Dobar dan Hive!
I have been studying seriously for a couple of months, and I know I am making progress, but I have run into problems with Č and Ć, as well as Đ and Dž.
I understand the sound of lj, but my tongue is too slow to make the sound consistently at this point.
My language tutor has given me some tongue twisters to help me condition my tongue and brain.
I have been trying to immerse myself by watching Serbian or Bosnian programming all the time.
My current favorite is "Dobro Jutro, Komšija." There are 6 movies and 2 seasons of a series available on YouTube!
Milka is one of my favorite characters from the show, and she is pictured in my pronunciation meme at the top.
I am planning a trip this year, so I hope my studies pay off!
Peace and long life...
(D'Juno Abe-lac/ole KST-its.elf-or.t'his---?)
The Borg was here on huz.
Wishing you safe travels when the time comes you polylinguist you! <3
Samo nastavi da učiš @tarotbyfergus. 🙂
Uskoro ćeš da vidiš ljepotu ovog jezika. 🙂
Slažem se.
Ja ću nastavi da učim.
It certainly will, @tarotbyfergus. One way to hear the difference may be a sound option in the Google Translate. For example:
Четири чавке чуче у чамцу (Four jackdaws squat in the boat)
Or this one:
Ћурке ћућоре чекајући чорбу (Turkeys chat waiting for soup)
Четири чавчића на чунчићу цијучу actually means “Four little birds are squeaking on a small stovepipe” (Google translate is still far, far away from good).
This one is far from clean pronounciation at Google translate:
Љубица љутица се љутила и није маму пољубила. Неће да проба ни гљиву ни шљиву. Мора да једе пасуљ и зеље. (Irate Ljubica was angry and did not kiss her mother. She won't try a mushroom or a plum. She has to eat beans and greens.)
And if a learning through song is easier to you:
Hvala @lighteye!
I will use all of these phrases to help me learn!
That is a powerful song... the singer's voice is beautiful.
I think I heard the difference!
Unfortunately, the Serbian voice in google translate sounds like Stephen Hawking, and he's not Serbian at all:(
The English one is really good!
Maybe I will write a song about turkeys chatting while they wait for soup!!!
I want to hear that song, and I'm not sure anyone else will sing it.
From my experience learning other languages, I know how frustrating it can be when you cannot tell the difference between the sounds or some of them are really hard to pronounce. I think that practicing the tongue twisters is a good way to get better at it and definitely watching movies/series and just focusing on the pronunciation.
You'll definitely learn a lot during your visit and everyday communication. I also think that no one will focus on these minor differences and would be quite impressed with the fact that you know Serbian at the first place. :) I definitely find it very interesting to see someone learning my language (and not living here).
I hope I know enough by the time I get there...
I will be able to say simple things, but you all talk really fast in Serbia!
Understanding words that I already know when spoken in real time is tough.
I have great admiration for anyone who has learned a 2nd language.
How many languages have you learned?
Ah, I see! I have the same problem with Spanish.
Other than Serbian and English, Spanish is a language I speak/understand quite a bit (self-taught). There is a lot of room for improvement of course, especially when it comes to grammar and that's something I would like to work on in the near future. I just started learning Korean as a total beginner - I would be happy if I could reach basic conversation level as it's so different from any other language I know.
How did you decide to start learning Serbian? :)
I started having recurring dreams that I ended up there.
At first I was in Bosnia in the dreams, but the dreams eventually shifted to Serbia.
After the dreams started happening, I found out that my birth father's family are Bosnian-Serb.
Learning Serbian is preparing me for what my dreams say is an inevitable outcome. Learning the language will also allow me to connect with a part of my family that is lost to us in America.
Oh wow, that is quite deep. I hope the language learning is going to get easier and faster as time goes. Srećno! :)
Hvala puno, @nikolina!