There are countries where I am received with car bombs and threatening phone calls (Malta), and then there are countries where I am received with hospitality and curiosity, leading to newspaper articles and invitations to speak at TEDx conferences (Romania).
I am happy to announce that the most beautiful country in Europe, Montenegro, is in the second group. Last winter, when I lived there, I met Ljiljana Lukšić, who writes a travel blog, Lily’s Travel Notes. She asked if she could interview me for her blog and I, hoping to get out of it, explained that my Montenegrin was not good enough by far.
But then, remembering that even my grandfather had made an effort to learn Serbo-Croatian when he was a prisoner of war in Yugoslavia, I kept studying until I reached the level where I could at least conduct an interview in writing.
Uživajte!
Links:
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- The story that explains what became of Serbo-Croatian after the end of Yugoslavia.
- My favorite Yugoslav film, also useful for learning Serbo-Croatian (with English subtitles).
- More articles about Montenegro.
- Lily’s Travel Notes, the blog of Ms Lukšić.
The Happy Hermit 
How many language u learned since we met sir. But can’t read that very sorry.
Since we met in Malta, I learned Italian a bit and then Spanish. For Spanish, I made a real effort, trying to meet only South Americans for the one and a half years that I lived in South America. Most of the Italian I have forgotten (it also got replaced by Spanish), but I can still have conversations in Spanish, and I would like to continue learning it.
The language here is Serbo-Croatian, but I didn’t really learn it. It’s scarily difficult, although it might be easier for you if you still remember Russian. – In Eastern Europe, I also found it harder to learn the languages because so many people speak English and German really well.
Usually a lot of people who speak polish, russia and/or czech understood when person speak serbo-croatioan.People who speak serbo-croation usually understood slavic language :) I suppose is like german understood a bit dutch/flamish and dutch understod german :)
May I ask you do you undestood a bit scandynavian language when someone speak it?
Yes, as a German speaker, I can understand a little bit of Scandinavian languages. Usually, it’s easier with reading than with listening.
I’m so proud of your language knowledge 😊 you did a great job by spending hours and hours acquiring cases and verb conjugations. Congratulations!
And thanks for sharing your story for my readers.
Mačji kašalj!
But now I have to translate it into English, so that my readers will understand it too.
I found an error, imprisoned in Iran, not Iraq.
Oh, thank you!
Let’s correct this error and, more importantly, hope that it is not an omen about the next imprisonment.
Odlicno! Hvala😊
How do you earn income ? These is very bold step from you. Everyone wants to come in the States.
I earn a little bit from doing translations and sometimes I still give legal advice. But the most important thing is to keep the expenses low: https://andreasmoser.blog/2015/10/24/travel-priorities/
Usually I don’t manage to read this super blog more than once a month, but today I had to come back because I am confused … are your original answers in Serbo – Croatian or did your friend Ljiljana translate their English version ? In any case, thank you both.
That’s actually good to know, because then I only need to publish one article per month, which suits my schedule much more. :-)
Well, when you ask me so directly, I have to be honest and admit that my Serbo-Croatian never went beyond what is necessary to buy burek. But, I am proud to say, when I once used it for that purpose in a “pekara” in Vienna, the lady there insisted that I had a perfect Serbian pronunciation.
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