Hello!

My husband and I are traveling to Dubrovnik and Korcula in late September. I'm wondering about how much english typical croatians know. Are there any useful words or phrases that a couple should know that would be helpful? I'm mainly worried about the menus in restaurants. I don't want to order something strange or not know what anything is!

Thank you!

I'm ashamed to say I didn't use any Croatian at all. It was a language I just couldn't get my tongue around. I did use some Italian in Istria. That said, I had no problem at all. Most Croatians speak excellent English.

I know some Croatians that speak better English than some Americans. Menus are usually in Croatian, German, English and French.

Carta Pisana, You're becoming something of a Croatia expert. Have you learned any of the language?

Hi dixieland,

I always learn a few polite phrases no matter what country I visit. The first morning we went down to breakfast at our hotel in Dubrovnik I said, "Dobro jutro!" in my cheeriest voice to the greeter. He gave me a big smile and started talking to me in Croatian. I told him that was about all I knew in Croatian and we laughed about that. We stayed at the hotel for a week and every morning after that I was warmly greeted by this gentleman.

Yes, most everyone in the service industry speaks English. You will find fewer speakers of English in Korcula.

Here is a web site to get you started:

http://www.hr/hrvatska/language/index.en.htm

dixie,

Yes, it's always a good idea to learn "Please" and "Thank you" no matter where you're going.

To our surprise, we found that Croatians were the most fluent English speakers anywhere in mainland Europe. The younger ones even have the "American" dialect down!

Dixieland,

I too had to give up on Croatian, after really trying for a couple of months before our trip. It is a really hard language for me because it has few latin roots, and the pronunciation is not intuitive from the written word. I mastered the usual "Good Morning", and "Thank you" phrases and left it at that.

As it turned out, English is a requirement in the schools, and has been for quite a number of years. Almost everyone under 50 is able to speak some English, so you will have little difficulty being understood in that wonderful and friendly country.

Have a marvelous trip!

Croatians speak excellent English, but if you want to learn useful words or phrases check here:

http://www.visit-croatia.co.uk/croatianfortravellers/

Thank you everyone! I think I'll stick to the easy stuff like hello, goodbye, thank you, goodmorning, etc... I'll check the links out and start now!

Thanks again!

Most younger people speak enough English to get you by.. though we went into a few markets where they did not, and were not excited to attempt to understand what we wanted.. It was a bit of a challenge. A couple of words we learned from the man we rented our Sobe from..

Dobro-Dobro (phoenetic) - said quickly.. means 'its ok.. no worries'. it was useful when a waiter accidentally knocked crumbs on me.. i said that and he smiled - got a kick out of me.
Da - yes
Ne (nay) - no
Hvala (pronounced slowly with almost an 'F' sounding beginning - like Fawla) - thank you
Adio (ah-dee-oh) - bye, go with God type.
Enjoy!

check here for basic english-croatian phrases: http://www.dubrovnikconcierge.com/pages/dictionary.htm