25 Most Common Mistakes Croats Make Speaking English

Like our videos and want to see more? Be part of the story by buying me a coffee or something stronger ko-fi.com/paulbradbury
Croatians have an amazing command of English, and I am really impressed at the quality of English spoken all over the country. Over the years here, I have noticed some of the most common mistakes speaking English. here are my top 25, with explanations. how many do you not make? Answers in the comments.
Want to learn more about the realities of living in this flawed but majestic country? Our new book, Croatia, a Survival Guide for Foreigners is now available on Amazon. www.amazon.com/Croatia-Surviv...
Video produced by Igor Vuk of Vuk Media and Miranda Milicic Bradbury
For your daily dose of Croatia, check out www.total-croatia-news.com
Follow Paul Bradbury on LinkedIn - / paul-bradbury-58662a85

Пікірлер: 391

  • @trstenik100
    @trstenik100 Жыл бұрын

    My favorite literal translation is: kako da ne - how yes no

  • @biserkasertic1208

    @biserkasertic1208

    Жыл бұрын

    This one is legendary!

  • @denisdralec1993

    @denisdralec1993

    Жыл бұрын

    How about, 'on the face of the place' hahahaha....iliti 'na licu mjesta'....maybe in English would be 'on the premises' or less formally, 'on the spot'...

  • @kvarner1960

    @kvarner1960

    Жыл бұрын

    Tko te šljivi...who plums you

  • @missthunderstormable

    @missthunderstormable

    Жыл бұрын

    hahaha, dobra!

  • @stefanotironi1423

    @stefanotironi1423

    Жыл бұрын

    well, in that case "da" in "that" and not "yes" so it would be "how that no". anyway, na licu mjesta is one of my favourite

  • @vesnavisicostojic2850
    @vesnavisicostojic2850 Жыл бұрын

    I will never forget my English teacher, she was from US and her lessons were always descriptive when it came to common mistakes. Like - juice is concentrated, you are focused 😊

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Very good!

  • @Phiyedough

    @Phiyedough

    9 ай бұрын

    Most Croatians I've talked to seem to know US English rather than UK English.

  • @Jetpans

    @Jetpans

    2 ай бұрын

    For some time I thought "focused" was the only correct term here. But lately I've heard many native english speakers use "let me concentrate" in standard speech, so I guess both is fine nowadays.

  • @vesnavisicostojic2850

    @vesnavisicostojic2850

    2 ай бұрын

    @@Jetpans many native speakers don't know difference between TO and TOO, so I wouldn't consider native same as profound in language 😊 But you a right, they use concentrated in everyday language.

  • @28080601
    @28080601 Жыл бұрын

    My nephew, a six year old Australian born, when visiting Croatia with his parents, would yell after my boys: Čekaj za ja, čekaj za ja, which was his translation of "wait for me"!!!!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha

  • @biserkasertic1208

    @biserkasertic1208

    Жыл бұрын

    It's funny 'cause "čekaj ME"(correct way) is much closer to "wait for ME" than "čekaj ja" 😜

  • @adavanja5682

    @adavanja5682

    Жыл бұрын

    😂

  • @damirglavas7940

    @damirglavas7940

    Жыл бұрын

    🤣😂👍👏

  • @damirfux2265

    @damirfux2265

    Жыл бұрын

    "Čekaj za ja" would be "wait for I".

  • @johnglasspool6785
    @johnglasspool6785 Жыл бұрын

    I've been learning Croatian for about 7 years now. They get their own back on us with their grammar!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You might find this useful, from a viewer of this video - fantastic info www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/66160-croatian-language-horrors

  • @dbunic

    @dbunic

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury Thank you for a such nice article and this video. I read article from top to the bottom and it's a quite informative, interesting and funny. Thank you very much.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    @@dbunic you are welcome. Lots more coming if you want to subscribe

  • @helenlouiseadams

    @helenlouiseadams

    8 ай бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury a great article and I totally connected with that woman’s energy.

  • @DomagojJakopovicRibafish
    @DomagojJakopovicRibafish Жыл бұрын

    Više te nikad neću vozit na festival vina :) Učim, hvala puno

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Relax Riba, there is a special dialect of English called Ribafinglish which is protected by UNESCO.

