Top Ten Reasons to Learn Serbian

Top 10 razloga za učenje srpskog jezika



My job is to teach Serbian as a foreign language and very often I hear the question: 'Sorry, but why would someone learn Serbian?' Hmm... Ok, you asked for this post.


1) To be able to understand Balkan sense of humor 

People on the Balkans make jokes about everything and everyone. Nobody is so fast to invent a joke and to react in a new situation with humor as Serbians and Bosnians. These jokes are sharp, witty and hilarious, and trust me, you would be rolling on the floor laughing. 

2) Balkan people will appreciate your effort 

Doesn't matter if you are only a beginner and if your pronunciation is far from good - Balkan people will appreciate the fact that you are putting an effort to learn their language. 
Nobody will switch to English while you are trying to speak Serbian, nobody will laugh at you. You will get lots of support, help and smiles.


3) To be able to order delicious Balkan food

If you want to eat in a restaurant and you are able to order by yourself: pljeskavica sa kajmakom, burek, sarma, jagnjeći kotleti, ćevapčići, teleći škembići, čvarci, musaka sa mlevenim mesom, proja, sarmice od zelja, punjene paprike, svadbarski kupus sa dimljenim mesom, pileći paprikaš, pihtije, ajvar, pasulj sa kobasicama, jagnjetina pod sačem ... mmmm... your pleasure will be doubled.


4) To learn easier other Slavic languages

If you already know Serbian, it will be much easier for you to learn some other Slavic language: Belorussian, Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovakian, Polish, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovenian, etc. 
There are many similarities in vocabulary. Also, these languages have cases as in Serbian. 

5) To open a startup company on the Balkans

Yes, it's true what people say - paperwork is too complicated and some things (Pay Pall for instance) are not working the way you are used to. But it doesn't mean that startup company on the Balkans is not a good idea.
Some business areas are not developed enough (for example: consultant services, internet banking, ecological tourism... - you do the research, I am a Serbian teacher, not an economist) and that might be a great business opportunity. Discover what is missing and start your own company.
Of course, knowledge of Serbian language would be a great advantage.

6) To read Serbian writers in original

Maybe we don't have a good marketing for our culture, but we have some of the best writers in a world. You might say that I am subjective about it, but I am firmly standing behind my opinion. 
Primarily I am talking about the writers between two world wars (in the age of vanguard) and about some contemporary writers.
Miloš Crnjanski, Borisav Pekić, Isidora Sekulić, Rastko Petrović, Momčilo Nastasijević, Rade Drainac, Ivo Andrić, Milorad Pavić, Danilo Kiš, Vasko Popa, Miodrag Bulatović, Vladimir Pištalo, Jelena Lengold, Branko Miljković, Petar Petrović Njegoš... And then some!


7) To understand languages of other Balkan nations

If you speak and understand Serbian, you will be able to understand perfectly someone from Bosnia, Croatia, Monte Negro, and pretty much someone from Macedonia. Another four countries, ain't it enough ?
I won't go now into polemic if Serbian and Croatian are one the same language or two separate languages (I will just whisper into your ear - it is one language). The differences among them are probably not bigger than differences between British and American English. 
Understanding is important. So, if you want more understanding on the Balkans, learn Serbian. 
As an old Serbian proverb says: Speak Serbian if you want to be understood by the whole world. (?!) 

8) To talk with Serbian farmers

If you, by any chance, find yourself in some distant Serbian village, local people will be very excited to talk with you, because they don't have an opportunity to talk with foreigners very often. Of course, they probably don't speak any other language but Serbian. So, if you don't speak Serbian, with all help of arms and legs, you won't be able to communicate much. 
If you speak even a little bit of Serbian, you will be surprised how witty and wisdom words you may hear from these people. 
About corn field, about nature, about life. 

9) Number of Serbian language speakers is higher than 12 million people 

Not an negligible number, isn't it? According to estimation of respectful linguist Ranko Bugarski.   

