Society
Learning Slovene:
The Romance of the Dual Form
24.01.2007
Learn Slovene – why not? It may seem that tackling the language is possible only for the bravest students, but that is not true. Many people do learn Slovene. They would probably study even harder if Slovenes themselves weren’t quite so talkative and well-versed in English and other foreign languages.
Students of Slovene include all sorts of people whose career brought them to Slovenia, such as diplomats, businesspeople, artists and doctors. A notable group are the foreign language teachers who wish to learn Slovene. Outside of professional reasons, one of the obvious reasons for moving here and needing to learn the language is, of course, love. The structure and intensity of Slovene courses vary depending on the school you attend. Besides the regular semesterly programmes (starting on 1st October and 19th February) there are also various short courses available as well as individual lessons. The initial course will teach you the alphabet, pronunciation, how to handle most common speaking situations, basic cultural differences and of course vocabulary and basic grammar. According to the Mint International House language school in Ljubljana, demand for Slovene instruction is on the rise. That is all from the teaching end, but what do students say about learning Slovene? We decided to ask a couple of foreigners who live in Slovenia about learning the language and if they had had any amusing situations while practicing it. We talked to a variety of people of different mother tongues and occupations who were at different stages of learning Slovene Foreigners learning Slovene put smiles on their faces Katja K„hk”nen, Puppeteer, Finnish, altogether about two years in Slovenia To me, Slovene sounded Slavic in its construction, but not in its tone. It was more plain and had less of a singing style than other Slavic languages. I used to say that it sounded like Polish with a Finnish accent. I went to a language school once a week for a couple of months, but my level of motivation was not yet very high then. I did not plan to stay in Slovenia and the course was paid for by the EU, so my own funds were not involved. My teacher mainly spoke in English about the twists in her relationship. I mean, I did not learn much Slovene there. After that I started studying on my own from a book and real life. The only thing that slows down my learning is that I have created this circle around me where everybody is very comfortable speaking English. So, my Slovene is slow, but it is coming (finally). Slovenes are very encouraging when you are learning Slovene. They are excited even to hear a little bit of Slovene. Slovene puts a smile on their face. They do not expect much from foreigners in this matter. Besides my mother tongue, I speak English, Swedish, a little bit of French and simple Slovene of course. When starting to study Slovene, I had to begin from nothing. It is not related to any of the languages mentioned above. Yet it has not been difficult for me to understand the purpose of the complications in Slovene grammar. Finnish is a tricky language, too. Shopping in a dialect Stephanie Safaric, Chef, English, half a year in Slovenia I’m learning Slovene at home with books and tapes. I also have a Slovene friend who teaches me on a regular basis. My current knowledge is just enough to get by. I can order food in a restaurant and at the supermarket, the butchers, the green-grocers… Knowing a little Greek, German, and French, I don’t think it is any more difficult, except for the peculiarities unique to Slovene. I live in Kostel, and have picked up a number of Kostelian phrases, which I did not know were unique to the Kostel dialect. I tried to purchase some pond plants from Bauhaus, but the shop assistant could not understand my request, even though I had rehearsed my question prior to my shopping trip. Unfortunately I came away empty-handed. Some weeks later I told my friend about this and she laughed. I had asked the assistant for plants for my “kalj” (a specific Kostelian expression for pond, which has no meaning in other parts of the country). Even though I spent ten minutes making fish faces at the assistant and hopping around the shop to represent my frogs, this still did not have the desired effect. Clearly, we English are a little crazy...! I wish there was a formal language course available in Kocevje, so that I could learn the language properly. Really difficult grammar Chinatsu Nakajima, Japanese, six years in Slovenia At first, Slovene seemed very hard to learn. It sounded choked. After attending a course and years of practice I now speak it fluently. Compared to the other foreign languages I learnt, English and Spanish, Slovene grammar seems really difficult. I tend to confuse some words, such as prsti (fingers) and prsi (breasts) and on one occasion I broke my “breasts”. One of its additional difficulties is the dual form, but on the other hand it can be said to make the Slovene language romantic. Can I swim for the CD? Ian Middleton, Travel Writer and Photographer, English, a