DON'T make these *MISTAKES* when learning CROATIAN (or any language)!

I've been learning Croatian for over a decade now and I wanted to share some advice on what NOT to do when you learn a new language! I hope you'll find some of these tips useful :)
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[@hv6936]

So my first language is Russian and I sometimes accidentally mix up words. A good example was when I was visiting a girl in Varaždin and was talking to her and her mother and she made us chicken. I wanted to say she did a good job on it. In Russian to say “this is good chicken” it is «это хорошая курица» (etoo horoši kuraca) and in Croatian you’re supposed to say “Ovo je dobro paletina”. Well when I went to complement her moms cooking I told her “Ovo dobra Kurac” and her and the girl I was with couldn’t stop laughing and told me what I said and we all had a good laugh 🤣.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@denzelw78]

auuu :)😀

[@daniiiiij6695]

Ajoj 😂😂😂

[@drazengalinec]

😂😂😂😂

[@stipe3124]

@@drazengalinec Hahaha, poprilično smišna priča! To je kao na Češkom, Kureci za Piletinu

[@brokula1312]

If someone tells you "I love you body hair", that means he/she is really, really, reaaally into you.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

🤣🤣🤣 lol

[@ivank7985]

your croatian is remarkable!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thanks so much!

[@Ben-ej1xp]

Great tips! Reading things that you’re into is another good one. It exposes you to vocabulary that’s relevant to you and so it’s more likely to stick, eg food and recipes on a site, travel blogs, sports reports etc.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

So true!!! Great tip!

[@hc9582]

Agree with you on grammar. No one learns a language well with their sole focus on grammar. Let’s think about how babies and young children obtain their mother tongue it’s 1)hearing, 2) vocalisations to actually saying words and speaking it, then later our parents teach us basics like the alphabet and counting, etc… and sometimes we learn 3)reading around the time we enter school (sometimes with parents), then in school we get taught 4) grammar. When it comes to grammar some students get it while others spend their entire schooling years not. Yet, when everyone learns a new language that’s foreign we expect grammar to be the answer. As a language teacher, I disagree 100% with how a foreign language is taught in schools and also how most think they should learn a language. Now, I will also add that very few find grammar very beneficial and those people should learn chunks as they go. The rest should focus on listening & speaking as well as read in the language. The more one reads well written materials, the more you’ll find grammar in practice which helps. 😅

[@darkogregec7503]

You are so modest and smart. I like your stile! Bravo, prava si Hrvatica😁

[@thomasriedl8710]

Very good points! Especially not to focus on grammar - just talk. And yes, you will make mistakes. I sat in a cafe and wanted to pay. I said „pitati molim“ instead of „platiti molim“ but the waiter realized what I meant 😉😂. Ali sad stvarno griješim - napisala sam na njemačkom, uh engleskom. Vježbati hrvatski je najvažnije i zabavno je! Vaš KZbin kanal je izvrstan! LP

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hvala!! And I love the pitati vs. platiti mistake! Pretty sure I did the same thing in the beginning!

[@sanjamatsuri]

Kosa is also called vlasi (plural), vlas is singular ...vlasulja is the wig...

[@vanjasmudformerlyknownasma6813]

You´re something else! Otisao sam iz HR prije gotovo 4 godine. I sada gledam TEBE kako objasnjavas strancima govorna pravila. Za one koji dolaze... Unglaublich!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

🥰

[@stipe3124]

Ich denke das Deutsch ist viel mehr compliziert als Kroatisch, kad učiš pa moraš sve one artikle hvatati, ubije te u mozak a kod Hrvatskog je da ima puno padeža i svašta nešto ali za čisto razgovarati ga je nekako lakše "ubrati" nego Njemački, pretpostavljam da su u Njemačkoj zbog tog "Unglaublich" English is also much more simple than German even if they are related

[@apscoradiales]

"Vas", ne tebe! Tebe is not courteous.

[@JaceVibe]

This is all excellent advice for language learning!

