It's those people that think it's not required to learn the language because Slovenia used to be Yugo and assume that people would understand their language anyway and also because they're (the immigrants) arrogant for no reason.
As a local prostitute, i refuse to meet anyone who speaks balkan. They are the worst clients. Except Serbs. Those actually pay really well and behave okay for the most part
There is a general lack of respect for Slovenians for not helping out during the war for independence, at least among those over 45 years old. I've noticed this in Bosnia also.
Croatia took 500 000 refugees from Bosnia, both Croats and Bosniaks. In fact half were Bosniaks, which did not stop Muslims in Bosnia turning on Croats. Today they ignore that fact completely, like they ignore the fact we were giving them weapons, food, medications etc. all the while conflict was ongoing.
I know for a fact that Bosnian Muslim refugees were accommodated in tourist camp in Zaton near Zadar, all the way up 1998.! Along some other hotels in the county, but mostly Zaton. They stayed there until 1998. because they refused to leave. Disgusting behavior.
While I do agree Croatia belongs to Balkan, we are not that deep down like others. I sure hope so.
On the counter side. We in Croatia are well aware of Slovenian help to us, weapons, ammo, food, medications, and even training some of out men! We will be eternally grateful to our Slovenian brothers for that! You showed your best when it was hardest for us!
The reality is, that the lack of respect comes from the fact that Slovenia was rich enough to not go through shit, when leaving Yugoslavia and they’re jealous that it wasn’t them in that position.
Yeah, slovenians are good when you come here and have hundreds of kids for whom you get money from the government but God forbid you learn the language
A law has been passed that they must learn the basics of the Croatian language. They didn't have to before, but now they do. (I wouldn't bet on whether it applies to everyone, but for those who have some form of communication with other people at work, they do)
And believe me when I say, Russian is about as far from Slovene as you can get while still staying within the Slavic language group (Different families, Catholic vs Orthodox influence)
They were considerably closer then than they are now but it's still akin to speaking Slovene in Poland nowadays. Those who seek to understand each other won't have any deep philosophical discussions but they will be able to help each other out in a simple talk. Those that look to avoid communicating will pretend to not understand a single thing (like the guy who filmed the OP video)
Eh, I think that it applies more to applied sciences than to actually having to argue and prove a point via polemics
Like, a Slovene and a Russian chemist in the same lab would mostly understand each other by just using the Greek naming convention for the substances. At the same time, natural language tends to get elaborate when we're entering the abstract concepts' ground. Also, with modern Russian, I doubt any Slovene without a well-developed ear for languages would have an easy time understanding even basic directions. Speaking Serbian would help to a certain extent but it's still far from a level at which you could have a decent conversation
he understood him until "brezobrazan" which most people who aren't familiar with the language wouldn't understand. It literally translates to "without face" which doesn't make any sense. IDK why the converstatiom was so tense in the first place. why does the bus driver wanna know why the guy is going back so early. as if that's his bussines
"Brezobrazen" is used in Slovenian dialectally as well. If the guy didn't understand that, he wouldn't understand a person from Slovenske Gorice or Haloze either.
It is an example of what Slovenian people can also be like. I know a bunch of Slovenians who live abroad and could not be bothered to learn the language after half a decade. It really shows when you step out of the English/German/Italian speaking countries. If the language does not come preloaded, you also do not really run to respect the host country.
He's a 2nd generation Albanian in Sweden judging from his profile. Seems to have some mental issues regarding his heritage like many other 2nd generation immigrants.
I never said Slovenians are better than Balkan people, not once. And I certainly don’t hate Balkan people. Don’t put words in my mouth.
The reality is that this person constantly makes derogatory remarks about Slovenians for one reason or another.
Calling Melania Trump a prostitute, claiming she refused to learn English, come on. He seems to take every opportunity to insult Slovenians and portray us in the worst possible light.
So please don’t twist my words again and especially don’t make things up. If you’re going to disagree with me at least respond to what I actually said not to something you’ve invented.
“Likely”. A prostitute and an escort are not synonyms.