10) Find your own personal reason

a) To experience Serbian clubbing (Though, for this activity language is not really necessary. You also may just have a drink or two and move your hips in a rhythm. But it's nicer if you are able to communicate with all these great young people.)
b) To touch Slavic soul - soul of a nation is in its language...
c) To finally understand what is Goran Bregovic singing about (which is not easy even when you are a native speaker).
d) To brag in front of your friends that you know how to read the exotic alphabet - Cyrillic.
e) To know how to swear in Serbian - everybody loves to hear and to repeat these.
f) To be able to say to your love: Ti si moja duša i srce!
g) You tell me.


Lidija Novakovic Lagrini






For everything else you want to know about this topic, or how to learn Serbian online with a help of a Serbian teacher, send me an email to kratkeprice@gmail.com.

Ako želite da unapredite svoje znanje srpskog jezika, ili znate nekoga ko želi da počne da uči "od nule" naš lepi jezik, pišite mi na navedenu adresu.




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Fruits in Serbian language


Learn Serbian by watching short videos made by Serbian teacher online. The theme of this video are names for the fruits. They are written in Cyrillic and Serbian Latin. 



Let me know if you liked this video clip and what theme would you like to see in next one. 


For everything else you want to know about this topic, or how to learn Serbian online with a help of a Serbian teacher, send me an email to kratkeprice@gmail.com.

Ako želite da unapredite svoje znanje srpskog jezika, ili znate nekoga ko želi da počne da uči "od nule" naš lepi jezik, pišite mi na navedenu adresu.

your Serbian teacher online,
Lidija Novaković Lagrini


How to Introduce Yourself in Serbian Language - Video

INTRODUCTIONS AND GREETINGS IN SERBIAN LANGUAGE - VIDEO


When you start to learn Serbian, the first step is to learn how you may introduce yourself to somebody, in the family, at the party, or in some official occasion. With a help of Serbian teacher, this should be a piece of cake for you. 


First, take a look at the video:




In Serbian, you may introduce yourself in a several ways:


1)    Ja se zovem Ana. / Zovem se Ana. (I am called Ana.)
2)    Ja sam Ana. (I am Ana.)
3)    Moje ime je Ana.  / Ime mi je Ana. (My name is Ana.)

You may ask someone to introduce himself:


1)    Kako se ti zoveš? (How are you called?)
2)    Kako je tvoje ime? (What is your name?)
3)    Kako se Vi zovete?
4)    Kako je Vaše ime? (The last two have the same meaning as 1 and 2, but it's better to use 3 and 4 as the expressions of respect; In grammar this is called T-V distinction)

After introduction you might say:


1)    Drago mi je. (Nice to meet you. / I am glad.)

Greetings when you are entering the room:


1)    Zdravo. (Hi.)
2)    Ćao. (Ciao.)
3)    Dobar dan. / Dobro jutro. / Dobro veče. (Good afternoon. / Good morning. / Good evening. – more formal expressions than 1) and 2) )  

Greetings when you are leaving the room:


1)    Zdravo. (Bye.)
2)    Ćao. (Ciao.)
3)    Doviđenja. (Goodbye.)
4)    Vidimo se. (See you.) 

Good luck!

For everything else you want to know about this topic, or how to learn Serbian online with a help of a Serbian teacher, send me an email to kratkeprice@gmail.com.

Ako želite da unapredite svoje znanje srpskog jezika, ili znate nekoga ko želi da počne da uči "od nule" naš lepi jezik, pišite mi na navedenu adresu.


Lidija Novaković Lagrini,

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Basic Serbian for Adults - 5 Free Lessons

'Basic Serbian for Adults' is a material for beginners who want to learn Serbian language. It's meant to be used with a help of Serbian teacher, but some of the exercises are also suitable for individual learning. 