[@l.g.388]

Obozavam Vas. Vi ste predivna osoba. Mogli bi imati yt ucionicu engleskog za nas u Hr, imate ogroman talent i smisao za ucenje ljudi vise od redovnih ucitelja ili profesora. Svaka Vam cast. 👍❤️🌹

[@CraigMilton]

My inlaws are Croatian (living in Canada) and my wife, who's Canadian, was of course brought up with the Croatian language, went to Croatian schools, etc. 15 years ago, we visited Croatia for a relatives wedding -- For three weeks, I was the guy in the corner nodding, smiling, and throwing the occasional 'dobar dan' in, but really could only follow the general gist of the conversation by hand movements, and how loud they spoke (...one thing I did pick up on, is the volume someone speaks in a group, is directly proportional to how 'right' they are. :D ) We just got back from another three week visit to Croatia, and although it has been 15 years, I still don't know the language, but I was more comfortable. Many speak English in Cro, and Croatians are very friendly, and accommodating when you can't speak the language, but your videos have inspired me to make an effort to learn it (my Mother-in-law will be thrilled). Especially loved the "What NOT TO DO in CROATIA - 12 Things to Avoid (superstitions & more)" which was forwarded to me from a friend while we were there (it's how I found your channel). Keep the videos coming, we love 'em! Cheers from Ontario!

[@dahny00]

What you mention at 5:48 happened to me in Canada, when I was learning Quebec's french. Usually they don't do it, because they prefer you to speak in a very bad French than in a good English, but I remember during my first days at the university that I was struggling to understand some technician's French with a very strong local accent. He offered me to switch to English, but I refused because I needed to learn. It took some time, but at some point I managed to learn it good enough to communicate and a few months later I was even thinking and dreaming in French 🙂

[@ivanajukicgloban6627]

I love your videos!You're such a kind person🤗❤

[@TomislavMilobara]

Tako sam ja naucio Engleski, gledao i slusao filmove. Titlovi extremno puno pomazu, moze se tako nauciti i sleng i pojedinacni svakodnevni izrazi koji nemaju bas smisla ali u razgovoru imaju itekako smisla! Sarah, you pin pointed a whole topic!

[@victoriazenthofer]

Hey Sarah! I am brazilian and started watching your channel to improve my speaking and listening in english and ended up loving and searching how to study Croatian too! Still not being good at English though lol I love your videos and I wish to all your family the best!!! 🎉

[@tetakol8733]

Hi Sarah, I agree 100%: you should’t care too much about grammar. Just pick up as much vocabulary as possible. I have a playlist with Croatian songs. Listening, singing and translating the lyrics really helps. Not as good as language school probably, but you get a feeling for the language. And that moment in Split … New Year‘s Eve … singing together with all the local people on Riva 🥺❤

[@cilestl110]

Great tips !! Big Like for your mission

[@robertpesevski1641]

Everything is correct you said! Sve je točno što si rekla! Big praise and thanks on mastering a foreign language such as Croatian! Velika pohvala i zahvala na savladavanju tako teškog jezika kao sto je hrvatski!

[@bozidarbiskup4552]

Great explanation Sara. I totally agree with your approach, very similar to mine to learn ( improving) my English when I moved to Canada 🇨🇦. Greetings from Prince Rupert,BC. 😊

[@apscoradiales]

I was born in Croatia, and went to school there, Two of my most hated subjects where Croatian and Math. Math for obvious reasons. As you may know, Croatia has many dialects, and different words for the same thing that it can make your head spin. Just going from one village to another 2 kilometers away can be difficult when it comes to the language even for adults sometimes. I once had to deal with the government officials in Zagreb. I might have understood, maybe, 50% of what they were saying. The lady there finally asked me, "Where are you from?" I yelled back, "From Hrvatska! Where the Hell are you from?" Next time i brought my cousin with me to translate what they were saying to English! Made everyone's life much easier, haha!

[@tihomirmarusic8101]

Super video opet..no imam super prijedlog koji bi mogla napraviti..recimo video o dijalektima..mi u Hrvatskoj nekad ne razumijemo nekog na drugom dijalektu ...pa da vidimo kako to tebi ide ;-)

[@jazzenthuiagirl]

I've said I love your goat instead of I love your hair. (koza/kosa) and I'll either say crazy or people but I can't ever keep it straight. In reverse, my Croatian husband has said that I'm smelly when he meant to say that I smelled nice and has said I was handsome when he meant to say pretty. :)

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Haha love the goat/kosa!

