Serbia… Land of two alphabets…

 

 

 

One very unique thing about Serbia is their use of two alphabets. They have the Latin alphabet and Cyrillic alphabet. Walking around the city and looking at all the Cyrillic signs was one of my most memorable experiences. It is great to walk around and look at a sign and have absolutely ZERO idea what it says. Let me rephrase that..It was fun for the first few months, now its just a hassle for me! I have attempted to sit and learn Cyrillic but have not had much luck! 🙂 I have Googled and read many thoughts on the Serbian language. Many sites consider it one of the top 5 most difficult languages on the planet. Vuk Karadzic , the 19th century reformer of the Serbian language came up with the concept of “write as you speak and read as its written”. The Serbian alphabet is very consistent and precise: one letter per sound, with very few exceptions. They Cyrillic alphabet has 30 letters in it. The letter “C” always messes me up. It is pronounced with “ts” sound. They also have Lj, Nj, Dz sounds that are sure to tie your tongue in knots the first few times you speak! There are also three letter C in their alphabet. The C pronounced TS, Č pronounced like the CH in Chocolate and Ć that is VERY hard for me to tell apart from the other.. Its similar to a TY sound in TUne… The majority of Serbian lastnames end in IĆ or OV. They also have two letter S in their alphabet. S pronounced like the S in Sun and Š that is pronounced like the SH in SHop.    Here is a chart showing the entire alphabet.

Cyrillic alphabet	Latin alphabet	IPA value
А а	A a	/a/
Б б	B b	/b/
В в	V v	/ʋ/
Г г	G g	/ɡ/
Д д	D d	/d/
Ђ ђ	Đ đ	/dʑ/
Е е	E e	/ɛ/
Ж ж	Ž ž	/ʒ/
З з	Z z	/z/
И и	I i	/i/
Ј ј	J j	/j/
К к	K k	/k/
Л л	L l	/l/
Љ љ	Lj lj	/ʎ/
М м	M m	/m/
Н н	N n	/n/
Њ њ	Nj nj	/ɲ/
О о	O o	/ɔ/
П п	P p	/p/
Р р	R r	/r/
С с	S s	/s/
Т т	T t	/t/
Ћ ћ	Ć ć	/tɕ/
У у	U u	/u/
Ф ф	F f	/f/
Х х	H h	/x/
Ц ц	C c	/ts/
Ч ч	Č č	/tʃ/
Џ џ	Dž dž	/dʒ/
Ш ш	Š š	/ʃ/

 

X-RATED… Open at your own risk! Serbian swears.

Everyone loves to learn a few words in a foreign language! Serbia has some of the most unique swears known to man! They have some UNREAL and DISGUSTING combinations that can make your ears squirm!!!

If you are lazy and don’t want to continue reading this blog post, you can listen to a lot more nasty Serbian swears by listening to my video. Just click “HERE”

My friends tricked last year. We went into a pizza place and they told me to order in Serbian. I said “How the hell do you say PIZZA in Serbian?” They said “when the waiter walks over tell him MOLIM, PUSI KURAC!” I did and the guy looked me like I was a total freak!!! My buddies just laughed!! Serbs can make great friends or HORRIBLE friends!! 🙂

Here are a few of the most common.. I hate to write the translation but I never claimed to be a saint and its part of REAL life!!! hahaha..

*Jebi ga- fuck it
*Jebi se- fuck you
*govno- shit
*pusi kurac- suck my dick ..this is very common.
*picka- pussy
*kurac- dick
*mrs u picku matrinu- go back into your mother’s pussy- I KNOW, I KNOW!!! I hated to say it!! Its horrible but its a very common swear! I think it loses something in translation!! 🙂
*kurva- bitch
*glup- stupid

That is enough! There are many, many more that are even more horrid but I feel dirty after writing all of this! 🙂

If you want to hear the correct pronunciation go to Youtube and watch “Serbian lessons”… he will help you sound like a true SERB!!! 🙂

 

Ordering a hamburger and french fries

Learning a new language can be very difficult. Serbian is no exception. There have been many posts that rank Serbian as one of the top 5 most difficult languages. Living here in Northern Serbia will spoil most native English speakers because 90% of those under 30 years old speak English but when you encounter those that dont…. it can cause major headaches… Here are a few tips if you are alone and need to order a hamburger… The polite greeting is “Dobar Dan” or good day….

“May I have a hamburger and french fries?”

“Mogu li dobiti pljeskavicu i pomfrt?”

One of the biggest differences in hamburgers is the size and organic meat that used.   Serbia uses organic meat and sometimes a mix of pig in their burgers. They are large, the size of your hand and have lots of taste. They come on a large bun or Lepinja. Here is a list of common condiments and their translations :

SERB                                            ENGLISH

Luk                                                     Onion

Paradajz                                            Tomato

Salata                                                 Lettuce

Sir                                                       Cheese

Pavlaca                                              Sour Cream

Pomfrit                                                French Fries

WINNER Serbia

When you compare the taste, cost, freshness and quantity Serbia wins hands down. The average cost of a soda, french fry and Big Mac in Chicago is $6.02. Serbia you can get yours for 250 dinars. That is about $4.

American burger                                        Serbian Pljeskavica.