When you want to learn Serbian language, internet doesn't offer you so many options, even if we have many excellent teachers in our country. Quality material for learning Serbian is not so easily accessible online. 
You may visit website with the good grammar explanations here or colorful blog Slovce here with different contents. 
Besides that, I sincerely don't have other good options to recommend. If you know some other good websites for learning Serbian, feel free to post links in comments bellow. 

I am a Serbian teacher for many years in schools and online. To spread our beautiful language around the world is my personal and national interest. 

The material which you may find in this post contains pictures, exercises and grammar rules, and it's meant to be used with a help of Serbian teacher.
In first five lessons we are learning about:

2) Family members
4) Personal pronouns in Serbian
5) Verb 'zvati se'
6) Auxiliary verb 'jesam'
7) Body parts
8) How to say time in Serbian
9) Colors
10) Present tense of regular verbs 
11) Verb 'nisam'
12) Numbers, days, months in Serbian language



Ako ste početnik u učenju srpskog jezika, nema puno kvalitetnog materijala za učenje dostupnog onlajn. Ima nekoliko kvalitetnih blogova i sajtova, i to je sve.
Materijal koji možete preuzeti na ovoj strani predviđen je da se koristi uz pomoć nastavnika. Neka od vežbanja su takođe pogodna za samostalno učenje.

Enjoy in learning Serbian!

Lidija Novaković Lagrini

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How to Learn Serbian Cyrillic


You have learned Serbian language for quite a while and you are an advanced learner. You have a Serbian teacher, or you are searching for one. If you already know how to speak and write Serbian Latin, now is the right time for Cyrillic! ЋИРИЛИЦА is not very difficult, you will see.

Take a look at these letters, aren't they adorable?



Some of them are rounded (О, С, Ф, З), some are partially rounded (Б, В, Ђ, Љ, Њ, Р, Ћ, Ч and most of the small letters) and some look like the laid matches (Г, К, М, Н, П, Т, Х, Ц, Џ, Ш).

In my long experience as a Serbian teacher, I used to see the letters as pictures.


When you find yourself on the streets of Serbia, if you don't know Cyrillic, you might have a problem to read the street's name. Even if you do learn Serbian. That is not the strict rule, some streets have also boards with names in Latin alphabet. But don't be surprised if you have just bought a map with street names in Latin letters, and the signs and boards around you are mostly in Cyrillic. Welcome to СРБИЈА :)

If you don't want to get lost...

That is definitely not the main reason to start to learn Serbian Cyrillic.

There are numerous reasons to learn this beautiful alphabet, with or without help of Serbian teacher. We'll go back to that little bit later. Let's first take a look at...

Some facts about the Cyrillic

1) Besides word 'ćirilica' we also use the term 'azbuka'. Those two words are synonyms.

Serbian teacher in primary school more often uses term 'azbuka'.

2) Cyrillic is an official alphabet in schools and other institutions in Serbia.

3) Cyrillic has 30 letters.

4) Cyrillic was created most likely at the end of the 9th and at the beginning of the 10th century.

5) It's named by Cyril, Christian missionary from Thessaloniki.

6) Cyril and Methodius are famous brothers who were on the mission to spread Christianity among the Slavic tribes. Both of them had an impact to the emergence of Cyrillic, the same as their students and followers - Clement and Naum.


So much about history. Let's see now what are the main...

Reasons for learning Cyrillic

- Well, we have already drawn your attention to the graphic beauty of this alphabet. For me, as a Serbian teacher, it always had its uniqueness.

- Very important reason for learning Cyrillic is that it is not only used in Serbia, but also in many other countries. Let's just mention some of them: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Monte Negro, Macedonia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, and also in many countries of non Slavic nations, in Asia. It's not absolutely the same version of Cyrillic in use in all of these countries, but similarities are huge.


So, if you learn Serbian Cyrillic, it will be much easier for you to learn one of these languages, or at least to understand street signs in many countries.

- Cyrillic (or Azbuka) is a perfect alphabet. Now you must be wondering - why?

