of dialects in Serbia was facilitated by its geographical position. As you know, the Serbian state borders on several countries:

• Hungary;
• Romania;
• Bulgaria;
• Albania;
• Montenegro;
• Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As for the Serbo-Croatian language, until the middle of the 20th century it was considered literary (but not colloquial) in the Republic of Yugoslavia. Its norms were developed by Serbian philologists and writers and enshrined in the Vienna Agreement in 1850. At the same time, linguists recorded both grammar features and unique words in the Serbian language, which allows them to be successfully used to this day. That is why Serbian and Croatian are not always distinguished into separate dialects. And although in the 30s of the last century, Croatian nationalists attempted to create a number of neologisms in order to separate “their” language from Serbian, however, the words they invented for the most part did not take root.

Other languages ​​spoken in Serbia

As already noted, carriers of many dialects live in Serbia. Therefore, it is quite difficult to unambiguously answer what language is spoken in Belgrade. Of course, most of the inhabitants of the capital speak Serbian, but they may well speak one of the South Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200bthat we mentioned, as well as:

• Hungarian;
• Romanian
• Slovak
• Albanian
• Pannonian-Rusyn;
• Ukrainian;
• gypsy;
• Czech
• Bunevachsky.

At the same time, it should be remembered that the Serbian (Serbo-Croatian) language itself is heterogeneous: it contains at least four dialects, the most common of which, especially in the south of the country, is the Torlak dialect.

In addition, it is in this dialect that the inhabitants of the border towns in Bulgaria and Macedonia speak.

In some regions of Serbia, several dialects are officially recognized at once. A vivid example of this is the autonomous region of Vojvodina, where six languages ​​are official at once:

• Serbian (not Serbo-Croatian);
• Slovak;
• Romanian;
• Hungarian;
• Croatian;
• Rusyn.

Pros and cons of living in Serbia: Video

And, finally, the most interesting thing is the restriction of travel abroad for debtors. It is about the status of the debtor that it is easiest to “forget” when going on another vacation abroad. The reason may be overdue loans, unpaid utility bills, alimony or fines from the traffic police. Any of these debts may threaten to restrict travel abroad in 2018, we recommend that you find out information about the presence of debt using a proven service not to fly.rf

An essay on the similarities and differences between Russian, Serbian and other Slavic languages. About birds and matches.
It is known that the grandmother of Ivan the Terrible was Serbian. The grandson, quite probably, in those days could freely understand the granny even without an interpreter. Things are completely different in our time ... Tourists arriving in Montenegro are immediately warned that it is better not to ask for matches and chicken in Russian in local stores. Otherwise, you can drive a young saleswoman into the paint - because of the similarity of these most common Russian words with Serbian obscene language. Well, think for yourself, what can such a word mean, especially in the phrase “mother’s food”? Of course, not a bird or a match. Homeric laughter among the Serbs is caused by the inscription on Ukrainian cigarettes: "Kurtsy die early." Ha-ha, is there such a problem with early impotence in Ukraine?
So, the first lesson of Serbian for tourists: "match" - "shibitsa", "chicken" - "kokoshka", "chicken" - "piletina", and that's all!
Yes, words are “translator's friends”… Still from the classics? Ponos (Serb.) - pride. Strait (Serbian) - diarrhea.
However, the bulk of simple words and expressions in Serbian is understandable even to an unprepared Russian-speaking traveler. Bread is bread, water is water, meat is meso, sky is nebo. Well, the root of the languages ​​​​is one - Slavic!
The root is one, but the historical path is different, although very much in contact during the periods of all the Balkan turmoil.

Roots.
The history of the language is connected with the history of the people, obviously. Perhaps, it is simply impossible to trace the entire history of the Slavic peoples without a multi-volume study. As Roman researchers wrote in the 4th century AD, the Slavs are hospitable people, but extremely violent and cruel in battles. The same thing, "who will come to us with a sword ..." Such a people, which has spread across modern countries and states with almost four hundred million people (the fifth - sixth ethnic group in the world) and could not have a boring story. Therefore, we will note the main milestones of this history very briefly.
The easternmost part of the Indo-Aryan (an outdated term, now they say - "Aryan", without "Indo") tribes settling in Europe, later designated as Slavs, appeared in Europe around 2000 BC. This people reached the Northern Urals and the Western Baltic, constantly budding into tribes, unions, free cities, principalities and states.
Eastern Slavic tribes gradually formed the easternmost known Russian and Russian states.
The remnants of the most northwestern Baltic Slavs still exist autonomously in Germany under the name of Lusatian Serbs, or Sorbs - a Slavic people of fifty thousand. The most famous representatives of this people are Catherine the Great, the Russian Empress, and the German Chancellor Bismarck. It was the latter who taught the Germans "never, never attack Russia, because her answer will always be unpredictable." And also to the fact that business with Russians can only be done honestly, because sooner or later Russians will come for their own anyway ... Many in modern politics have forgotten this, but in vain. Bismarck is a Slav in roots, he knew what he was talking about.

By the way, it was the Sorbs who preserved the largest number of linguistic rarities from the old Proto-Slavic language, although this natural Lusatian Serbian is now more similar to Czech than to Russian.

The main part of the Slavic people was ousted from the north of Europe by the Ost-Gotts and Germanic tribes. The Slavs themselves, in turn, ousted and mixed with the southern tribes in the Balkans.
In the Middle Ages, Slavic states were formed. The westernmost - Great Moravia - gave the Slavic world the developments of the Greeks Cyril and Methodius, the first Bible in Old Slavonic Cyrillic, the first foundations of Orthodox culture. Then Moravia disappeared under the onslaught of Western states and the eternal cunning of the Vatican.