  • @biserkasertic1208

    @biserkasertic1208

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury 😜😜😜😜👍!Love your sence of humor.(I nearly wrote "...FOR humor")🥴

  • @anacallow509
    @anacallow509 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much for your lesson today! I live in Canada for past 55 years and still make many mistakes in English language! Sadly ,never have opportunity to take appropriate lessons and being 88 years old ,I guess I will died without ever spiking perfect English! I love your short lesson in this video ! I will try to memorize correct way to use certain pronunciation! Velika Vam HVALA uz želju da govorite ” MOJ” jezik mnogo bolje nego kako ja govorim vaš!👏🏻👍 Pozdrav I sve najbolje! ,Ana 🇭🇷🇨🇦

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha thanks. You can do it!

  • @MamaVeganka
    @MamaVeganka Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this feedback. It is mostly helpful.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @solidblock9250
    @solidblock9250 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this video, today I'm 43 years old and I'm making the same mistakes.I was not a good student, and I heard English on TV. today i spoke english, swedish, italian. learned everything on the street with people.I appreciate your effort and honesty. Croatia is my homeland. God bless you Mr.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    thank you and happy birthday!

  • @mirjanakljajic6345

    @mirjanakljajic6345

    Жыл бұрын

    today I speak (not spoke if today)

  • @gordanahartmann

    @gordanahartmann

    Жыл бұрын

    How funny, it is probably not his birthday, he uses today I am 43 instead of now I am 43. Hilariously funny.

  • @vajs6312
    @vajs6312 Жыл бұрын

    The adjective/adverb distinction really is a big one. One good meme I found on the topic was when one character said: "I'm doing good." to which the other replies: "No. Superman is doing good, you're doing well." 😆

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha. Yes it is, and quite easy to fix once you understand the distinction. I come across it a lot, but with people from all over the world, not just Croatia.

  • @ivankajuric919
    @ivankajuric919 Жыл бұрын

    Mr Bradbury, could you please delve a little deeper into those "pesky" definite and indefinite articles? You are a great teacher!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you, but the articles would take months. Explaining the general rule is simple, but then the exceptions - i am still learning how, but I will try and do one when I have time (not this year)

  • @SaTales3D
    @SaTales3D Жыл бұрын

    This was so funny and informative and I learned more stuff in this video than in school. The way how you explained all those mistakes is really fun and memorable so now I will always have a picture of the parrot when thinking about when you use on and in haha Please make more videos like this, I wish I had this entertaining teacher while I was learning English in school because now my grammar would be probably much better :)

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    The parrot is great. Thanks for your kind words. Subscribe to the channel. Plenty more where this came from. Cheers.

  • @SaTales3D

    @SaTales3D

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury haha after the parrot part, you got me so I am looking forward to your new videos. Have a great day :)

  • @ivankajuric919
    @ivankajuric919 Жыл бұрын

    A translation I saw in a restaurant in Dubrovnik that sent (and still sends!) me into hysterical laughter was a menu item translation of "jaje na oko" (sunny side up) as "egg on eye" !

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Now check these out www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/21467-lost-in-translation-the-croatia-edition

  • @sretnazvijezda400

    @sretnazvijezda400

    Жыл бұрын

    Hope they have hotdogs 😂😂

  • @Josip9888
    @Josip9888 Жыл бұрын

    Hvala vam što ste dodali ovaj video. Našao sam se kriv u nekim izrazima. 😅

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad to hear it. We will have more like this on the channel if you want to subscribe.

  • @Josip9888

    @Josip9888

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury thank you, I already subscribed.

  • @AnanDavor
    @AnanDavor Жыл бұрын

    I often hear for "sitting in the sun(light)" : " I am sitting ON the sun!" A direct translation from Croatian! Of course then I imagine them sitting on top of the sun - hot!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Even hotter than sitting on a coffee

  • @viktormatic5589
    @viktormatic5589 Жыл бұрын

    Get on the bus, but once you get on, you're in, correct? "Get on the plane! ... I say f*** you I'm getting in the plane! There seems to be less wind in here" - George Carlin

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes it is quite tricky. You get on a bus, plane, ferry and train, but you get in a car. Once you are in, you are still on, I think - Where are you? I am on the bus to Split, but I guess you could also say I am in a bus to Split, but that sounds strange. Best advice to avoid confusion is to walk.