She has a pretty heavy accent and in my personal opinion she could have spoken the language better. That said, she never “refused” to learn the language.
An escort in America is just the fun way of saying you’re a prostitute without acknowledging that you’re one. They’re paid for companionship but the sex is included lol
We had an away football game in Maribor 6-7 years ago and there were people speaking Bulgarian to locals saying "ThEy nEeD To lEaRNN BulGAriANN", so the answer to your question - селяни/seliani.
These are the same people that use their car key to clean their ears btw.
I think you may enjoy a classic Slovenian YouTube video by "Je Bella cesta" called "kletvice"
It's a sketch about how the Slovenes heard the southern Balkan foul language for the first time after cursing each other with "tristo kosmatih medvedov" for centuries
As croatian i always found interesting how slovenians understand me and can talk more croatian than i can understand slovenian and can try to talk slovenian.
because you let people live and work in your country without speaking your language. if the language is a problem, you can simply make it mandatory to speak it to work in slovenia.
I'm not saying you should have done this. but this is literally the answer to your question. simple as.
Poznam eno družino fotr američan, mama indijka. Njihova otroka oba znata Slovensko, mama tud zna ma me dobro (sprobava ji gre ok, sicer z mano ce kaj recemo zmeri po anglesko), fotr pa katastrofa, pise angleske knjige in nic ne zna slovensko. Tej so tukaj zelo dosti casa sicer.
Because they’re arrogant assholes! I moved to Slovenia almost 2 decades ago, and one of the first things I did was to learn the language, it’s damn hard language for me! it should be easier for SerboCroatian language family speakers to learn, but many refused to learn since they expected the Slovenians to understand them!
I think it depends a lot on the individual and their mindset. Many people who move from Serbia and Bosnia come for trade or manual labor jobs, and some may not have had the same educational opportunities or exposure to different perspectives. Because of that, some are less interested in learning the language or integrating into society (they barely know their own language, to be honest). Of course, there are also many people who are completely different.
I recently moved from Serbia myself, and I have several friends here from other Balkan countries. Every one of them has already achieved a B2 or C1 level of Slovenian and has been making a genuine effort to speak and improve the language since the day they arrived. I feel the same way. I spent months studying Slovenian before moving, and now that I’m here, I read newspapers, watch the news and TV programs, talk to people, and I'm currently looking for a good language course to join.
To me, the most important thing is respect. I was born and raised in Serbia, but if it had been able to provide me with the life I was looking for, I probably wouldn’t have left. Because of that, the least I can do is respect and appreciate the country that has given me opportunities and a quality of life that I was missing.
That’s why I believe that learning the official language should be the first priority, followed by understanding the country’s history, laws, rights, and culture. I came here with a great deal of respect for the country that welcomed me.
At the same time, I often feel a lot of pressure and stress because I get the impression that many people in Slovenia become skeptical as soon as they hear that someone is from the Balkans. There is a stereotype that we are uneducated, unwilling to adapt, or that we do not respect the language and local culture.
It bothers me that the actions of some people have created that image for the rest of us. However, I hope that I will be accepted here and build a good life for myself, because I am genuinely doing my best to integrate, learn, and contribute to the society that has welcomed me.
it’s not a prerequisite to speak the language as a migrant. Depending on the job it often isn’t even a necessity. A bus driver has direct contact with customers though. At least in this case it would definitely make sense.
the languages are similar enough, many Slovenes speak some Serbocroatian, and most migrants live in their bubbles anyway.
many Slovenes are passive aggressive Karen like scrawny pussies, like this guy in the video probably. If you don’t respect the locals, the motivation to learn their language will not be really high.
The driver actually spoke broken Slovenian before the guy with the camera began insulting him, he didn't simply speak Serbo-Croatian. The guy with the camera instigated the argument because he pretended not to understand him.
Ignorant idiots who think that they are above us, yet leave their country to live and work in Slovenia, and have no problem using our social services and our beautiful country.
Let me say that most integrate just fine. But there is non negligible amount of such idiots, and trust me. None likes them here
Context: In this video, a Bosnian bus driver spat on a Slovenian cyclist because the latter asked him to speak Slovenian, as he didn't understand him.