The South Slavs formed several principalities, and then two kingdoms. Most of these principalities gradually entered Bulgaria and Serbia. After its formation, Serbia even managed to recognize Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which brought Christianity to Europe with Emperor Constantine. In Slavic Constantinople - Tsar-Grad, he gave the Slavic world the traditions of Greek Byzantium and the first Christian patriarch.
However, almost immediately after the recognition of Serbia, Constantinople fell under the onslaught of the Turks. This happened with too obvious connivance (or betrayal) of the Western powers and the Vatican. Fell to become Turkish Istanbul forever.

It was then that the centuries-old history of the Balkan wars began. The conflict between Western and Eastern civilizations for the first time since the time of Alexander the Great crossed into Europe precisely in the Balkans.

Turkish armies reached almost to Vienna, then rolled back. The southern Slavic lands found themselves alternately under the rule of the Turks, then under the heel of the European powers. The Turks burned Slavic languages ​​and culture with fire and sword, rebaptized Christians into Islam. Not much better were the Austro-Hungarian invaders, especially the Hungarian rulers. The folk Slavic language was preserved only in the deaf Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian villages, and even in the mountains of Montenegro. Moreover, it was best preserved precisely on the territory of Montenegro, at the junction of the modern borders of Montenegro, Serbia and Croatian Dalmatia.

“Hrana za mozak” means “food for thought”!

Prince Trubetskoy, a well-known Slavicist and Slavist, noted back in the century before last that among the Slavic languages ​​only two - Polish and Russian - developed continuously to the state of literary ones. Moreover, the Old Russian language was already the leader in its eastern group, resulting in modern Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, formed from dialects. Yes, modern Russian, as archaeologists recently discovered, is also a developed dialect that came to all of Russia from the most “advanced” in terms of culture and science of those times, Veliky Novgorod.

The Polish language followed Moravian and Czech for a long time, but then it itself became the basis for the restoration of the Slavic languages ​​​​of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia, almost killed by the Austrians.

The southern Slavs are concerned - there are peoples, but there is almost no language! Well, the folk rural dialect could not give what the modern literary language should give.

"The Great and Mighty" turned out to be most welcome.

Learn and Russian, your mother!

How the history of those Balkan wars ended is well known. Russian troops were on the threshold of Constantinople, and only another betrayal of the coalition of Western powers did not allow the Slavs to get their Czar - Grad.

However, even before that, the printing of Orthodox and other literature was organized in Serbia and Montenegro at the expense of the Russian Tsar. Even earlier, books were printed with Russian money and brought from Venice, from the printing house of the Greek Dmitry Teodozi. The basis of the entire cultural revival was the invincible Cyrillic alphabet, a symbol not only of faith and religion, but also of fierce resistance to occupation and genocide. It was from Russian Old Slavonic books that the Serbian language again received Slavic rare roots anew. Often tourists are touched by the "pristineness, nativeness" of the Serbian language, but the reason, as it turned out, is not at all intact. And the fact that Russia gave Serbia and Montenegro (and Croatia, which is now not recognized) its source, from where the “great, mighty” grew. The Old Slavonic language dates back to the time of Cyril and Methodius and the baptism of Russia.

Hence these linguistic incidents, which can be read at the top of the article. The same root of a word, passing through two completely different paths in the same language, gave words that acquire different meanings.

Mid 19th century. Berlin Congress. The Western powers are bargaining and squeezing the victorious Russia out of the Balkans. Serbia is once again trying to divide. Montenegro is called Montenegro. Russia insists - Montenegro! (Tsrna Gora, translated from folk Serbian, is not at all a “black mountain”, not “Montenegro”, but a coniferous, dark forest, this linguistic incident arose precisely from a presentation from the Russian language)

The metropolitans of Montenegro turn to the Russian Peter I for help (here he is called Peter the Great, since Peter I here is the Montenegrin Vladyka Petr Petrovich Negosh). They ask to send books and teachers. The Russian side responded and the Russian educator Maxim Suvorov was sent to the Serbs, who brought Feofan Prokopovich's primer "The first teaching of the youth (meaning children)". Priests from Montenegro are ordained in St. Petersburg. Schools are being restored with the help of Russians. Three languages ​​are taught in schools, of which only one is foreign, usually French.

Schools teach as many as TWO native languages. One is called SLAVIC, the other RUSSIAN.

Here it is, the source of the similarity of languages. He is not only and not so much from there, from relic Slavic migrations. Here it is, close, from the time of the Turkish Gambit plot!

The Turks are leaving the Balkans. The peoples of the Balkans receive statehood or autonomy. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes - Yugoslavia is about to be formed. But not everything is so simple. The southern Slavs do not yet have a full-fledged literary language. Slovenes in Ljubljana acted simply - they fussed and took the already restored Czech as the basis of grammar. The Macedonians coped with the task with an eye on the Bulgarians. However, in the very south, the most affected by the occupations and wars, everything was more complicated.

Learn Albanian!
In Dubrovnik (Ragusa), which has now become Croatian, in the 30s of the 19th century, a group of Slavic patriotic intelligentsia gathered, a kind of circle of people who graduated from Vienna and Prague universities, the best in that Europe. The leader of the circle was Ljudevit Gai. Dubrovnik was then Austro-Hungarian, the conspirators took risks before the secret police. However, the idea was a success: Austria still hoped to retain the Balkans, and the circle of "Illyrians" was not jailed or shot, hoping to raise Slavic patriotism against the Turks (Although Austria more than once led an intrigue along with the Turks and against the Slavs). Patriotism was raised by the general Slavic, without looking at confessions - Catholic, Orthodox, and even Muslim.

