How Do You Say Compromise in Croatian?

Photo by Jackson Simmer on Unsplash

Throughout my 18 years in Croatia, there are generally three ways I've dealt with the cultural differences I've encountered: 

1. Completely accept the new culture's way of doing things. Coffee culture comes to mind.
2. Completely reject the new culture's way of doing things. The draft is a prime example.
3. Make some sort of compromise. 

This post is about one of the compromises I continue arguing with myself about making. It still causes a degree or two of tension in my mind when it comes up. In fact, I sometimes end up talking to myself (in English) while speaking (in Croatian). 

Since a year or two after I moved to Croatia, I have worked towards learning Croatian as well as I can. There have certainly been ebbs and flows, mountains and valleys, but the progress has generally looked like the sort of economic growth chart a company would strive for.

But there's one thing I have to - and often do - push against when it comes to learning Croatian fluently. That is, how to pronounce English words in Croatian. 

The word 'regular' is a great example. In Croatia, at least at McDonalds, 'regular' refers to the size (not the contents) of coffee. Rolling an 'R' sound in Croatian is something I can do fairly well, most of the time. And the Croatian word for Croatia (Hrvatska) is a great example of something I have almost mastered. When I say 'Hrvatska', it's like the H gives me momentum into the R. But starting a word with a rolled R is harder. 

The rolled R causes the tongue to form a similar shape as when producing an L sound. Croatian children who are learning to speak often mispronounce their Rs as Ls, for example. 

So when I try to say the (English) word 'regular' in Croatian, it often comes out somewhere in between 'Legular' and 'Regulah' (I did spend some time in Boston, after all). And I ask myself, "Why can't you just say the English word in English like a normal American?!?". 

So sometimes I do. Like the times I speak publically in Croatian and I say 'online' like a typical American - 'ahn-line'.

But then I get comments. "Your Croatian pronunciation is so good...except, why do you say AHNLINE? It's "OWN-line"! (For the record, the Croatian 'O' isn't pronounced exactly like 'OWE', but for the sake of argument, and writing sounds with the English alphabet, this will suffice for now.)

This sort of exchange has also happened to my wife. But since she's fluent in both languages, she doesn't have the internal dilemma I often have. She was telling her friend that she had just bought her new footwear at Office Shoes. She pronounced it like an American would. Her Croatian friend said "Where?" Then my wife proceeded to overemphasize OWE-FEES SHOOOOZ. That cleared everything up.

But the whole reason I decided to write about this was when I had trouble pronouncing Alaska in Croatian a few days ago. The name is basically the same, but yet completely different because it features a letter (lj) that we don't have and a sound that is difficult for most native Engish speakers to produce.

As you can see, states like Washington and Montana are written the exact same way they are in English. That makes sense because they're names. Even North Dakota being Sjeverna Dakota makes sense because there's a standard way of saying 'North' in Croatian. But Aljaska breaks the pattern! It's a name with no Croatian equivalent, but still gets changed to a Croatian name. Come on!

By the way, since I know you're curious, this is how the Gulf is labeled on Croatian Google Maps today. 

"Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)"

The last example I want to share with you is of course the word 'compromise' which in Croatian is 'kompromis'. 

Here's the Croatian definition: an agreement in which both parties deviate from some requirements

So, Croatia, can we make a compromise? How about this; if you choose to adopt an English vocabulary word, you allow me to say it in English in my own (American) accent. But here's my promise to you; if you offer a Croatian word for the English word that many have adopted, I will learn the Croatian word and say it in Croatian, with the best Croatian accent I can muster. 

Dil?

Dogovoreno?