[@TheEndriuTube]

I think that these are great advices, you got the point! The most challenging parts for me now are: learning new vocabulary (i also suggest to listen to radio or music, but here in Italy finding movies or tv series with croatian subtitles is difficult - a great help is Wokabulary app), perfective and imperfective verbs, adjectives (because they have different cases from names), and the correct use of u or na and accusative with movement verbs. Anyway, I won't give up! Can anybody here suggest where I can find movies or tv series with croatian subtitles?

[@thomasriedl8710]

On Netflix you have the oppurtunity to choose Croatian subtitles on several films

[@svetlanaat7576]

Thank you for advices!❤ Which Croatian bands would you recommend listening to?

[@Lily-cv1ds]

Pozdrav Sarah you are so right I agree with you 👍

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

😊

[@toobalkain]

What you're saying makes sense on the surface, kids learn their first language without having to learn any grammar but when it comes to learning a second language, it's a bit more complicated and although we learn in different ways, most people seem to acquire a new language best with a system, a structure, and that structure of course is grammar, it helps you conceptualise and categorise things, it's just how our mind works. When teaching English as a foreign language p.ex. present perfect tense is taught as subject (I, you, John, Mary....) + have/has + past participle. This almost mathematical way of learning a language doesn't work for everyone, some kids find it difficult to learn using this strategy but have no problem picking up English from Netflix or youtube, but it seems to work best for most, that's why grammar is taught, learning random words and phrases without a framework seems to be a much less effective method for the majority of people.

[@daniiiiij6695]

What I'm curious about is how you're faring with regional dialects. I'm Croatian from Mostar but married a Dalmatinac. To me it sounded like a complete new language at first 😅 just kidding, it wasn't that bad 😉

[@zeljanpopovic6994]

You're so right with everything! Vocabulary should be the basic, instead of only learning rules.

[@nativecascadian4141]

Absolutely awesome advice. Especially about the time! Croatian is a complicated language and I'm still at a high A2 level. It took my wife years to learn English so why would it be any different now that I'm learning her language. And absolutely yes to the enthusiasm from Croatians if you speak. You can speak absolutely poor Croatian and they will be so happy that a foreigner is trying... and then they will try to switch to their English to make it easier for you! I think my most used phrase this summer was "Molim. Samo hrvatski. Trebam vježbati!"

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Exactly! Great job for sticking to Croatian and telling people you need to vježbati! ☺️

[@paulinemably9572]

I am finding it very hard to move from A2 to B1 in Slovak because of my grammar. I wish I hadn't focused so much on vocab and did drive myself crazy with the grammar in the early days!!!

[@anteveic327]

@@BS-uj5rt no, vježbat means both

[@timnolan9561]

My wife is from Brod and the language is hard as hell! I felt like such an idiot, didn’t give up, but it’s tough.

[@daleprostran872]

I am from Croatia, and I live in Canada, and I watch all yours videos with pleasure. There are there categories in every Language, speaking, reading and writing. I see that you speak Excelent Croatian, you even picked up “purgers” accent! How did you find writing and reading Croatian? Maybe you can make a video about that one day, please, eh! 👍❤️

[@apscoradiales]

Same here. Feel the same way about her speaking Croatian. It's getting better than mine; I'm losing mine every day, getting worse and worse.

[@irenes.2807]

Thanks, Sarah. Maybe there's hope for me yet! 👍🇨🇦♥️🇭🇷🤣

[@shivashrestha077]

Tako si lijepa 😊🥰😍

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hvala 🥰

[@shivashrestha077]

@@RoyalCroatianTours Učim hrvatski jezik

[@kejos]

big + if you learn croatian then you know bosnian, serbian, montenegrin

[@hrvatskinoahid1048]

Croatian and Serbian are different languages.

[@TatianaBurgart-iz8kc]

So true! All. But especially I love #5 about listening to local music. And do it thoroughly: take tekst, make translation and then words really stick to the mind and then you just realize yeah I know this word :) Practiced it in few languages and it worked all the time :) Do you have any suggestions on croatian singers or bands? Surprisingly I find it not easy to find.