  • @viktormatic5589

    @viktormatic5589

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury It's amusing.

  • @biserkasertic1208

    @biserkasertic1208

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury How about bicycle?

  • @mm-hq4qh
    @mm-hq4qh Жыл бұрын

    We all fall to same trap,speaking as we used to in our native language.

  • @PeterBeslic
    @PeterBeslic Жыл бұрын

    As an English teacher in Split, I have noticed the exact same things - use of Past Tenses, articles and phrasal verbs, collocations... we work tirelessly to avoid these... Thanks for posting - I am going to use this in the classroom every single year!👏👏

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    haha thanks, nice to hear. We have several more language ones coming next year, so subscribe to the channel if you want to catch them. Cheers!

  • @PeterBeslic

    @PeterBeslic

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury already done, kind sir!👍🏻

  • @tompanoname3579
    @tompanoname3579 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you. Even as a certified translator I can vouch that some things said in here are soooo true.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha, but I have to say that the level of English in Croatia is amazing

  • @tompanoname3579

    @tompanoname3579

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury I have to agree with you. Maybe Dutch could be compared with us, but Dutch do it, well, the Dutch way... Greetings from Zagreb!

  • @leptirmariposa2456
    @leptirmariposa2456 Жыл бұрын

    That is true, a lot of Croats make these mistakes because they literally translate Croatian to English, so they speak English the Croatian way instead of speaking English the English way :D

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, we English are not much better, but hope the video helped.

  • @biserkasertic1208

    @biserkasertic1208

    Жыл бұрын

    LeptirMariposa "Translate me across the street!"😜

  • @Dolfo13
    @Dolfo13 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you! A very useful video! Greetings from Croatia!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @sinisabanic7755
    @sinisabanic7755 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this video, I have learned something new.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @nikolinakomorcec5353
    @nikolinakomorcec5353 Жыл бұрын

    One that my dad makes all the time is saying "explain me" instead of "explain to me", it's driving me crazy 😂

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Very true - and he said me. It is not easy.

  • @Vienna1902

    @Vienna1902

    Жыл бұрын

    Oh yes, and "translate me over the street" :-))

  • @mp7519

    @mp7519

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Vienna1902 😂😂

  • @visnjalivancic3953

    @visnjalivancic3953

    Жыл бұрын

    drive you crazy because you are crazy, shame on you

  • @JosephineMilo
    @JosephineMilo3 ай бұрын

    Thank you so much from Croatian working in UK.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    3 ай бұрын

    Haha, hope it helps

  • @horny4hiphop
    @horny4hiphop Жыл бұрын

    I'm a Croatian man living in Wales, UK since 2005 and still making some of these mistakes.🙂 Thanks for the great content.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You are very welcome - glad it helped

  • @marinmikulic
    @marinmikulic Жыл бұрын

    The last phrase "a little way" caught me off guard, I've heard of a wee bit, but this is just another level of BrE

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    I wouldn't pay too much attention to my English, it is full of strange things. I am the only person I know, for example, who say sprint, sprant, have sprunted

  • @hrvojevasilj7976
    @hrvojevasilj7976 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for these tips as a future professor of English language a piece of advice from a native speaker is allways wellcome.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You are very welcome. You guys speak excellent English, but with just a few tips, if can be even better

  • @josipcoc4019
    @josipcoc4019 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you, pozdrav from Croatia :)

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You are very welcome

  • @dictatoryug9386
    @dictatoryug9386 Жыл бұрын

    This is better than a comedy show!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha

  • @mibict
    @mibict Жыл бұрын

    Much appreciated, thank You.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You're welcome! Lots more coming if you want to subscribe

  • @ferabie
    @ferabie Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting. Native English speaker from South Africa living ten years in Zagreb. My wife has a degree in English literature so speaks fluent English. She still however uses funny expressions. I will put the laundry out to dry. Instead of I will hang out or just hang the washing.

  • @evc1782

    @evc1782

    15 күн бұрын

    Being from North America, "I will put the laundry out to dry" sounds fine to my ear. Maybe "I will hang the laundry out to dry" is better, but I wouldn't find the first to be incorrect.

