Croatian language (Croatian: hrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in neighbouring countries where Croats are autochthonous communities, and parts of the Croatian diaspora. It is sometimes classified as belonging to the Central South Slavic diasystem (also referred to as "Serbo-Croatian").
Standard Croatian is dialectally based on the Western Štokavian dialect with Ijekavian reflex of Common Slavic yat vowel. Croatian linguistic area encompasses two other major dialects, Čakavian and Kajkavian, which contribute lexically to the standard language. It is written with the Croatian alphabet, based on Latin alphabet.
The modern Croatian standard language is a continuous outgrowth of more than nine hundred years of literature written in a mixture of Croatian Church Slavonic and the vernacularvernacular literature (Croatian literature) has existed for more than five centuries language. Croatian Church Slavonic was abandoned by the mid-15th century, and Croatian as embodied in a purely
Pronunciation
Some letters are pronounced almost like in English
- B,b like b in but
- D,d like d in dock
- F,f like f in fire
- H,h like ch in loch (Scottish accents only)
- K,k like k in key
- L,l like l in lazy
- M,m like m in mouse
- N,n like n in nature
- P,p like p in power
- S,s like s in silence
- T,t like t in top
- V,v like v in vast
- Z,z like z in zebra
Other consonants
- C,c like ts in Mitsubishi
- G,g like g in gate
- J,j like y in yellow
- Š,š like sh in shop
- Ž,ž like s in measure
- LJ,lj like ll in millione (no real English equivalent)
- NJ,nj like n in new
- Č,č vs. Ć,ć are usually hard to distinguish for foreigners.
- Ć,ć like t in situation
- Č,č similar like Ć but harder, like ch in church
- DŽ,dž vs. Đ,đ are usually hard to distinguish for everybody.
- Đ,đ like g in gentle
- DŽ,dž similar like Đ but harder, like J in Jack
Diagraph
Pay attention to the following:
- ck = c + k (not like Hacker, but rather like the German erzkatholisch)
- sh = s + h (not like in shoe )
- sp = s + p
- st = s + t
- eu = e + u (not like in Europe)