[@debelix]

Hm, it depends on your taste in music, like what genre are you interested in? I'm gonna list some of the most popular bands and singers from all genres so you can decide: 1st group (Zabavna muzika): Oliver Dragojević, Mišo Kovač, Jasna Zlokić, Jasmin Stavros, Novi Fosili, Alka Vuica, Alen Vitasović, Danijela Martinović, Dražen Zečić, Gibonni, Goran Karan, Dalibor Brun, Duško Lokin, Džo Maračić-Maki, Dolores (Višnja Vranešić), Doris Dragović (Dorotea Budimir), Emilija Kokić, Ivica Šerfezi, Jole, Jelena Rozga, Nina Badrić, Magazin, Mate Bulić, Mladen Grdović, Vinko Coce, Severina, Marko Perković-Thompson, Vesna Pisarović, Zdravko Škender, Željko Bebek, Petar Grašo, Minea, Sanja Trumbić, Nives Celzijus, Vuco, Zlatko Pejaković, Vlado Kalember... 2nd group (New wave, pop-rock): Prljavo Kazalište, Parni Valjak, Let 3, Haustor, Daleka Obala, Jura Stublić & Film, Darko Rundek, ITD Band, Zvijezde, Azra, Psihomodo pop, Hladno pivo, Divlje jagode, Aerodrom, Dino Dvornik, Crvena Jabuka, Neno Belan & Đavoli, Laufer, Massimo & Dorian Grey, Šajeta, Vatra... 3rd group (Tamburice): Zlatni Dukati (Najbolji Hrvatski tamburaši), Slavonske Lole, Podvinčani, Krunoslav Kićo Slabinac, Gazde, Boris Ćiro Gašparac, Baruni, Hraščanski čestitari... 4th group (Dance music): ET - Electro Team, Colonia, Karma, Anamaria, Dalia, Kasandra, Ella, Ivana Banfić, Vanna, Nikolina... There are a lot more of course but those are just the ones from the top of My Head and these are from the 1970's up until now. There are a lot of new singers and bands but I just don't follow them because this new music is just lame for my taste. You can find all of these performers here on KZbin, just enter the name of the performer and ad "the best of" and you'll be fine, so knock yourself out... 😎

[@maryjaneadeyemi7054]

Hello Sarah, it's so nice to meet you here. I am interested in learning the Croatian language but I live in Africa. Are there schools that issue study permits to foreigners who require visas to come into the country to learn the Croatian language? If there are schools that issue study permits to learn the Croatian language, please share as a reply. Thank you 🙏🏾 language, please share as a reply. Thank you 🙏🏾

[@susannegoldpaint1353]

❤

[@svetcovladich9996]

Good tips overall on learning a new language, but I would say you should actually focus on some grammar from the beginning in order to be comprehensible; for example, past, present, future, and conditional tenses, plural forms, and gender denotation are not any more difficult when compared to other languages that might be considered "easier" to learn (Spanish, Italian, French, English). But I would agree that the dread seven cases of Croatian grammar could be learned gradually, and that you should not focus too much on those at the beginning (let's say when you're at A1-A2). But once you're a bit more advanced (B1), that's a good time to start focusing on perfecting your grammar by learning the cases. And yes, talk, talk, talk in the target language, and listen, listen, listen as much as you can!

[@kristinaspanovic7538]

👍

[@jacksonchurly9316]

We have a trip booked at the end of may to croatia from canada! We start in Dubrovnik and are planning to go to split, hvar, brac and Zagreb. When buying bus/train/ferry tickets do they need to be bought well in advance online? Or are we ok to buy in person day of?

[@Marko94]

While in Croatia, you can pretty much buy them by person if you travel inland, buses, trains, ferry, but if you are traveling outside or in Croatia, I think you should buy them online.

[@peropero2307]

Well im from Hvar and i know that our lang is complicated. Cuz there is many Germanic,Spanic lesser degree of Greek and Hun+ Itally words, but really really old word that are prolly dead by now in original country, plus dont warry about dialect cuz there is no way you can learn them all or all the worlds cuz we have 10 words for same stuff

[@entertainmenttv349]

Please teach me basic Croatian language

[@kar460]

Where did you learn Croatia from?

