School Report

It has been over a month since I began my Croatian lessons at the Prokurative and it's time for a progress report. A week ago I actually said these words "I don't want to go to school!" Monday was an intense lesson and I felt frustrated and defeated. It was after this lesson that I dreaded for Wednesday to arrive. The professor had us thinking on our feet literally. She had all twelve of us students standing in a circle and we were to go around and ask each other about our body parts.
Sto je to? (what is this?)
To je Glava. (this is the head) Ovo je celo, oko, nos, (this is forehead, eye,nose,etc..)

While I knew most of this from teaching Isabela the next exercise was the frustrating one. We had to introduce one classmate to the rest of the class, this meant conjugating verbs correctly and so on....I didn't do very well.........

"Why didn't I prepare or study more?" I asked myself. Well should I count the reasons? First, because I am lazy (yes, I am admittingly saying so) and second because I am dedicating most of my time to Isabela. If I am not constantly supervising her, I am worried she will fall and injure herself. We don't need another cut on her forehead.

So far this is what we have learned:

Zanimanju/profession (feminine and masculine form example: singer you say pjevac/pjevacica)

Nationality. "I am from Mexico, I am Mexican." translation "Ja sam iz Meksika. Ja sam Meksikanka." Sounds hilarious!!!!!! Try it, Mek-si-kanka.

Naming Colors, fruits and vegetables

Conjugating the verbs ending in -iti and -jeti. Examples include govoriti, (to speak) and voljeti (to like, to love). You drop the -iti and add -im so govoriti is govorim (ja govorim-I speak). For voljeti you drop the -jeti and add -im.
(Volim TE -I love you)

I did a bit of research about the best method for learning a new language. I needed a bit of motivation. I read an article which stressed the importance of speaking, even if you don't know the meaning of words, because this will give you the opportunity for a more comprehensive experience. So the culture, T.V, newspapers, talks on the street, everything takes a new meaning.

After reading this article I felt motivated to commit more time to learning the Croatian language.

Have you lived overseas and struggled in speaking the native language? What methods worked for you?