December 27, 2020 – Continuing our look at the Croatian language through the unique viewpoint of Professor Frank John Dubokovich, Guardian of the Hvar Dialects, time to learn the months of the year.
One of the many things that baffled me when learning Croatian during my time in Jelsa were the months of the year.
With every language I have learned (or perhaps, more accurately, attempted to learn), the days of the week and months of the year were usually one of the earliest – and easiest – things to master.
Not so with Croatian, or should I say the version of Croatian I was exposed to.
And it seemed that I was not alone, and that locals seemed to get a little confused too. At first I thought it was due to the fact that the use of the months of the year in modern Croatian were being deliberately used to move away from Serbo-Croat, in the same way that ‘aerodrom’ was replaced by ‘zracna luka’ (literally ‘air harbour’), and there were wonderful Croatian versions of Serbo-Croatia – listopad (leaves falling) rather than Oktober being my favourite.
But over time, I realised that it was just the way that people speak here, especially in dialect. Rather than refer to June by its real name, I would often here ‘sesti mjesec’ or ‘sixth month.’
My experience of learning Croatia was hardly classical Croatian grammar at its finest. My main teacher was a man in my local cafe, who went on to become christened Professor Frank John Dubokovich, Guardian of the Hvar Dialects. The Professor’s iconic Dalmatian Grunt, above, amassed 50,000 views on YouTube back in 2013 and inspired an alternative language series with the Professor’s teachings, which was mysteriously removed by YouTube a few years ago.
I chanced upon some of the original footage recently, and so I am posting the lessons once more, in the hope that the Professor can inspire a new generation. Today, we look at the months of the year, comparing the months of the year in standard Croatia and Hvar dialect. Did the Professor simply run out of words, or do you think he was demonstrating his prowess at counting?
You can follow more of the Professor’s linguistic genius on our YouTube channel.