The "Illyrians" had not yet formed a full-fledged language, but they were able to raise some of the traditions of Dalmatian literature and develop their own Latin alphabet, similar to the Czech one. In fact, it is this alphabet that is currently used as the main one in Croatia, as the official second one in Montenegro, and as the unofficial second one in Serbia.

Why "Illyrians"? These are the ancestors of the current Albanians who are at enmity with the Serbs in Kosovo, where does the Slavic intelligentsia get such pathos from?

It turns out that before there was no enmity between Serbs and Albanians, but there was even cooperation. Some Roman sources of the beginning of the new era ranked the Illyrians among the Slavs, although modern researchers are inclined to their Celtic origin. Moreover, on the territory of modern Serbian Krajina in the village of Ostros there is a monument to the North Albanian leader Georg Kastrioti - Skanderbeg, with whom the courageous Serbs fought against the Ottomans back in the 15th century. Moreover, the pagan Illyrians were the toughest and most invincible warriors, like the ancient Varangians, who at that time were close in ethnicity to the Slavs of the Scandinavians. How can one not recall the history of the Ruriks in Kyiv - Sineus and others.

So, the Austrians, unlike the Hungarians, did not interfere with the reconstruction of the Slavic language. Naturally, the restoration began without the Cyrillic alphabet, without the Orthodox foundations. But the “submission” took place - these “Illyrians” turned out to be more useful to the Austrians than dangerous. In addition, almost all Slavs always preferred to drink “Pilsen”, like the famous hero of Yaroslav Hasek, soldier Schweik in Budejovice, than to fight with Russia, but many of them had their own scores with the Turks.
Karadzic, whom The Hague was not looking for.
The recreator of the Serbo-Croatian language is Vuk Stefanovich Karadzic. By a bizarre coincidence, the famous South Slavic language reformer shares the same last name as the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs. The new Serbo-Croatian language no longer continues the old national Serbo-Croatian tradition of medieval Dalmatian literature, a language that developed on the basis of the Dubrovnik dialect under the strong influence of Venetian Italian. The lexical basis of the Serbo-Croatian language was formed from folk and old Russian literary sources. However, Vuk Karadzic developed a unique grammatical basis for the new Slavic language, based on the logic of Western European languages. For example: the verb “to be” does not drop out of speech, as in other Slavic languages, but controls other members of the sentence (Compare: English “be” - Serb. “biti” - Russian “to be”, - and English “am "- Serbian "self" - Russian drop-down "is" in the first person singular")

The new Serbo-Croatian took root and became the main language of both the first and second, socialist Yugoslavia.

"And don't pee in my pot!"
90s of the twentieth century. The collapse of Yugoslavia. Internecine wars. NATO bombing of Belgrade. Military conflict in Croatia. The war in Bosnia - Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims. All Slavic roots. The conflict in Serbian Kosovo, which practically ended Serbia's power in the territory of the region.

The logic of the war demanded a division along ethnic, confessional, and cultural lines. And now the whole and logical Serbo-Croatian language, which all the southern Slavs suffered through blood and sweat for five centuries, is being torn to pieces. There are (seemingly) first separate Serbian and Croatian languages. Although they were based on the same Shtokavian dialect of the Serbo-Croatian vernacular. Then there is the so-called "Bosan" language, the speech of the Slavs of the Muslim religion. The languages ​​were divided without hesitation: they simply replaced some words in Serbo-Croatian with obsolete dialects of the same Serbo-Croatian, and it seems that they got the Croatian language. Added Turkisms - got Bosan.
Is it funny for Russian-speaking citizens? Wouldn't it be easier to introduce all synonyms into the lexical and grammatical norm and consider everything as one language?
But the inhabitants of the Balkans were not laughing. The military moloch took its toll. To mix up words at the wrong time in the wrong place was the price of life and death.

Now in Serbia they only speak "komshiya", "soup, chorba", and in Croatia, respectively - "sused", "yuha". In Serbia - "kotao" (cauldron), in the Muslim part of Bosnia - "cauldron".
If they didn’t find something to replace the words with, they invented new ones, with a special legend of “true nationality”.

For an outside observer, all this is absurdity, impoverishing all the "robbed" languages. Thank God, the Russian language has not lost the opportunity to preserve and absorb all new concepts. And to this day it remains the richest and most developed language not only in Russia, but also in Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the entire post-Soviet space. Yes, to be honest, this is the richest language of the entire Slavic world, but the price for this wealth was paid at the time was incredible.

The role of language creation in Montenegro is interesting. Here, before the final partition with Serbia, they also declared their own Montenegrin language. Added letters. For example, "u", as in Russian. The “new language” turned out only on the basis of the difference in pronunciation of the Serbian Shtokavian Ekavian dialect with the Montenegrin Ekavitsa (Compare: Serbian “reka”, Montenegrin “reka” and Russian “river” - why, is the difference so terrible?) In the Russian area of ​​\u200b\u200bsuch “languages ”- dialects can be counted a couple of dozen, from Murmansk, Vologda, Pskov, Krasnodar and Siberia. By the way, the Montenegrin ekavitsa is closer to the Russian classical pronunciation. And Ukrainian in pronunciation is closer to Ekavitsa, although our grammar is common, from Kievan Rus.
Children in Montenegrin schools are now being asked what language they want to learn in high school. Most of them sign up in Serbian, which is understandable - the prospect of further study.