Because there is always a match between one letter and one sound. On example, the letter Ж will always be the graphic sign for one specific sound, in any word, without exception. The same goes for all the other letters of Cyrillic.

And now the most important:

How to learn Serbian Cyrillic

I have already presumed that you know Serbian Latin alphabet from before.

That is the right way to learn Serbian - to start from what is already familiar. First you learn to communicate, then to write Latin Serbian letters. And then is the perfect moment for - ЋИРИЛИЦА.

By the way, synonym for version of Latin alphabet which we use on Balkans is 'Abeceda.'

Let's now look at the letters of Abeceda:



You are already noticing some similarities among these alphabets? Take a better look:



Pictures are taken from the blogs Slovce and Au sto je skola zgodna, with permission of authors, and you might fine some other useful materials there.

What is absolutely the same between Cyrillic and Latin alphabet?

1) They both have 30 letters.

2) The letters: A, E, J, K, M, O, T. (There are some minor differences in small letters, but capitals are absolutely the same.)

You see, even if you don't learn Serbian at all, you already know 25% of the Cyrillic.

What is similar?

This might be a little bit confusing, but also might be helping:

- letter B in Cyrillic is the letter for the same sound as V in Latin; (examples ВИНО - VINO)

- letter C in Cyrillic is the letter for he same sound as S in Latin; (examples СУНЦЕ - SUNCE)

- letter H in Cyrillic is the letter for he same sound as N in Latin; (examples НОГА - NOGA)

- letter P in Cyrillic is the letter for he same sound as R in Latin; (examples РУКА - RUKA)

- letter X in Cyrillic is the letter for he same sound as H in Latin; (examples ХВАЛА - HVALA)

There is a big resemblance between some of Cyrillic letters and some objects beginning with that letter.

Pay attention to the letter Ж. It looks exactly as ЖАБА (a frog).

And У looks very much alike УДИЦА (a hook).

Visualization always helps, so, try to memorize the rest of the letters by connecting them with the suitable objects. For finding good objects for learning, use a help of Serbian teacher.

Serbian teacher online

When you start your search for learning materials and for the suitable Serbian teacher, you will notice that the offer is a little bit limited, unfortunately. Not so many good websites or teachers are offered. At least, looking from the Google's eye.

I can speak for mmyself that I am a Serbian teacher with wide experience. For more than 14 years I have worked with different generations who have learned Serbian online or in schools. I had a chance to help many students to learn Serbian, in Serbian schools and in schools abroad. To be online Serbian teacher is a unique experience.

When somebody sees the Cyrillic for the first time, to him it might look exotic and difficult. But actually it's not. Because it's based on similar graphic solutions as Latin alphabet.

How can Serbian teacher help you in learning Cyrillic?

Learning new alphabet is similar to learning new painting technique. We start from the beginning - by drawing lines and patterns. By time, with a Serbian teacher's assistance, student feels more confident and liberates his hand.

At the end, these are some famous quotations by poets and novelists who wrote in Cyrillic alphabet. And it's up to you to learn ЋИРИЛИЦА so you might be able to fully understand these words of wisdom :)

СТРАХ ЖИВОТУ КАЉА ОБРАЗ ЧЕСТО.
НАЈЛЕПШЕ ЧУДО СВЕТА, СКУПИ СЕ УЗ МЕНЕ И ЋУТИ.
ЧУДНО ЈЕ КАКО ЈЕ МАЛО ПОТРЕБНО ДА БУДЕМО СРЕЋНИ, И ЈОШ ЧУДНИЈЕ КАКО НАМ ЧЕСТО БАШ ТО МАЛО НЕДОСТАЈЕ.

Good luck!

For everything else you want to know about this topic, or how to learn Serbian online with a help of a Serbian teacher, send me an email to kratkeprice@gmail.com .
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Ako želite da unapredite svoje znanje srpskog jezika, ili znate nekoga ko želi da počne da uči "od nule" naš lepi jezik, pišite mi na navedenu adresu.

Lidija Novaković Lagrini