  • @ferabie

    @ferabie

    15 күн бұрын

    @@evc1782 it's not incorrect to my ear either. Just sounds a bit strange.

  • @GiorgioBatina
    @GiorgioBatina Жыл бұрын

    thank you Mr. Bradbury.You have explained some things that were a bit off for years to me and my rusty english.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You are very welcome

  • @davorinrusevljan6440
    @davorinrusevljan6440 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You're welcome!

  • @SB-gm9yx
    @SB-gm9yx Жыл бұрын

    Great video! Thank you Paul! I have heard 'angry at' used quite a lot though - perhaps a regional (or situational) thing in the Antipodes 😊

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks, and I am sure there are some regional differences down under. People here say 'angry on you' a lot as well. Thanks for watching.

  • @NenadBach
    @NenadBach Жыл бұрын

    Perfect!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    thanks

  • @damirfux2265
    @damirfux2265 Жыл бұрын

    You know when I learnt the difference between adjectives and adverbs - by learning Esperanto. The difference is so clear to me, that I'm surprised that many native English speakers confuse things like good and well.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    It is scary how many native speakers can't get this basic thing right in English.

  • @radicvedran
    @radicvedran Жыл бұрын

    few vs a few was really cool to learn :) I've always felt there was a difference, just didn't bother to dive deeper into it I guess. Thx!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Good to hear. It is actually one of the biggest mistakes I come across, and easy to fix. Glad it helped.

  • @mariozaccaria1078
    @mariozaccaria1078 Жыл бұрын

    you're right. It is our litterally translation of Croatian expressions

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    I do the same from English to Croatian - it is not easy!

  • @mariozaccaria1078

    @mariozaccaria1078

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury It happens to me also with Italian as I am part of the national minority in Croatia. A lot of black wine :D

  • @barbp4982
    @barbp498210 ай бұрын

    Thank you !🙂

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    9 ай бұрын

    Lots more coming if you want to subscribe

  • @PinkFloyd4
    @PinkFloyd44 ай бұрын

    Very instructive, thanks!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    3 ай бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @ReteteSiCalatorii
    @ReteteSiCalatorii Жыл бұрын

    These are common mistakes for Romanians, too. Truth be told, I am amazed of how many grammatical mistakes I notice in the language of native speakers, things that our students don't make. For example, "should OF said" instead of "should HAVE" said. Bottom line, Croatia is one of the countries I visited where I had no problem whatsoever in getting to understand people. Everywhere I turned around, people would speak English and that is absolutely great.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Totally agree with you. Perhaps I should do a vid 25 most common mistakes native speakers make speaking English

  • @ReteteSiCalatorii

    @ReteteSiCalatorii

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury that would be interesting. I'd also redirect it to my students.

  • @ivrtaric

    @ivrtaric

    Жыл бұрын

    The Romanians at least have a natural understanding of when to use "the" vs "a/an" (Romanian has the suffix -ul which pretty much means "the")

  • @ReteteSiCalatorii

    @ReteteSiCalatorii

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ivrtaric indeed, they naturally know this. And they also know very well the difference between "there", "their" and "they're", which a lot of natives don't know nowadays.

  • @theoklas
    @theoklas Жыл бұрын

    Thank You!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Hope it helps a little. It is not easy.

  • @theoklas

    @theoklas

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury It comes with time:-) Thanks a lot! I would add one common mistake: many people pronounce OF as OFF, don't you think?

  • @KristijanZic
    @KristijanZic Жыл бұрын

    Oh, I remembered one! My gf always corrects me and says that I'm not "drinking a pill" but "eating a pill" and that it is "drinking a soup" and not "eating a soup". So which is it then? That drives me nuts because every time she says that she drank a soup I get a mental image of her chugging a pint of soup lmao. And every time she says she ate a pill I get a mental image of her chewing on a pill instead of getting it down with a gulp of water.