The guides call this place "Tsrnagorska pichka"

Harm the Russians and mold the Srpska!

Now the cultural ties between Montenegro and Russia have a very good prospect. Due to the newly developed political and economic circumstances. And, most interestingly, this will lead to mutual enrichment of the two languages, Slavists know this well. Languages ​​more easily absorb those words and grammatical phrases that, by nature, fit well into living speech. So Montenegro, where after a gap in the 90s they began to study Russian again, has every chance of taking a leading position in the development of the Serbian language. This will happen at a time when Russia's closest neighbors are rooting out Russianisms with masochistic persistence and knocking out Russian-language programs from television programs. Thus, they lower the level of their beautiful folk languages ​​to the state of artificially invented utilitarian primitive dictionaries. The Russians, as the history of the Balkan wars has shown, will in no way renounce successful "Serbisms". It is a little harder for us to learn Serbian than for Serbs - Russian (due to the “broken” grammar - see above Karadzic), but, believe me, the lesson is very interesting and very broadening one's horizons, enriching the vocabulary.

So, if you were called harmful in Montenegro (as well as in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia) - this is a good compliment. It means - very useful, busy. (The root “red” is our “row” - order, equip, etc.) Thank you. Praise!
And if they also call and sculpt, especially a handsome representative of the opposite sex - then don’t get lost, act according to the moment and your position. Harmful and lepa wife is super! Lepota!

Veniamin Striga
Budva.

How to choose Serbian language courses? Is it possible to learn a language by self-study? Is it true that Serbian is similar to Russian? And is it true that many Serbs know Russian? Is it difficult for children to learn a language? How did I learn the language?

When moving, many people rely on the fact that the Serbian language is similar to Russian. Is it so?

Russian and Serbian are related languages, they belong to the same family and group of languages, but are included in different subgroups (hello, my diploma in philology).

What does this mean in practice? That it is easier for us Russian speakers to learn Serbian than Hungarian, English, Spanish, Chinese and a lot of other languages ​​that are more difficult to learn to varying degrees.

But, as my beloved Yoji Berra says, “in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is.”

And if we talk about practice, then the similarity with the Russian language, which many rely on when moving, is a very much exaggerated myth.

I would say that immediately the Serbian language is not particularly understandable to Russians, if it is not something very basic, not simple inscriptions (such as “pekara”, “praise”, “good is given”), but normal speech.

Many Serbs speak Russian

Sometimes you can hear stories about how many Serbs know Russian, taught at school, etc. Again - a myth not particularly confirmed by practice.

There are such people. But there are few good speakers. As well as the chances that when solving some of your everyday issues, you will encounter exactly them.

Much more likely to agree in English, many Serbs easily switch to it. Therefore, if you know English, it will help a lot.

As for government agencies, with a probability of 99% they will only speak Serbian with you there.

Children learn the language on their own

In theory, this is so. But again, theory and practice are very different. First, all children are very different. There are more sociable ones (those will agree without a language), there are less.

Getting into a different language environment, the child still experiences some amount of stress. We had an example with Sophia: she speaks wonderful Russian, she is used to being able to explain anything, and here, on the first day in kindergarten, she could not explain that she was very hungry.

True, and it is not necessary to make some terrible problem out of the language. Judging by the experience of people, children get used to the language within about a month, and gradually begin to speak like Serbs, even without any accent. And in the first days, a child can write a small dictionary to school or kindergarten (in the garden - for the teacher).

Whatever I do, I would not try to somehow isolate the child from the language, sending him to Russian schools or kindergartens. Unless we are talking about the fact that you are obviously in the country for a limited period - a year or two.

If you plan to live in the country, then the faster the child adapts to a normal life, full knowledge of the language, the better.

About Serbian language courses - how are they different, what are they

Those who are looking for Serbian courses fall into two groups. Some people need language. For some, courses as a basis for obtaining a residence permit in the country.

Courses for obtaining a residence permit

In many countries, learning a language is a fairly common way to obtain a long-term visa or residence permit in the country. But not in Serbia.

In Serbia, this path gives little. As a rule, we are talking about a residence permit for a short time (up to 3 months) and without the right to extend borawak.

At the same time, the courses must be licensed, as a result they are more expensive than usual. You can talk more or less about a serious term for a residence permit only if you plan to study Serbian at the university.

Two years ago I was interested in such an opportunity. I'm not sure if I remember exactly, but I think it was about 2,000 euros a year tuition fee (for foreigners).

We didn’t need a residence permit on this basis, but for studying at the university (if someone is relevant), borawak is usually given for up to six months. Then it is extended for the same period.

In general, studying Serbian for obtaining a residence permit in the country is a rather expensive, inconvenient and unpopular way.

Courses for learning a language, not for a residence permit

Here everything is simpler and the possibilities are more diverse.

Novi Sad has a huge number of language schools. Conditions are similar in many places. Often the duration is about 10 months, the price is 3000-5000 dinars per month, for two classes per week.

In a situation where the language is not urgently needed, 10 months seems to be not very long. But when you need it today and every day, 10 months is a disaster.

There are intensive courses, with their own methods and shorter periods of language learning in 3-4 months.

At a cost per month, they are slightly more expensive than usual, the amount for the course is the same, but the language appears in your life much faster. In my opinion, when moving, these are the best.

