Speaking In Tongues: A Little Effort Goes A Long Way In Serbia
Learning a new language gets more difficult as the years go by. I am living proof of that belief. It is widely accepted that the mind is more attuned to study during youth and, dare I confess, I hung up my school bag a few years back.
Do not get me wrong, I am far from being in my dotage, but I can testify that it is harder now than in my teens to learn lists of vocabulary or pick up the idiosyncrasies of grammar. To illustrate this, let me outline my well-intentioned attempts to learn Serbian, with its grammatical minefield. It is not a pretty story and, as yet, it does not have a particularly happy ending. But I am working on that.
I spend a great deal of time in Serbia and the Western Balkans. It would seem expedient to learn the language, so that on any future trip I could benefit from having adequate conversational skills.
In addition, I felt it would be a valuable gesture of faith to my many friends in the Balkans if I would make the effort to share in their language. However, that was before I realised how impenetrable would be the numerous tenses and their effect on virtually any sentence. I can handle the basics and the grammar rules are quite clear but, as soon as I have to actually use them, I go blank. I have hit a brick wall and cannot seem to find a way over it.
Thankfully, the level of English spoken by people in Belgrade would shame most Brits, who have pitiful foreign language skills. Young people in Serbia are obviously well-versed in the language but even the most gnarled tobacco stall holder is proud to be able to string together a few sentences in English – and they relish the chance to try it out on you.
One legacy of Belgrade’s long history as a cosmopolitan city and playing host to traders and travellers from across the world is that its people maintain a welcoming and positive attitude towards tourists today.
Even those Serbs with whom I do not share a common language will go out of their way to try to help – sometimes quite literally. I have been in a situation where I was struggling with Belgrade street signs in Cyrillic and a tourist map in the Latin alphabet. A guy spotted my confusion and, rather than just point me in the right direction, he double-backed on himself to lead me through the streets to my hotel. My hometown of London is a friendly city and well set up for tourists, but you would be unlikely to get that treatment there.
If you make the effort to tackle Serbian, a whole new experience awaits. Most people are still quite taken aback that an Englishman would commit to learning their language so even a few sentences in restaurants, bars or shops can bring supportive gestures and smiles. A little can go a long way.
My rudimentary Serbian can get me through a dining experience and I can definitely handle myself buying beer, phone credit or bus tickets, but it is hardly proficient. That does not matter though: as soon as I show that I have invested such effort to support an interest in their homeland, doors open to me. Nothing is too much trouble.
One big problem is that my limited range has left me lacking the confidence to speak Serbian in front of friends. That is one hurdle I still need to get over, if I am going to crack the language. Recently, I was at my first Orthodox wedding and I was introduced to the bridegroom’s parents. Without thinking, I greeted them with ‘drago mi je’. The bridegroom was quite shocked to hear my first Serbian words, and spoken to his parents of all people!
For me, the support of friends (who, incidentally, advise me just to ignore the difficult grammar and start building vocabulary) and the reaction on the streets when I do actually make the effort has been a huge confidence boost and it has driven me to find a private teacher in London, with lessons to re-start shortly. I’ll keep you informed of my progress – Wish me luck!
Marcus Agar has been commissioned by Wannabe Magazine for a series of features on life in Serbia. Click here to read the Serbian version.
8 / 15 / 2011 7:15 pm
Good luck! 🙂
By the way nice blog!
Pozdrav iz Beograda 🙂
8 / 15 / 2011 9:17 pm
Lived in Serbia for 7 years and was at first often told not to bother to learn Serbian. what a joy when I could make myself understood and understand. People asked where I was from, they were quite surprised when I said England. Srecno i laku noc!
8 / 15 / 2011 9:19 pm
I can relate to the language learning dilemma! Here in America it is probably harder to pick-up languages than UK. I have always been fascinated by Serbian history/culture and language and Serbia is one of my top 3-4 places in the world to visit.Does listening to songs help? I love to listen to Jelena Tomasevic sing-sometimes that helps.
8 / 16 / 2011 9:28 am
Thanks for your comments. I do listen to music from Serbia and Bosnia and I have actually become quite interested in some regional singers. I also watch as many Serbian and Bosnian films as possible. Hearing the language spoken while following subtitles is an effective and enjoyable way of recognising grammatical patterns and increasing vocabulary.
Indeed, when I learned German at school, some of my best advances in the language came about from listening to German music and following the words on lyric sheets. That helped me greatly and so I am trying to employ that method this time, too.
Still the best way to learn seems to be to immerse yourself in the living language by being in the country. When I am in Serbia my confidence increases ten-fold. Very quickly I am reminded of how much I have actually learned so far, and how efficiently I can deal with a number of situations when language is required. That encourages me to use the language and, the more I speak, the more I experience the language without even realising I am in a learning mode, the better it becomes. I guess I need to book some more flights!