  • @zannawu5749

    @zannawu5749

    Жыл бұрын

    Taking a pill is what we usually say, even though we usually drink water to take the pill. Eating soup is correct, even though it's runny it's not a drink 😊

  • @powresitta
    @powresitta Жыл бұрын

    u'r giving 2much credit to Croatian schools, main reason why every1 in Croatia speaks English well is subtitled tv programme. it's to this day my main language learning tool, I can speak English, Spanish, German, now I'm learning Japanese same way. Listening is most important thing is language learning, I believe

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Fo sure KZread etc is the driving force, but that is true elsewhere as well, and the standard of English in Croatia is far above the average.

  • @VeyroneR

    @VeyroneR

    Жыл бұрын

    Its not television. Its more PC games and internet than television.

  • @kreso4794
    @kreso4794 Жыл бұрын

    Tnx mate for the adviceS 🤣🤣🤣....great video 👍

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha thanks - lots more coming if you want to subscribe

  • @katarinanovak3937
    @katarinanovak3937 Жыл бұрын

    Thank You.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You're welcome

  • @chef4579
    @chef4579 Жыл бұрын

    Big help 👍🏻

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Great!

  • @nickepic1863
    @nickepic1863 Жыл бұрын

    Yes this is true. We need more informative videos like this one to improve ourselves. Thank you.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    More to come!

  • @nickepic1863

    @nickepic1863

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury Glad to hear that 💪🏾

  • @filipsocan5427
    @filipsocan5427 Жыл бұрын

    First time someone explained the difference between "than"and "then" to me, that was actually very helpful,so thanks for that! Heh

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Great to hear. Sometimes a simple explanation helps.

  • @burnbabyburn376
    @burnbabyburn376 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You are welcome - hope it helped.

  • @ksuntesic
    @ksuntesic9 ай бұрын

    Thanks Paul, for teaching us English grammar...

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    9 ай бұрын

    Now teach me Croatian...

  • @ksuntesic

    @ksuntesic

    9 ай бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury oh, I think you know Croatian well as if you are living in Croatia for 20 years now :) Znaš Ti hrvatski jezik samo se praviš Englez,,, :)

  • @ksuntesic

    @ksuntesic

    9 ай бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury kzread.info/dash/bejne/qZh6qrVrfLvHpLg.html

  • @bijou201
    @bijou201 Жыл бұрын

    As usual - great and funny content, Paul! 🙂👍I'd say lack of articles is prolly a main thing. Croatian language has no acrticles so many Croats, even those who speak English so perfectly, tend to forget them. I must confess, I leave them out too. Many times. :p

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Getting the articles right is one of the hardest things in English

  • @marcmartinovic5366
    @marcmartinovic5366 Жыл бұрын

    Mr. Paul you are good man!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha

  • @ozbiljnoupozorenje5846
    @ozbiljnoupozorenje5846 Жыл бұрын

    Very common is ”to cook a coffee - skuhati kavu” instead of ”to make a coffee"

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes true, forgot that one.

  • @SPI-B4_4ever

    @SPI-B4_4ever

    Жыл бұрын

    Skuhati kavu 😄 Isto kao popiti tabletu ili 💊 You can take tablets or pills with water but also without so you will take them but not drink them

  • @dannyboy-vtc5741

    @dannyboy-vtc5741

    Жыл бұрын

    Usually if you make it yourself, is "to brew a coffee".

  • @ivrtaric

    @ivrtaric

    Жыл бұрын

    I still can't wrap my mind around Bosnians' "to bake a coffee" - "ispeći kavu" :D

  • @cibalia2006
    @cibalia2006 Жыл бұрын

    I am surprised Paul, that you didn't mention my pet peeve; the insistence of English speaking Croats on pronouncing English vowels, specifically A and U in a weird way, so Rugby becomes Ragby (and is spelled that way!) and Cat becomes Ket. I am told they are taught that way in school and it's how they interpret the American version of English (though there are a huge amount of variables in USA alone.) So you get Croatians speaking perfect English but with a pseudo US style and a Croatian accent. When I had a school English teacher call me "e Fanny Men" I knew I had found a crusade. So, to make it absolutely clear, ´"A" in English is pronounced the same as in Croatian. "U" however is almost the same , but if Croatians pronounce it as they would in Croatian, it sounds like a strong Yorkshire accent, so it needs to be a little softer, like the double o in cool. I think I deserve "e pet on the head" for that!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes agreed. Several other things I could have added. Will be doing a lot more vids in the New Year, and the language ones seem popular. Have a few ideas.