My experience of learning Serbian

Pros and cons of my courses

In the summer of 2015, I went to an intensive course for 4 months (3 months for the main course, 1 month for continuing). Classes lasted 1.5 hours 3 times a week.

pros

What was good? A good teacher is moderately tough, focused, who works every minute, keeps a high pace in class, explains well and gives a lot of material. And of course, it is a good teacher that is 90% of success in learning a language.

I also liked the technique. Immersion in the language was quick, as we learned how to speak in the present tense already in the first lessons.

By the way, not everyone in our group learned Serbian from scratch. I really had it from scratch, but at the same time, there were those in our group who had previously taught or tried to learn the language. Nobody was bored. But for those who studied from scratch, there were no problems.

Minuses

In fact, there was one minus, but a very important one. Our group studied through the Internet, although there were full-time courses in the same school, it's just that not everyone in our group was from Novi Sad.

What was wrong? The connection speed of everyone in the group was different. But in the end, even those who had a good connection suffered. Something hung, we waited.

And despite the fact that we had good Internet speed at home, sometimes it was quite hard to hear - it seems to me that 10-15% of the material flew past me.

Despite the fact that we were engaged through Hangouts, which, compared to the same Skype, gives much better sound and picture quality.

Are the courses enough?

The intensive course usually lasts 4 months. During this time, it’s really possible to learn all the grammar, learn how to build phrases, and learn how to better understand speech.

If the language is needed only for the everyday level, then this may be enough. But it is important to remember that if the language is not actively used, then knowledge quickly disappears. And it is quite easy to slide back to the level of "good is given, praise."

To maintain and develop the language of opportunity, in fact, the mass. Serbs are sociable. You can chat with your neighbors at least a little every day. If you have children, then often parents communicate on playgrounds.

You can watch TV and listen to the radio, but newspapers will not help. Newspapers are printed here with a huge number of errors, I don’t know if there are editors and proofreaders in the newspapers here. But, in general, everything is so.

If desired, the language can be further developed purposefully, being systematically studied. After some break, I resumed repetition and study, but already individually with the teacher, since my task is more difficult: not only everyday, but also professional language.

I am working and, in addition, I want to enter the master's program at the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad. This means lectures, diploma work at the same level as Serbian students.

My conclusions about learning Serbian

Serbian language - difficult or not? For Russian speakers, it is easier than many other languages, but in reality it is a real foreign language that needs to be learned.

It will be faster than with English or German, but you will have to learn. Both grammar and vocabulary - all this is different here than in Russian.

How to learn Serbian quickly? Here are my rules for this:

• Better intensive (4 months, no more).
• You need a good teacher.
• Better in person than online.
• Practice, practice and more practice, otherwise the knowledge will go away.

What is the best way to teach - individually with a teacher or in a group? It seems to me that it is quite possible to teach in a group, if we are talking about intensive. It's cheaper, plus you see both your progress and other students' progress - there is something in this too.

Private lessons have their own advantages. Here everything is more flexible, you can not wait for the group to meet. But most often it is more expensive, since a lesson with a qualified teacher costs about 10 euros.

How to choose a Serbian tutor? I think that Serbian should be taught by a native speaker, a philologist, that is, a qualified person.

The fact that in Serbia it should be a native speaker may seem obvious to many, but in general, emigrants also try to teach the language here. Sometimes for as little as 100 dinars per hour (slightly less than a euro). Is it necessary to say that a normal teacher will not work for such money?

Can I learn Serbian on my own? To be honest, I'm skeptical about this idea. So you can learn at the level of individual phrases, but not as a full-fledged language. Although there are some Serbian textbooks.

What are the disadvantages of self-study? That it is easy to learn something with a mistake. I tried to learn different "childish" vocabulary from Sofia's children's books.

As a result, I learned some words with the wrong accent. And this became clear after I started studying with the teacher again. I would have said so, because the polite Serbs did not correct me.

Another problem is related to the fact that in Serbian there are sounds that are unusual for the Russian ear. For example, hard and soft "H". Therefore, it is better to train pronunciation under the supervision of a teacher.

The inhabitants of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina speak a language called Serbo-Croatian, Serbo-Croatian or Hovato-Serbian, which Serbs and Montenegrins call Serbian, Croats call Croatian, and Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) call Bosnian or Bosniak.

Serbian is spoken today in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as national minorities in Italy, Romania and Hungary.

Serbian is considered a dialect of Serbo-Croatian. Serbian is one of the Slavic languages. Together with Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Croatian and Bosnian, it belongs to the South Slavic subgroup. The last two languages ​​are often combined with Serbian into one (Serbo-Croatian); in this case, separate Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian languages ​​are considered regional variants of Serbo-Croatian.

Serbian is one of the Slavic languages, belongs to the South Slavic group and is related to Russian. The Serbian alphabet is called Vukovica.

The Serbian language is based on two alphabets: Cyrillic and Latin.

The Cyrillic alphabet has a long history and has been used in the Serbian language since the 10th century and is a traditional script, while the Latin alphabet came to the Serbian language much later and is used in business. The Greek statutory letter served as a model for the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Serbian stress can fall on any syllable, except for the last one, in words similar in sound to Russian, the stress in the Serbian word is one syllable closer to the beginning of the word than in Russian: concert, water, foot, student, etc.

The oldest Cyrillic monument in the Serbian language dates back to 996.