[@hagosdaniel1239]

hello you are a good teacher but why are too many languages in English I need too many Croatian because I need fast speak Croatian so thanks

[@martinamrkonjic3430]

Zanima me koji bi savjet dala za učenje engleskog jezika? Htjela bih ga u potpunosti usavršiti.

[@CantThinkOfOne90]

How long did it take for you to be able to hold a conversation comfortably?

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Probably a couple of years... Depends on the topic though, if it was something I was very familiar with, maybe sooner than that.

[@CantThinkOfOne90]

@@RoyalCroatianTours Ahhh... Ja sam učio dvije godine formalno, i mislim da se moram početi koncentrirate na vokabular kao što ste rekli.

[@kar460]

​@@CantThinkOfOne90 what materials are you studying on?

[@iiaxuriaii1063]

Ovo je bas tačno jer i moja kćerka kaže kosa ako je na tijelu i uvijek joj ponavljam da se kod nas kaže dlaka😊

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

☺️

[@esopajo8901]

Kosa je izraz za skup više dlaka na glavi čovjeka. Za lakše razumijevanje, na kosu treba gledati kao na šumu, a dlaku kao pojedinačno stablo drveta. 🖐️

[@esopajo8901]

Zaboravio sam napisati da se izraz kosa koristi samo kada se govori o dlakama isključivo na glavi i pri tome izuzimajući dlake na licu i bradi.

[@toobalkain]

no one's underestimating subtitles, that's how millions have learned English and even when fluent most people prefer subtitled content, modern TVs are very thin and have bad loudspeakers, people have accents or they mumble words, subs are the best thing since sliced bread.

[@MsCroatianCanuck]

What I am noticing is that the Croatian language is adopting more English words which makes it easy for me when I get stuck speaking Croatian.( I just add a few letters. )I have lived in Canada over 60 years and still learning Croatian (so many dialects and different regions) which I find so fascinating but grammar so difficult. Conversation wise I can wing it. Now time for my Tim's (sorry) ☕Great job on the video Sara.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you!! ♥️♥️

[@BiosBoy100]

Just stop selfedu, and try out learning with native speakers. I tried to learn Croatian on my own but without a huge jump for a year. Thanks to Croaticum iz Zagreb (or choose any other course yourself) after two months of extensive learning, grammar explanations, and question-answering sessions I finally get used to the language of this country. Don't waste time, just go to edu institution if you wanna speak not like a stranger eventually. you will only benefit

[@mladenpavlekovic8768]

Draga Royal nemoj se zamarati s gramatikom ionako svako područje ima svoj neki govor pa čak i svako selo, živa bila i samo uživaj

[@khamale3787]

I am so interesting to learn croatian language because i have dream to get croatin wife. Oh i am dreaming😁

[@miazvone]

Bolje gledati film ili seriju na hrvatskom i titlove na engleskom, onda uče i govor,naglasak, čuju kako jezik zvuči

[@toobalkain]

It's not duh-luhck-uh, it's dluhck-uh, 2 syllables, not 3, a soft d sound that's hardly there,

[@tomislavbosnjak66]

The biggest mistake while learning Croatian is decision to learn it 😂😂😂😂

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Lol noooo! I love Croatian!

[@frankoelek3168]

😂

[@helenafranco5091]

Haha two years living there and I barely started to be able to have a conversation. Then I left...

[@kar460]

I actually want to learn the language!

[@zeljanpopovic6994]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@doppel5627]

One note: Slavic men are, in general, NOT into hairy women 😃

[@kejos]

true

[@AllinOne-dg3dk]

hahaha nice dlaka hahahhaha

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

🤣🤣

[@AllinOne-dg3dk]

ako znas nas pricat mozes svaki jezik naucit. nas je stvarno tezak jezik

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Istina!!

[@jakobsantek8194]

I commented to you on Facebook and put pictures in the comments of beautiful places in Zagreb that you can always visit, but you are probably not interested or thanked me for my comment , and others did, so I deleted it, and I apologize ... I no longer follow your channel or page on Facebook

[@petra1001]

❤

[@divideandrule4890]

❤

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

🥰