  • @ferabie

    @ferabie

    Жыл бұрын

    My fluent Croatian wife mangles the vowels. We had an American friend named Brett and she called him Brat She also can't get the double consonants right. Te nis instead of ten nis.

  • @silvanfolk
    @silvanfolk Жыл бұрын

    My top 3 Croatian to English mistakes: "My best player/film/song" - favourite / "I am boring." 🤣 - bored / goodest and baddest - better and worse

  • @dadoprso7551
    @dadoprso7551 Жыл бұрын

    100 mistakes australians make while speaking croatian number 1: pronounciation of every word

  • @ivrtaric

    @ivrtaric

    Жыл бұрын

    Roit, mayte.

  • @VillasHvar
    @VillasHvar Жыл бұрын

    Ma lajkamo!

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Hvala i pozdrav!

  • @dovlacro6382
    @dovlacro6382 Жыл бұрын

    You say red wine because you look wine through glass. We say black wine because we look wine through bottle.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    haha, nice try, but seeing as more red wine in cro is drunk from plastic bottles, i wonder if that really is true...

  • @dovlacro6382

    @dovlacro6382

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury I mean wine color in glass or plastic cup (čaša) in comparation with glass or plastic bottle (boca) and big bottle (demižonka)

  • @marcvanbloemen144
    @marcvanbloemen144 Жыл бұрын

    I think you could do a special clip on menus

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Oh we have some great material on menus lined up

  • @KristijanZic

    @KristijanZic

    Жыл бұрын

    Hahahaha, as a menu designer myself I can tell you, I've seen people bring me their old menus with such butchered English to the point of people thinking it's a completely new cocktail or something xD Though I'm also guilty of butchering German. I can fix the English translation but the German is all google translate baby XDDDD

  • @donapejic788
    @donapejic788 Жыл бұрын

    Tx 🌹

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    You are welcome

  • @mateopavic610
    @mateopavic610 Жыл бұрын

    You are good man. Thank you Pozdrav iz Zadra

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Love Zadar

  • @mateopavic610

    @mateopavic610

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury I live in Sukošan. Near Zadar 13 km, 15 min. Svako selo prica drugacije, susjedno selo Bibinje mi nerazumijemo neke rijeci. Mi smo fenomeni po jeziku i dijalektu

  • @ValleysOfSaturn
    @ValleysOfSaturn Жыл бұрын

    Good video, sir! I am guilty for a few of them. ;) (this is probably incorrect, too ha ha)

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    haha - well is it is almost none then few of them, if it is more than that, then a few.

  • @cashkings1
    @cashkings1 Жыл бұрын

    Interesting

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    thanks

  • @AleksandarGospic
    @AleksandarGospic Жыл бұрын

    Language related videos are always so interesting and these are good observations and advice's 👍 Yeah, lot of people translate to English directly how something is said in Croatian and in many cases that doesn't make any sense in English. But because of that sometimes we translate Croatian directly to English just for fun :) One thing that I prefer in English is writing every word in the title with first capital letter (except articles), in Croatian it really annoys me that only first word has capital first letter, that just doesn't look nice to me, so sometimes I break that rule and write the title it the English way :) But even though my English is quite good I still haven't mastered fully when to use 'a' and when 'the'

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Interesting. Different portals in English have different approaches, I personally prefer things with capitals.

  • @zoranorlic2423

    @zoranorlic2423

    Жыл бұрын

    You never WILL do my friend. It is a near impossible task for a Slav. It still, still drives me round a bend. And, yet, I would almost consider myself a native English speaker.

  • @AleksandarGospic

    @AleksandarGospic

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury yes, portals have different approaches when it comes to titles, but when it comes to names of the songs, book titles etc. it is almost always with all caps, I was thinking about that.