year in Slovenia I attended the Slovene summer school (Poletna sola) for 4 weeks in July. At my current level, I can order in a restaurant, and am finding that whereas before everything sounded completely alien, now I am beginning to recognize words and on certain occasions can understand short sentences. When I first heard it, Slovene didn’t sound like any language I had ever heard before. I speak Spanish and French, but have found Slovene much harder to learn, mainly because of the cases. I cannot seem to grasp the fact that a word can change so many times depending on how you use it, and often forget its original case. Once when in Big Bang buying a CD, I wanted to ask someone where I was supposed to pay. I racked my brain for the verb ‘to pay’. I came up with two answers, ‘placati’ and ‘plavati’. I knew that one meant ‘to pay’, and the other meant ‘to swim’, but wasn’t sure which was which. So I put the sentences together, ‘Kje lahko placam?’ or ‘Kje lahko plavam?’ One would be correct, and the other would make me look rather foolish. In the end, I decided not to ask and to avoid potential embarrassment by finding it myself. The most perfect and precise way to express yourself Luca Mocenni, Managing Director, Italian, ten years in Slovenia I have to say that the Slovenian language sounded very strange and hard at the beginning, but as I started to learn it I realized the beauty of it. I have studied several languages and I find Slovenian gives me the most perfect and precise way to express myself. It has got its own music when you are starting to get in to it. The dual form is the most wonderful think about Slovenian: it can be very romantic. I remember the first time I used it with my partner; then I understood the unique beauty of it. I have to say that I am quite fluent in Slovene, but after ten years I cannot write it properly and I understand my mistakes unfortunately. I have to admit that Slovene is so difficult for an Italian that I will never speak it as a native, but I cannot help it. I learnt it the old-fashioned way: with hard work and lots of homework and an old-fashioned teacher and many one-to-one lessons. I also speak good German and English, compared to which, Slovene is unbelievable difficult, especially the verbs. A funny thing happened when I was at my usual vegetable seller at the Ljubljana market. I called her Berivka (a kind of salad) instead of Branjevka… she laughed! If I have to suggest to anyone a language to learn, I really wouldn’t suggest Slovene, which is spoken by only two million people. On the other hand it is an extremely beautiful and deep language that, if you decide to move to this country you should learn together with the national history and the literature to help you understand it more completely. And of course be careful in choosing your Slovene friends as many people nowadays don’t speak proper Slovene but a mixed slang. Unintgelligile and exotic Rob Crawford, Businessman, British/Australian, 5 years in Slovenia My first impression of Slovene? It was unintelligible and exotic, though less melodic than other Slavic languages. I’m slowly learning it at home – in Ljubljana – from family, friends, TV, etc., which has given me a better appreciation of how difficult English must be to learn. I understand the language well enough to get by but my Australian accent and appalling grammar make for poor, if not funny, conversation: I inadvertently suggested a lady had interesting breasts (prsi) while commenting on an unusual ring (prstan) she was wearing. I also tried to suggest that like him or not, Michael Schumacher was a great racer (dirkac), only to say Michael Schumacher was a great w**ker (d*rkac), which was true enough anyway. Given that the language is slowly dying, the government could think about introducing free/subsidised Slovene language courses. A flavour of the past Maria Gogala, translator, Romanian, two years in Slovenia I first heard Slovene in 1998, when I met my husband. His voice was different when he spoke Slovene... At first I found it strange, I could not associate it with any other language I had heard before (French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian, English, German).... I remember I was amazed by the agglomeration of consonants and quite discouraged by the very difficult to pronounce combination “sc”. I started learning it by myself, first by listening to the bedtime stories on the national radio station from 7.50pm to 8.00. My Slovene is fluent, although I still make mistakes and I still scratch my head looking for words... Besides my mother tongue, I speak English, French and Spanish. Slovene has a complicated grammar system, quite archaic, but I like languages which haven’t changed much, which keep a flavour of the past. And I appreciate that Slovenians pay attention to their linguistic identity by translating new concepts, and even technical terminology, or by inventing new words instead of anglicizing the language too much. This is partly related to the general tendency of small cultures, but it is also a way to make full use of a language’s potential.