Ne gevorim Hvratski

No, I don't speak Croatian. Not that I really need to say that sentence in Croatian; it is instantly obvious when I try to say anything, even the simple words of politeness -- hvala (thank you), molim (please), dobar dan (good afternoon). My accent is really very bad, no matter how I try.

So this post will be a musing on getting along in another country when you really, truly don't speak the language. I was told before I arrived that "everybody speaks English." Not true. Almost everybody speaks a little English but not always enough to really facilitate a conversation. When the Croatian working at the market stall speaks as little English as I do Croatian, we need to improvise. I pick up an apple and hand it to him, smiling and silent. He weighs it and puts it in a bag. In the torrent of unintelligible language from his mouth, I think I can make out the words "dva kuna." I fish around in my wallet for the 2 kuna coin. "Da?" I ask, not being absolutely sure I heard him right. "Da," he says -- and a whole lot more. "Dobro," I say, pleased that we have conducted this transaction successfully. "Bravo!" he says, laughing at my lame effort to speak his language. But it is a kind laugh, not a mocking one.

You will probably not be surprised that my food-related vocabulary has grown the most since I have been here. The menus in most restaurants list their offerings in Croatian, Italian, German, and English -- but not always and not always in the most perfect English. Swine cutlets, anyone? Anyway, one can just point to the menu entry and count on getting approximately what you thought you were ordering. I TRY to say the name in Croatian, much to the amusement of most waiters. This is not an easy language for the English-speaking tongue to master. All those consonants! All those diacritical marks!

I have dinner every night in the hotel because it is a full board arrangement, with a self-serve breakfast buffet and dinner included in the rate. The waiters tease me and try to help me learn a few new words every night. So far I have mastered the words for ice cream (sladoled), fish (riba), water (voda), soup (juha), salad (salata -- one of the few easy ones).

I am teaching my class in Young Adult Library Services in English. All of the students knew this when they enrolled, but they vary in their competency and comfort in expressing themselves in English. Some of the other faculty warned me that they might be shy or reticent, but they do their best to participate in the discussions that I require. I can tell, however, that they are relieved when I break them into small groups and tell them to feel free to speak Croatian.

As for me, it is a challenge to remember to speak slowly and clearly and to use language that is simple and relatively jargon-free. I worry that we are all missing some of the subtlety and complexity that we could enjoy if we were all fluent in the same language. In fact, some days I worry that I am losing my fluency in English!

I gave the students the task of teaching me how to say the word for library in Croatian -- a notoriously difficult word to pronounce. It is spelled knjiznica, with a diacritical mark over the Z. And the word for librarian is knjiznicar, with a different diacritical mark over the C. I can say it almost every time now and be understood, even if the accent is still very bad.

The only English language programming on TV is CNN and BBC World News and the occasional really dumb reality show on one of the German language channels, shown here with subtitles. I have never heard of some of these programs; perhaps they are exported directly to the European market. I miss my beloved Law and Order reruns, but I will survive.