  • @AleksandarGospic

    @AleksandarGospic

    Жыл бұрын

    @@zoranorlic2423 looks like it unfortunately :)

  • @nakicpetrina

    @nakicpetrina

    Жыл бұрын

    Aleksandar I think it's quite easy - 'a' (or 'an') is used when we don't mean exactly a known thing ... and 'the' is always used when we know something we're talking about ... I want to thank Mr. Paul for such an amazing video and all his other videos are amazing ... really amazing

  • @seek_and_explore
    @seek_and_explore Жыл бұрын

    This is great, good job! I watched a lot of similar videos because I reached a certain level of english where I can speak fluently and understand 99% of the things BUT I'm completely aware I'm simply making (too) many small mistakes. So besides watching videos like this one I also started to read in English (I'm basically just buying books that I enjoyed reading or wanted to read jn Croatian and now reading in English). Is there anything else you'd recommend (apart from watching movies or taking classes)?

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks! Not sure where you are, but chatting to native speakers is always good. There are various expat groups all over Cro on FB, which have a mix of locals and foreigners and they organise meetups and events

  • @user-xj3ve7wt8k
    @user-xj3ve7wt8k Жыл бұрын

    I studied German and Italian at school. Learned English through movies 😛 In the end I didn't use German and Italian for 20 years, so in the end I only know English 😑

  • @biserkasertic1208

    @biserkasertic1208

    Жыл бұрын

    Same here.Movies and music.

  • @valentina47734

    @valentina47734

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, it's important we learn something in an interesting way.

  • @mdnuruzzamannuruzzaman6045
    @mdnuruzzamannuruzzaman60458 ай бұрын

    Very beautiful Sattar l am willing to come Croatia

  • @alexs3119
    @alexs3119 Жыл бұрын

    I must admit, you made me laugh as I am native croatian speaker living in Australia for the biggest chunk of my life, I recognize in Croatian community over here ( I mean in Australia ) mistakes like those even people spending decades still unable to master those mistakes. Awesome clip. Goodonya (I had to do that)

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha tx. Lots more coming if you want to subscribe

  • @zoranorlic2423
    @zoranorlic2423 Жыл бұрын

    These were some really good examples, Paul. My favourite is: 'a shit of paper", which is how most Croats would pronounce 'sheet'. Generally speaking, most Croats have great difficulty mastering their 'own' language for a variety of historical and political reasons. But, that is a different topic, altogether.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha, that's a great favouite

  • @liberoAquila

    @liberoAquila

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury I speak both languages natively, my father says "we swim at the bitch" (beach).

  • @damirfux2265

    @damirfux2265

    Жыл бұрын

    Waaaaait now, shit and sheet are pronounced the same, aren't they??

  • @kitstamat9356

    @kitstamat9356

    Жыл бұрын

    @@damirfux2265 Ne, razlika je u naglasku. Shit se izgovara kratko, kao hrv. kit, a sheet dugosilazno, kao hrv. štit.

  • @damirfux2265

    @damirfux2265

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kitstamat9356 ovo nisam znao, hvala.

  • @ivanastein2671
    @ivanastein26715 ай бұрын

    In school, we were taugt that the capital of England (and UK) is Landn. To my surprise when I went there I found out they call it London, same as we. We also have an old name for this city, Londra

  • @heavenlanes5598
    @heavenlanes5598 Жыл бұрын

    I learned most English from the internet, music and video games, and some of it were from actual English periods in school. I've consumed said media too much that I basically speak English with an American accent.

  • @vladimirivica7967
    @vladimirivica7967 Жыл бұрын

    when i was in the croatian army we had to write some universal test on english and the resoults give u representation on how good u know english i had 90 % i was proud and i can wreally comunicate grate on english but when i listen to this man afther this video i feel stupid .

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha you are doing great

  • @DANICA3130
    @DANICA3130 Жыл бұрын

    Paul, thank you so much for useful advices. But, how is your Croatian going on? Can you put some video clip with your real croatian speaking? 😊

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Useful advice, not advices... (see the video). Me speaking Croatian? Be careful what you wish for facebook.com/TotalSplit/videos/1214333185366614

  • @branimirbrebrich4759

    @branimirbrebrich4759

    7 ай бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury change(es) when talking about money.

  • @mario2967
    @mario2967 Жыл бұрын

    I made exactly the same errors (as a Croatian). Thank you for the correction, I'll try to keep this in mind. At least I know why my auto correction always mark my words in documents :)

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    I am glad it was helpful

  • @serious_filip522
    @serious_filip52210 ай бұрын

    Singular informacija, plural informacije. Singular Savjet, plural Savjeti. We don't really use it but it exists. Informacije is a bit tricky because it can also be referred as a singular, example: Izvor informacije (Lit. The source of information) or just the word Informacije which is a plural on it's own meaning: Informations and the singular is Informacija.