The foundations of the modern literary Serbian language were laid in the first quarter of the 19th century by Vuk Stefanovich Karadzic, in his dictionary of the Serbian language, the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet appeared already in its modern form.

The close relationship of the Serbian and Russian languages ​​led to the presence in them of many related words (hand, foot, sky, water, sea, friend, contract, husband, pole (six), bone (bone), joy (joy), etc.).

False friends of the translator (words do not match in meaning): speech “word”, word “letter”, praise “thank you”, right “straight”, one hundred “table”, camp “apartment”, flies “male”, gap “window” , cart "train", braid "hair", card "ticket", cannon "gun", etc.

There are 25 consonants in the Serbian language, voiced consonants, unlike Russian, are not deafened at the end of a word (tooth, friend, knife, etc.), and hard ones do not soften before I, E (peace, bottom, leaf, sofa, sir , quiet, etc.).

There is no vowel Y in the Serbian language, it corresponds to I (sin-son, riba - fish, ti - you, vi - you, etc.).

Unlike Russian, the Serbian copula je “is” is not omitted with neuter demonstrative pronouns. It is a table. - Ovo je one hundred.

In 1841, the educational Society of Serbian Literature arose, at the base of which was the founder of Serbian dramatic art, Jovan Popovich. At the same time, thanks to the work of Vuk Karadzic, the Serbian language took shape on the basis of the Shtokavian dialects of Herzegovina.

The Serbian language uses two alphabets as writing: one based on the Cyrillic alphabet (Vukovica) and one based on the Latin alphabet (Gajevitsa). Cyrillic is considered official, but outside of official use, Latin is also often used. Each has 30 letters; there is a one-to-one correspondence between the letters of one alphabet and another.

In Serbia and Montenegro, the Cyrillic alphabet is officially the only alphabet, but Latin is often used in Serbia. A number of Serbian newspapers are published only in Latin.

The former "yat" in a number of dialects turned into "e" (in writing - e), in others - into a soft "e" or "ie", and there is also a disappearing "Ikavian" dialect, where "yat" turned into "i" . In Croatian, only the "Iekavian" norm is officially recognized, interspersed with a number of "Ekavian" (eg greška) and a few "Ikavian" (eg dio, ismijavati) words.

In Serbian, "Ekavian" and "Iekavian" norms are formally equal in rights, although in Montenegro and Bosnia, "Iekavian" is more often used, in Serbia proper - "Ekavian" norm. Examples: Croatian. vrijeme (time, weather) - Serb. time, Croatian rječnik (dictionary) - Serbian. riverman. Thus, if the text is written in Latin and according to the “Iekavian” norm, then with a probability of 90% this text is Croatian, but if at least one of these conditions is not met, it is Serbian.

In 1941 - 1945. the pro-Nazi government of Pavelić, within the framework of the policy “we have nothing to do with the Serbs,” actively planted neologisms (krilnik - general, slikopis - film, munjovoz - tram, etc.), but after the war they disappeared and did not revive in the modern Croatian language.

The difference between Serbian and Croatian is in the names of the months: in Serbian the names go back to Latin (Februar, March, April) (as in modern Russian), in Croatian Slavic names are used (veljača, ožujak, travanj) (as in modern Ukrainian language).

Sometimes the same word has different meanings in Serbian and Croatian: voz - Serb. train, Croatian wagon, cart. However, while the Serbs are relatively tolerant of the use of dialect words, as well as the "Jekavian" pronunciation and spelling, the Croatian government, on the contrary, is campaigning to expel "Serbisms" from the language.

The same derivational affixes are productive differently in Serbian and Croatian. For example, in Croatian, the suffix -nik is widely used to designate professions and occupations, which in Serbian can correspond to -ach, -itsa, -ar, etc. There are affixes that are specific only to Serbian or Croatian: for example, Serbian sa- can correspond to Croatian sa- or su-.

Serbian tends to turn "x" or "y" in a position between vowels into "v". Examples: Croatian. kuhati - Serb. kuvati or kuhati (both options are equal), Horv. uho - Serb. ear or uvo, Croatian. vjerojatno - Serb. probably, etc. However, this trend is not regular and is nowhere near as strong as in the neighboring Macedonian language, where it has led to the almost complete disappearance of "x" between vowels or at the end of words.

In some cases, the fluent sound l, which in Serbian turns into o in the absence of a vowel after it, is preserved in Croatian in all forms: Serb. kao - Croatian. Kal, Serb. Prestonitsa - Croatian prijestolnica.

Serbian-Russian dictionary: cookies - grilled meat, auto-otpad - car dump, zdrav hran - cafe, brza hran - fast food, slap service - emergency towing, spider - tow truck, fell light - turn on the lights, outpost - flag , drove - car, glumats - actor, shame - theater.

Serbian language (Serb. srpski jezik / srpski jezik listen)) is a Slavic language of the South Slavic subgroup. The last three languages ​​are often combined with Serbian into one (Serbo-Croatian); in this case separate Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Bosnian languages ​​are considered [who?] regional variants of Serbo-Croatian. The list of differences between the Serbian language and Croatian, Montenegrin and Bosnian is on the Serbo-Croatian language page.

Sociolinguistic data

Serbian is spoken in Serbia and Montenegro (constituting a common confederal state until 2006), in certain eastern regions of Croatia, and also in the Bosnian region of Republika Srpska. The number of speakers is about 11 million people. The majority of speakers are Serbs who practice Orthodoxy.

