Do you speak any slavic language?

<<Don't start your nationalistic stunts with me. I'm not talking politics. >>

Whoa, what just happened here? I'm just suggesting that this might be a reason for the lack of Macedonian dictionaries and stuff.

Are you able to communicate? If you don't speak, have you ever tried? What languages? What made you learn? Why did you give up? Is it easy to find a school/teacher of slavic languages in your country?

I studied Russian off an on for a few years starting in 1988, because I made 3 trips to the [then] USSR. I stopped studying because my interest in visiting Russia disappeared. I could communicate, although I didn't always understand the answers. It's easy to find Russian teachers where I live (San Francisco, USA), and you can find teachers of other Slavic languages at universities in this area.

Ed - the tongue poking out was not taken in good humour, especially since I know you are of Bulgarian background. I hope you mean otherwise or I stand by my remark.

Travis - Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian are essentially the same but are dialectially different (known as stokavian and kajkavian dialects) with regionalisms of course. Macedonian however is completely different to these languages though (FYI). For example, Serbian etc have cases and Macedonian is caseless. Yes, Macedonian is mutually intelligible to Serbs etc and vice-versa but it is not the same language. If Macedonian is deemed to be the same, it is like saying that maroon is the same colour as fire engine red.

I understand that Macedonian is completely separate from Serbo-Croatian. The question though is Macedonian's relation to Bulgarian, not its relation to Serbo-Croatian. I myself don't know enough about the two to say whether I'd call them separate languages or not, but from what I've heard, it's rather close to what most consider Bulgarian, and whether it is called a separate language or not is more a matter of politics than a matter of linguistics.

so what is the easiest slavic language that can be understood by other slavic language speakers? (both in terms of how difficult that language itself is and how difficult it is to get a good textbook etc

Shall we start an Interslawika ?

"so what is the easiest slavic language that can be understood by other slavic language speakers? (both in terms of how difficult that language itself is and how difficult it is to get a good textbook etc "

Sho, Russian is maybe not the easiest but it's definetely the most widely spoken - before 1989 it was taught at schools and universities in most slavic countries.

Travis - unfortunately, I know much more about Serbo-Croatian than Bulgarian. Macedonian falls somewhere between the two, closer to Bulgarian in somecases, but it isn't Bulgarian. When I listen to Bulgarian, I don't feel I understand all of it and not as well as Serbo-Croatian, but that just might be because my dad speaks it.

Bulgaria is Bulgaria and Macedonia is Macedonia. It is well known that all of Macedonia's neighbours have political interests in Macedonia. I strongly suggest that you don't believe everything you hear.

Sho - I don't know. I have heard that Macedonian is the second most regular European language after Latin, so would be easiest to learn for non-Slavic language speakers, I don't know about those who possess one language. Apparently, Kramer from a University from Toronto has put out an excellent book on Macedonian. Unfortunately, I can't speak for the rest but a Serbian aquaintance of mine is learning Russian and she finds it very hard.

>>so what is the easiest slavic language that can be understood by other slavic language speakers? (both in terms of how difficult that language itself is and how difficult it is to get a good textbook etc

i think there s no such language, for Russians it s easy to understand Belorussian, for Bulgarians it easy to understand Macedonian, and so on though i dont have problems with understanding Bulgarian, but books on this language are quite rare, actually there s almost no any interest in slavic languages among Slavs and in all the rest of the world, that's why there's no any good books, courses etc. i know some people begin learning slavic languages (usually they begin from russian) and then they give it up, mostly because of the grammar....

I think Macedonian IS a separate language, because it is quite unique and no one else speaks that way. (I just saw a Macedonian movie on TV last night and I paid attention to the language one more time, of course I could understand most of it, but it is quite different from my language.)

However, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian are actually the same language, even though there are slight differences in usage (like British English vs. American English or something like that). But, since everything is highly politicised here in the Balkans, the same thing happens with the language.

I don't know much about Bulgarian, but yes, it seems very similar to Macedonian.

<<I understand that Macedonian is completely separate from Serbo-Croatian. The question though is Macedonian's relation to Bulgarian, not its relation to Serbo-Croatian. I myself don't know enough about the two to say whether I'd call them separate languages or not, but from what I've heard, it's rather close to what most consider Bulgarian, and whether it is called a separate language or not is more a matter of politics than a matter of linguistics. >>

From a Bulgarian perspective Macedonian is not a separate language but a dialect of Bulgarian. It shares all of the characteristics that set apart Bulgarian from the rest of the Slavic languages. When Macedonia became part of Yugoslavia, the language was heavily influenced by Serbian and a strong anti-Bulgarian propaganda that lasted for decades. In recent years, the anti-Bulgarian feelings have somewhat diminished, although not disappeared. If you read about the history of Bulgaria you would see that Macedonia has always been culturally a part of Bulgaria, and was part of its territory for a long period of time.

<<If you read about the history of Bulgaria you would see that Macedonia has always been culturally a part of Bulgaria, and was part of its territory for a long period of time. >>


From a neutral source, that it.

Ed-

"If you read about the history of Bulgaria you would see that Macedonia has always been culturally a part of Bulgaria, and was part of its territory for a long period of time."

so? It doesn't mean that we are you, rather you are us. You came to Europe after we did and WE gave you your tongue.

"When Macedonia became part of Yugoslavia, the language was heavily influenced by Serbian..."

That might be the case for VARDAR Macedonians (for those who don't know, the part annexed and was controlled by Yugoslavia, which is now wrongly known as FYROM). My family is from PRESPA (the part that is annexed and still under control of Greece). When my mum talks she sounds nothing like a Serb!

Sanja -
"I think Macedonian IS a separate language, because it is quite unique and no one else speaks that way. "

Apparently, I heard Macedonian is more similar in construction to Slovene (and geographically come from closer areas - originally somwhere from Brest).