Thread: Russians and Bosnians

I recently came upon a Bosnian language page and found that the language is extremely similar to Russian (no wonder here since they are both of the same Slavic group). Still, they are different enough so that knowing Russian I would be able to understand only about 15% of Bosnian language.

I got a bit interested in learning more about Bosnian culture and currently looking for the answers to some questions. Does anybody know any facts on how Bosnians (plus Croatians and Serbs) treat Russians? Do they have an eye on Russians like, say, older generations of Polish people do? Or are they generally friendly?

Originally Posted by Tutor

I recently came upon a Bosnian language page and found that the language is extremely similar to Russian (no wonder here since they are both of the same Slavic group). Still, they are different enough so that knowing Russian I would be able to understand only about 15% of Bosnian language.

I got a bit interested in learning more about Bosnian culture and currently looking for the answers to some questions. Does anybody know any facts on how Bosnians (plus Croatians and Serbs) treat Russians? Do they have an eye on Russians like, say, older generations of Polish people do? Or are they generally friendly?

The Serbs traditionally adore the Russians. The Kroats and the Bosniacs (Muslim Bosnians) wouldn't be too keen on the Russians I suppose, because of the historical link with the Serbs.

Originally Posted by Tutor

...I would be able to understand only about 15% of Bosnian language.

Sometime I visit Serbians sites and I can understand from 10% up to 70-80% of serbian language it depends on style and subject.

Or are they generally friendly?

I don't know about Bosnians, I've never talked to Bosnians, but Serbs are always friendly and they are good guys.
BTW, I got a friend in my town, he is my real friend, it looks like his forefathers from there, his last name is Serbin.

Originally Posted by JJ

, but Serbs are always friendly and they are good guys.

For all people from all nations: you have good guys and not so good guys everywhere, nationality has little to do with morality...

There is a foriegn exchange student in my german class from croatia. i have commented several times before how similar bosnian/serbian/croation is to russian. heres to examples

Мне-Mne
Добрый день- Dobar dyen.

She often brigns this german grammr book to class that is written in croation, and one time i asked her if i could read it out loud. she said i did a pretty good job, but i have a russian accent. i told her "that's the plan" . i don't really talk to her to much though, she is kinda stupid. but from what i have heard, croations, in general like russians. but for some reason croations seem to think they are the best slavik country .

but for some reason croations seem to think they are the best slavik country .

I suppose all slavic nations think that they have the best slavic country In any case Russia is bigger (and the best, of course )

Originally Posted by Fantomaks

but for some reason croations seem to think they are the best slavik country .

I suppose all slavic nations think that they have the best slavic country In any case Russia is bigger (and the best, of course )

Looks like this Serbian proverb partially supports your point:

Бог високо Русија далеко
Translation: God is high above, Russia is far away.

i don't get it.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

i don't get it.

That is, anyone who could help, either God or Russia , is out of reach.


As for Slavic languages... I remember when I was a child, I was a keen enthusiast of scale modelling. I had some ~40 plastic aeroplanes. They mostly came from East Germany. Each box had a tube of dichlorethane glue with a leaflet with instructions how to use it in most languages used in Eastern bloc, sorted in alphabetical order. The first was Albanian, then followed Bulgarian (but I didn't know that). Russian was on the other side, so Bulgarian part was the only one in Cyrillic on the front side. So I read:

Лепило за пластмасси, огнеопаст...

I bursted in laugh: oh those funny Germans, they don't know how to write in Russian! "Лепило", hehe But I haven't even thought it was not in Russian! Generally, everything was clear. Compare:

Клей для пластмассы, огнеопасен.

"Лепить", as a verb, exsists in Russian, too and means "to stick" or "to make shape".

So what I wanted to say: it is always possible for a Russian to make out what the text is about, for nearly all Slavic languages. And, besides, most of them sound very funny for a Russian.

About Bulgarian, I believe (though I don't know for sure) it's the simplest Slavic language. AFAIK it's the only living Slavic language which lost declensions. However, it has articles. Nevertheless, I would say Bulgarian is not much harder to read than Ukrainian, which is closer to Russian, and maybe easier than Belorussian.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

i don't get it.

Or it could mean "Russia is fine, but it's good they are far away and don't bother us" :))

@Zeus: Very funny story!

Bulgarian doesn't have declensions and it has articles???? That's....not right!

In Bosnian, they have gender endings for plural nouns but they have less endings for cases.

Originally Posted by Pravit

@Zeus: Very funny story!

Bulgarian doesn't have declensions and it has articles???? That's....not right!

It's right (Not only for Bulgarian but also for Macedonian). And they don't have infinitive forms for verbs either.

BTW, I know one Bulgarian, and he says that Serbian language sounds extremely funny to him

I do think Serbian language does sound funny.

Like, in Croatia the word for white would be 'bijelo' but in Serbian it is 'belo'. I personally think this sounds funny (probably because i speak Croatian) but it sounds much stronger if you know what i mean. The language on a whole is stronger than Croatian, which is kind of gentle and just sounds nicer when spoken.

Hey, Croatian and Serbian are the same language, or aren't they?

Originally Posted by al

Hey, Croatian and Serbian are the same language, or aren't they?

I think you've made some enemies with this statement, al.

Originally Posted by Jasper May

Originally Posted by al

Hey, Croatian and Serbian are the same language, or aren't they?

I think you've made some enemies with this statement, al.

Well linguistically speaking the languages are regarded as 1 language. However there are major efforts from the Croatian side to hurry up the linguistic divorce. This way new words are being coined. The strangest of which I thought was zrakoplov for aeroplane!!

Heya, yeah they are the same language, its just some words are different as in spoken differently. The language used to be defined as Serbo-Croatian but they are seperate now i think.

Zrakoplov is aeroplane, hehehe, why is that funny?!! Can someone tell me, i do not know due to my ignorance, but when i am in croatia, we call the airport 'aerodrom' which you would expect i guess, but in Zagreb the actual airport sign says 'Zracna Luka' (with an accent on the c making it a 'ch' sound)....When i ask relatives they never give me a straight answer!
:P

ZAGREB!!!!! I want to go there sometime. Just because the name sounds very exciting. Stefani, tell us, does Croatian have any cases or declensions?