Writing

The Serbian language uses two alphabets as writing: one based on the Cyrillic alphabet ("vukovica") and based on the Latin alphabet ("gaevica"). During the existence of the SFRY in Serbia and Montenegro, Cyrillic and Latin were studied in parallel, but Cyrillic prevailed in everyday life in Serbia and was in fact the only alphabet in Montenegro; in Bosnia, on the other hand, the Latin alphabet was more commonly used. In modern Serbia, the Cyrillic alphabet is the only official script (the status was fixed by law in 2006), but outside of official use, the Latin alphabet is also often used. Each has 30 letters; there is a one-to-one correspondence between the letters of one alphabet and another (but a simple automatic text conversion is only possible in one direction, since Latin digraphs occasionally correspond to pairs of separate Cyrillic letters: ko no function, by j upan).

An excerpt characterizing the Serbian language

The sovereign leaves the army in order not to hamper the unity of power of the commander in chief, and hopes that more decisive measures will be taken; but the position of the commanders of the armies is still more confused and weakened. Benigsen, the Grand Duke and a swarm of adjutant generals remain with the army in order to monitor the actions of the commander in chief and excite him to energy, and Barclay, feeling even less free under the eyes of all these sovereign eyes, becomes even more cautious for decisive action and avoids battles.
Barclay stands for caution. The Tsarevich hints at treason and demands a general battle. Lubomirsky, Branitsky, Vlotsky and the like inflate all this noise so much that Barclay, under the pretext of delivering papers to the sovereign, sends the Poles adjutant generals to Petersburg and enters into an open struggle with Benigsen and the Grand Duke.
In Smolensk, finally, no matter how Bagration did not want it, the armies unite.
Bagration in a carriage drives up to the house occupied by Barclay. Barclay puts on a scarf, goes out to meet v reports to the senior rank of Bagration. Bagration, in the struggle of generosity, despite the seniority of the rank, submits to Barclay; but, having obeyed, agrees with him even less. Bagration personally, by order of the sovereign, informs him. He writes to Arakcheev: “The will of my sovereign, I can’t do it together with the minister (Barclay). For God's sake, send me somewhere to command a regiment, but I can't be here; and the whole main apartment is filled with Germans, so that it is impossible for a Russian to live, and there is no sense. I thought I truly served the sovereign and the fatherland, but in reality it turns out that I serve Barclay. I confess I don't want to." A swarm of Branicki, Winzingerode and the like poisons the relations of the commanders-in-chief even more, and even less unity comes out. They are going to attack the French in front of Smolensk. A general is sent to inspect the position. This general, hating Barclay, goes to his friend, the corps commander, and after spending a day with him, returns to Barclay and condemns on all counts the future battlefield, which he has not seen.
While there are disputes and intrigues about the future battlefield, while we are looking for the French, having made a mistake in their location, the French stumble upon Neverovsky's division and approach the very walls of Smolensk.
We must accept an unexpected battle in Smolensk in order to save our messages. The battle is given. Thousands are killed on both sides.
Smolensk is abandoned against the will of the sovereign and the whole people. But Smolensk was burned by the inhabitants themselves, deceived by their governor, and the devastated inhabitants, setting an example for other Russians, go to Moscow, thinking only of their losses and inciting hatred for the enemy. Napoleon goes further, we retreat, and the very thing that was supposed to defeat Napoleon is achieved.