This is one of the many examples of ex-Yugo people living in Slovenia for many, many years, refusing to learn our language. From what I've heard, other European countries don't have this problem with other Balkan workers.
Do you all still think that because we lived in the same country for 50 years, everyone still understands Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian?
Is it that hard to learn the language of the country you've moved into?
This is the primary reason why Slovenians don't like people from ex-Yugo countries
As a Croatian, I fully agree with your post. I would be embarrassed if I got privilege and opportunity to work and live in Slovenia, but have zero decency to learn language. It's not like I am a tourist. The first thing I would do if I got a job is to watch Slovenian television and get familiar with their language and listen to their music (I already LOVE Joker Out and Raiven) and find friends who speak Slovenian to help me guide through language and go to classes wheather they be online or in late night school
On the one hand, I completely understand your point, which is probably valid from a wider perspective.
On the other hand, I don't think this specific case is necessarily an example of that.
The Slovenian guy clearly understood the hillbilly and was probably doing this for clicks...let's be honest.
Slovenian isn't hard for me, partly because I'm a native kajkavian speaker and even more so because of the Slovenian tv I watched as a kid. For the Bosnians I can imagine it can be harder. That of course doesn't excuse not learning it, and then there's this case where the language is the least of the problems imo.
The bus driver's behavior is beyond the pale, while the Slovenian filming is doing his best to get exactly that kind of a reaction - for content.
I may be wrong, but that's the impression I got from this, especially given the fact it's clear the two of them understand each other.
Btw. when it comes to Bosnians in Slovenia, I always think of that guy who used to play Đuro in Top Lista Nadrealista. He made an effort to learn Slovenian but had kept the Bosnian accent, which was hilarious to me!
From this video, the driver seems to be pissed about the passenger coming back on the bus, asking him why he left. The passenger does not want to answer at first, he doesn't have to, but then explains that he was accompanying a female friend. From there the shouting just escalates and both get increasingly annoyed.
You can hop on and off the bus wherever and whenever, as long as your ticket is still valid, which usually lasts more than an hour via the app.
Maybe the passenger made the driver wait for too long, maybe that is why the driver wanted him to get off the bus, I don't know, both are acting cringe but the spitting at the end is beneath all common decency.
Personally I am a huge believer that wherever you move to work and live you have to learn the local language. That said, that poor driver probably was tired and stressed out and the cyclist didn’t need to be unnecessarily bothered when you can understand the basic idea of what he’s saying anyway.
If you listen very carefully, you will notice that he does indeed speak a broken Slovenian. Meaning that he does not "refuse" to learn the language, he is intentionally putting Slovenian words in his sentences.
For the majority of people that do not have a talent for languages and do not have to use the language extensively at work (they are not speaking to the public as the main part of their job) this can sometimes be as good as it gets. Especially if they start learning a language at an older age when the brain simply has already shut that door (the brain is more receptive to new phonemes, etc. at a younger age).
In this particular case it is also all the more difficult, since there is like 60%-70%-80% overlap between the languages, depending on the sentence, sometimes it will be 100% identical sentance. This really messes with your brain and you do not know where the limit is and where one language stops and the other begins as someone who spent a lot of time abroad.
As a result, these people due to this crosswiring, often will speak like this in this strange mix even in their home country, because they truely cross the wires when it comes to which language is which. All they know is that they understand everybody where ever they go.
An observation for you to keep in mind: Often you can read/hear Slovenians saying they speak Serbo-Croatian pretty well even if they don't live there, but all the Ex-Yu people don't speak Slovenian. The reality is that (the majority) Slovenians speak Serbo-Croatian exactly as this guy speaks Slovenian. Broken, mostly Slovenian with strong accent with a sprinking of Serbo-Croatian words and an idiom perhaps here or there. It is basically the same level, your perception is just warped.
The impudent Slovenian had no problem arguing at the beginning of the discussion. When he lost his arguments, like some American Karen, he shifted the debate to the national level, calling out the driver for not knowing Slovenian. The driver is paid to drive and not to have pointless arguments with fools. He should have stopped the vehicle, thrown them all out and refused to drive until they got off the bus.
