Beyond 'Dobar dan': Our group of international students completes Croatian language class

Learning and understanding the language adds to the overall experience in a new country, contributing to a deeper understanding of the culture, people, and traditions. Additionally, learning a new language is a great way to achieve personal and professional growth – which are the main goals of education at RIT Croatia.

The Croatian Language Class for International Students is a fantastic initiative that makes it easier for interested students to learn the basics of the language not only through traditional lectures but also through engaging interaction.

We spoke with Darija Turković, an Academic Advisor at RIT Croatia and the Croatian language instructor, to learn more about this challenging yet incredibly interesting class.

The significance and scope of the Croatian Language Class

“Since we have such a huge number of international students here, I thought this would be a useful course. RIT community takes pride in having inclusive policy when it comes to international students which is why we have an English language-only initiative. Still, the fact is that once these students leave the premises of our building, they will find themselves in a situation where they will need to know at least the basics of the Croatian language”, Darija explained.

While explaining the significance of this course, Darija added: „With studying at RIT Croatia, besides English, our students also have the opportunity to master another foreign language up to the intermediate level which helps them better navigate through the international labor market once they find themselves there. In that sense, I feel that the Croatian language course also plays a role as our number of international students keeps getting bigger. Having local language presented to them is not only the opportunity to explore yet another (at times quite different and challenging) language but also a chance to immerse into local surroundings and thus make the most of their studying experience in Croatia“.

The main objective of the course is to familiarize the students with the framework of the Croatian language. The course begins by showing the Slavic language tree and making students aware of the fact that Croatian is a Slavic language with many peculiarities. One of them, for example, reflects in Croatian tricky letters (č, ž, š), the other one lies in extremely complex cases system (padeži), etc.

Besides Croatian vocabulary and grammar, the class also includes parts related to Croatian culture, history, and geography. „I wanted my students to understand habits, rituals and traditions of the society they find themselves surrounded with”.

„Molim vas kavu s mlijekom, hvala!" as a sentence you must know while living in Croatia

In a conversation with one international student, he told us that the sentence everyone in Croatia must know is „Molim vas kavu s mlijekom, hvala!" (Coffee with milk, please. Thank you!). On the question of what language basics are taught in her class, Darija answered:

„I agree with this one! Knowing how to ask for a cup of coffee is an absolute must here, you can’t immerse yourself in Croatian society unless you know how to ask for a cup of coffee. I tried to teach my students basic useful vocabulary which they could use daily, this includes greetings, food and drinks, money related vocabulary, small talk expressions, etc.”

While thinking about memorable moments from classes, Darija shared: „I’ve noticed that students like to listen about Croatian culture, probably because they just want a break from the horrible grammar… :) One of the things they told me it was the easiest to get used to is the endless coffee-drinking culture. They also said that they enjoy tasting various Croatian food, I have some serious sarma fans in my class”.

An adaptable course that gives students what they want to learn

Croatian Language Class for International Students is a flexible course adapted to the students’ needs. “Even though I am a language enthusiast, I understand that the majority of students don’t care about Croatian dialects and probably won’t share my enthusiasm on that topic so I try to place myself in their shoes and think about the things they need to know. Also, I frequently ask them about their suggestions and recommendations which I could add to my classes to make them more useful and valuable for them”, Darija explained.

As for methods and strategies Darija uses, she highlights constant repetition which they do at the beginning of every class, and most importantly, she tends to praise every effort they make and encourage them to use language outside of our classroom as well.

„I hope this class provided students with some basic linguistic tools that will help them immerse in the local surroundings and that was the ultimate goal of this course. Some of the staff members did mention that they hear them using Croatian more and more, for example asking for potvrda (verification) and saying hvala (thank you) and molim (please). Students themselves said learning some basic expressions also made their lives easier in some social interactions, such as ordering food and drinks, buying tickets, chatting with their neighbors, etc.“, Darija concluded.