The next day after the departure of his son, Prince Nikolai Andreevich called Princess Marya to him.
- Well, are you satisfied now? - he said to her, - quarreled with her son! Satisfied? All you needed was! Satisfied?.. It hurts me, it hurts. I'm old and weak, and you wanted it. Well, rejoice, rejoice ... - And after that, Princess Marya did not see her father for a week. He was sick and did not leave the office.
To her surprise, Princess Mary noticed that during this time of illness, the old prince also did not allow m lle Bourienne to see him. One Tikhon followed him.
A week later, the prince came out and began his former life again, with special activities engaged in buildings and gardens and ending all previous relations with m lle Bourienne. His appearance and cold tone with Princess Marya seemed to say to her: “You see, you invented a lie to Prince Andrei about my relationship with this Frenchwoman and quarreled with him; and you see that I don't need you or the Frenchwoman."
Princess Mary spent one half of the day at Nikolushka's, following his lessons, herself giving him lessons in Russian and music, and talking with Desalle; the other part of the day she spent in her half with books, with the old nurse, and with God's people, who sometimes came to her from the back porch.
Princess Mary thought about the war the way women think about war. She was afraid for her brother who was there, she was horrified, not understanding her, before the human cruelty that forced them to kill each other; but she did not understand the significance of this war, which seemed to her the same as all previous wars. She did not understand the significance of this war, despite the fact that Dessalles, her constant interlocutor, who was passionately interested in the course of the war, tried to explain his considerations to her, and despite the fact that the people of God who came to her all spoke with horror in their own way about popular rumors about the invasion of the Antichrist, and despite the fact that Julie, now Princess Drubetskaya, who again entered into correspondence with her, wrote patriotic letters to her from Moscow.
“I am writing to you in Russian, my good friend,” Julie wrote, “because I have hatred for all the French, as well as for their language, which I cannot hear speak ... We in Moscow are all enthusiastic through enthusiasm for our adored emperor.
My poor husband endures labor and hunger in Jewish taverns; but the news I have makes me even more excited.
You probably heard about the heroic deed of Raevsky, who embraced his two sons and said: “I will die with them, but we will not hesitate! And indeed, although the enemy was twice as strong as us, we did not hesitate. We spend our time as best we can; but in war, as in war. Princess Alina and Sophie sit with me all day long, and we, the unfortunate widows of living husbands, have wonderful conversations over lint; only you, my friend, are missing ... etc.
Mostly, Princess Mary did not understand the full significance of this war because the old prince never spoke about it, did not recognize it, and laughed at dinner at Desalles, who spoke about this war. The prince's tone was so calm and sure that Princess Mary, without reasoning, believed him.
Throughout the month of July, the old prince was extremely active and even lively. He also laid a new garden and a new building, a building for courtyards. One thing that bothered Princess Marya was that he slept little and, having changed his habit of sleeping in the study, every day he changed the place of his lodging for the night. Now he ordered his camp bed to be made in the gallery, now he remained on the sofa or in the Voltaire chair in the living room and dozed without undressing, while not m lle Bourienne, but the boy Petrusha read to him; then he spent the night in the dining room.
On August 1, a second letter was received from Prince Andrei. In the first letter, received shortly after his departure, Prince Andrei humbly asked for forgiveness from his father for what he allowed himself to tell him, and asked him to return his favor to him. The old prince answered this letter with an affectionate letter, and after this letter he alienated the Frenchwoman from himself. The second letter of Prince Andrei, written from near Vitebsk, after the French had occupied it, consisted of a brief description of the entire campaign with a plan drawn in the letter, and of considerations about the further course of the campaign. In this letter, Prince Andrei presented to his father the inconvenience of his position close to the theater of war, on the very line of movement of troops, and advised him to go to Moscow.
At dinner that day, in response to the words of Dessalles, who said that, as he heard, the French had already entered Vitebsk, the old prince remembered Prince Andrei's letter.
“I received it from Prince Andrei today,” he said to Princess Marya, “didn’t you read it?”
“No, mon pere, [father],” the princess answered frightened. She couldn't read letters she hadn't even heard about receiving.
“He writes about this war,” said the prince with that contemptuous smile that had become accustomed to him, with which he always spoke about a real war.
“It must be very interesting,” Desalles said. - The prince is able to know ...
– Ah, very interesting! said m lle Bourienne.
“Go and bring it to me,” the old prince turned to m lle Bourienne. - You know, on a small paperweight table.
M lle Bourienne jumped up happily.
“Oh no,” he yelled, frowning. - Come on, Mikhail Ivanovich.
Mikhail Ivanovich got up and went into the study. But as soon as he left, the old prince, looking around uneasily, threw down his napkin and went himself.
“They don’t know how to do anything, they mix everything up.
While he was walking, Princess Mary, Dessalles, m lle Bourienne and even Nikolushka looked at each other in silence. The old prince returned with a hasty step, accompanied by Mikhail Ivanovich, with a letter and a plan, which he, not allowing anyone to read during dinner, put beside him.
Going into the living room, he handed the letter to Princess Marya and, laying out before him the plan of the new building, on which he fixed his eyes, ordered her to read it aloud. After reading the letter, Princess Mary looked inquiringly at her father.
He stared at the plan, apparently deep in thought.
- What do you think about it, prince? Desalle allowed himself to ask a question.
- I! I! .. - as if unpleasantly waking up, said the prince, not taking his eyes off the plan of construction.
- It is quite possible that the theater of war will come so close to us ...
– Ha ha ha! Theater of War! - said the prince. - I said and I say that the theater of war is Poland, and the enemy will never penetrate further than the Neman.
Desalles looked with surprise at the prince, who was talking about the Neman, when the enemy was already at the Dnieper; but Princess Mary, who had forgotten the geographical location of the Neman, thought that what her father was saying was true.
- When the snow grows, they will drown in the swamps of Poland. They just can’t see,” the prince said, apparently thinking about the campaign of 1807, which, as it seemed, was so recent. - Benigsen should have entered Prussia earlier, things would have taken a different turn ...
“But, prince,” Desalles said timidly, “the letter speaks of Vitebsk…
“Ah, in a letter, yes ...” the prince said displeasedly, “yes ... yes ...” His face suddenly assumed a gloomy expression. He paused. - Yes, he writes, the French are defeated, at what river is this?
Dessal lowered his eyes.
“The prince does not write anything about this,” he said quietly.
- Doesn't he write? Well, I didn't invent it myself. Everyone was silent for a long time.
“Yes ... yes ... Well, Mikhail Ivanovich,” he suddenly said, raising his head and pointing to the construction plan, “tell me how you want to remake it ...
Mikhail Ivanovich approached the plan, and the prince, after talking with him about the plan for a new building, glancing angrily at Princess Marya and Desalle, went to his room.
Princess Mary saw Dessal's embarrassed and surprised look fixed on her father, noticed his silence and was amazed that the father had forgotten his son's letter on the table in the living room; but she was afraid not only to speak and question Dessalles about the reason for his embarrassment and silence, but she was afraid to even think about it.
In the evening, Mikhail Ivanovich, sent from the prince, came to Princess Mary for a letter from Prince Andrei, which had been forgotten in the drawing room. Princess Mary submitted a letter. Although it was unpleasant for her, she allowed herself to ask Mikhail Ivanovich what her father was doing.
“Everyone is busy,” Mikhail Ivanovich said with a respectfully mocking smile that made Princess Marya turn pale. “They are very worried about the new building. We read a little, and now,” said Mikhail Ivanovich, lowering his voice, “at the bureau, they must have taken care of the will. (Recently, one of the prince's favorite activities was to work on papers that were supposed to remain after his death and which he called a will.)