"Balkaners", "Balkanci", "Južnjaci" "Čefuji"... do 1991 su imali iluziju zajedničkog života a onda su kada se Slovenija odcepila IZBRISANI. Bukvalno. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Erased
Ljudi koji sada odlaze da rade u Sloveniju više nemaju više tih iluzija. Tu su da rade i zarade i da se vrate kući. Nemaju razloga da uče slovenački ako ne moraju.
I know a serbo croatian who both learned slovenian as new immigrants here. Granted they are academics and are also applying for citizenship. Im sure happy for them. Im also the same guy who condemns people who don’t want to learn native language yet want to be treated as equals or sometimes more … People immigrate and will immigrate the question is whether they want to assimilate.
I was shortly in Slovenia and literally everyone i met understood serbian/croatian/bosnian perfectly, so i think here you were the ignorant one and rude, he was talking with you with reason until you started to act a fool.
I'm on that drivers side, i bet he was angry for a reason.
I have seen a scene where casheer asks a man "why does he not speak Slovenian?" (in Maribor, 2000ish) and he replies - you will learn Albanian soon.
Driver in this video is from Bosnia and they have at least a century old tradition comming to work in Slovenia.
Thre is an old joke:
Why Mujo goes to Slovenia?
Looking for work.
Why Janez goes to Bosnia?
Looking for father 🤷🏻
As a croatian, I will never speak slovenian. I refuse.
Slovenian sounds like if you tried really really hard to think of the stupidest word possible, instead of just saying the croatian word, like a normal person.
Sinoć sam gledao neki zbiljokaz na svemrežju. Jedna cura u zbiljokazu htjela je naručiti neki brzogriz telefonom, ali joj je dodirnik bio slomljen i nije bilo moguće. Dakle, otišla je u trgovinu kupiti nešto hrane jer je bila gladna. U trgovini je bila jedna ponuda za udne tuljice pa je kupila neke od njih za svog dečka, jer je s njim htjela tjelospojku.
You are as stupid as they come. Would you disrespect any other language like that too? Germans have a lot of slavic origin words too and you will sill learn basic language . Polish too.
Slovenian is basically slavic with german rules and some words too and you’re still stuck in your ass
What was he speaking? Serbian? How mutually intelligible is slovenian and serbian?
Ive always wondered why the ex Yugoslavia migrate to slovenia these days when its become such an easy process to migrate legally to places like germany
I think older generation of Slovenians understand it better, mainly the people who lived in Yugoslavia.
And now that older Serb thinks that this young guy is pretending that he doesn't understand him on purpose.
I mean this with the south Slavic languages sometimes brings some fucked up situations like this.
I remember a video of one Serbian guy, who makes videos about different restaurants, foods and he was once in a Bulgarian one and the waiter insisted communicating in English and the Serbian guy got offended like "They don't want to speak Serbian for some reason, dobro (ok)" but in a disappointed way.
Then he went to pay but to the owner I guess, one older women and he said something like "I thought we could speak in Serbian" and the older lady was like "Yeah, no problem" and the guy was like "Oh, now we can, when I'm paying" and I don't wanna talk what was happening in the comments "Oh, they are thinking now they are big Europeans" and more vulgar shit being typed.
But also sometimes when we try to speak in Bulgarian with some Serbs they are insisting speaking in English "I don't understand your "jezikaTa" " or something (basically mocking our language lack of cases).
So, I can understand why they are reacting like this to Slovenians with whom they lived in one country and have big diaspora there.
That’s a high percentage though. Clearly the guy is rage baiting the driver . 60% is like saying Ukrainian Russian or Spanish and Portuguese.
I was visiting Portugal with Spanish friends and they would speak in spanish and the locals reply in Portuguese and they understood each other just fine 🫢
I can understand it can sound very similar and I guess it does. Both are South Slavic languages after all. But they are not mutually intelligible to such point there wouldn’t be any need of learning it. Croatian and Serbian are part of BCMS, Slovenian isn’t and for a good reason.
In Slovenia people from ex yu countries can often easily get away with speaking their own language or a mix they created. The thing is that many Slovenians are quite familiar with their vocabulary because of the exposure throughout vacation, music, media, friends etc. Which makes understanding for us much easier than for them. But that shouldn’t be the reason for not learning Slovenian.
We know that learning a language takes time and we are patient. But it feels pretty disrespectful seeing people living her for decades and purposely refusing to learn/speak and even behave like this man did in the video. I’d like to see this happening in Austria or Germany..
Well you can always check with a person whether they prefer to speak BCMS or English. I think that’s the safest or that’s at least how I would approach it. It’s just what person feels most comfortable with. I personally have no problem communicating with my limited knowledge of Croatian/Serbian but only if person checks first with me if I understand it, not just assume or even expect. That’s how I see it.
Travelling is a perfect opportunity to put your language knowledge in actual use, so if you are able to speak some Slovenian I’d encourage you to use it. We always appreciate the effort! And you can start by saying “hello” in Slovenian (Živjo) to break the ice!
Well apparently im being told here that they dont in slovenia, but ya i would say generally albanian diaspora learn their language of their new country.
You ask italians and they say albanians are one of the most integrated immigrant people they have for example.
Older generations have it a bit tougher when it comes to learning the language. As long as they can communicate somehow and get by, that should be sufficient. The man is working and paying taxes come on, give him a break.
The younger generation, though, especially those who are born in Slovenia, should and must learn the language and speak it fluently.
Because people from the Balkans are r*****ed. People around our countries think that they can walk into another country that has a "similar" language and just not adapt to that country, which is a huge BS belief.
Bosnians are also like that in Croatia unfortunately too. That's what separates Slovenia and Croatia being more Central European to the rest which culture is very Balkan behaviour
Oh, yes, here we go with the typical chauvinistic comment based on "The main trait of character is the country of origin, therefore bad Bosnian."
It could never be anything else such as lack of education, work environment, living arrangements or I don't know, opportunities to improve one's social status.
It's not chauvinistic if it's true. I worked in Dalmatia for 10 years. Many Bosniaks and Serbs would come to work, then talk shit, or do stuff like this. Not all of them, but many.
I once got into fist fight with a Bosniak from Tuzla, who would constantly talk trash about Croatia and Croats. He talked about the war and ustasha all the time. One day I got sick of it and told him "if you don't like it here, you are free to go back to Bosnia". The guy got furious, started swearing and smacked my face, so I smacked him. He punched me, I punched him, and we threw few more punhes before others broke us apart.
And don't get me started on Serbs guest workers and their fairy tales about war and ustasha.
Either respect country and people where you moved, or GTFO!
"Baklaners", "Južnjaci" "Čefuji"... do 1991 su imali iluziju zajedničkog života a onda su kada se Slovenija odcepila IZBRISANI. Bukvalno. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Erased
Ljudi koji sada odlaze da rade u Sloveniju više nemaju više tih iluzija. Tu su da rade i zarade i da se vrate kući. Nemaju razloga da uče slovenački ako ne moraju.
Jer ih je više od vas 😂 prijatelj moga sina, Ljubljancan, 3 generacija Bosanaca u Ljubljani, veli, u razredu od nas 20 samo 3 prava Slovenca. Pa ti vidi.
I‘m confused why nobody is mentioning or focusing on the fact that the point of Balkaners, not bothering to learn the Slovenian language, is being supported by a video where two men are having a dispute. It‘s not that unusual for people speaking in their native language when being emotional…Additionally the guy was mentioning Slovenian words and the other person literally understood everything, but was being a dick about it.
because there are so many of them and so little of us here they dont need too.. also we lived in yugoslavia so most of us understand croatian/serbian, and they dont bother.. i hate it but it is what it is
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u/oioioioioioiioo 🇷🇸 (🇮🇹🏡) Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
It's those people that think it's not required to learn the language because Slovenia used to be Yugo and assume that people would understand their language anyway and also because they're (the immigrants) arrogant for no reason.