  • @bornatona3954
    @bornatona3954 Жыл бұрын

    That's excellent content

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much! A lot more to come if you want to subscribe

  • @zagrepcanin82
    @zagrepcanin82 Жыл бұрын

    lol i`ve waited for than and then....I am 41y old and I still remember my first english textbook when i was in 4th grade. but perhaps our best teacher of english language is tv set. we use subtitled not dubbed movies or series. don`t you agree? it does help a lot

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes subtitles are a great asset

  • @DanijelBacelic
    @DanijelBacelic Жыл бұрын

    powerful observations :D all of them pretty correct and few of them I still can't get rid off. especially whit :D

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha, I even find myself spelling it this was on occasion

  • @KristijanZic
    @KristijanZic Жыл бұрын

    This video is so incredible! xDD Personally I haven't seen anyone making any of those (probably b/c I'm a Croat myself) but if I spoke English with my countrymen more often those would be the exact mistakes that I'd expect. It's so funny XDDD You've really picked the good ones like blue/blond and sit on a coffee hahah XDD

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha, glad it helped. Many more to come like this if you want to subscribe to the channel.

  • @KristijanZic

    @KristijanZic

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury I subscribed instantly :D

  • @Vienna1902

    @Vienna1902

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury it would be fun to hear about your challenges while you have been learning Croatian. Thank you for this video, excellent as always!

  • @stefanotironi1423

    @stefanotironi1423

    Жыл бұрын

    I'm an Italian who speaks Croatian and in my experience I've never heard any of these errors except the use of the articles. Since Croatian doesn't have articles, this is a skill that not many Croats can master properly (the have the same issue when learning Italian, though)

  • @KristijanZic

    @KristijanZic

    Жыл бұрын

    @@stefanotironi1423 In my opinion, the younger generations often speak close to perfect English. With people being more detached with their local friends, spending more time at home and online especially since Covid-19. For example I'm 26, living in Croatia, working as a software developer, having a (long distance atm) gf from North East India. I hardly ever get a chance to use Croatian today. I find myself thinking in English and it gives me problems when I have to speak Croatian eloquently because I formulate the thought in English in my head but now it has to come out in Croatian. It's a real struggle sometimes.

  • @lidge1994
    @lidge1994 Жыл бұрын

    Than and then is a universal issue with non-native and some native English speakers.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, so are several others. But these were the 25 most common i came across in Croatia

  • @lidge1994

    @lidge1994

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury I get it, just saying the similar sounding words with one letter off are what connects all English speakers of a certain level of fluency.

  • @snjezanasvago
    @snjezanasvago Жыл бұрын

    We often apply our own language constructions in other languages😅

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, it is a natural thing to do (in all languages).

  • @thegrimreaper9552
    @thegrimreaper9552 Жыл бұрын

    I am croatian and I only did 3 of these mistakes. I actually make more mistakes in croatian lol. I kinda grew up with both english and coratian. I speak and understand english like its my own language.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    22 out of 25 is a good score, well done

  • @lukaluka4868
    @lukaluka4868 Жыл бұрын

    I read English perfectly but I struggle a bit speaking it because I don't really have a chance to speak it a lot

  • @KristijanZic
    @KristijanZic Жыл бұрын

    Blue hair hahaha :''), I never actually heard anyone say that when speaking English but I always wondered why we call the blond hair a blue hair and how that would sound to an English native speaker if we said that. Makes no sense when you think about it XD

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    There is a lot more in English that makes no sense. The joys of language.

  • @nanad1408

    @nanad1408

    Жыл бұрын

    My children grew up England and they could never understand how we say blue hair - plava kosa when it is not blue. That is probably the weirdest thing in Croatian for them.

  • @viktormatic5589
    @viktormatic5589 Жыл бұрын

    3:57 haha :D

  • @tweetybird30
    @tweetybird30 Жыл бұрын

    I am a Croatian woman, but don't have a habit of making those kind of mistakes. I am not saying that my English is perfect or that I'm better than everyone else, but these mistakes are common among Croats.I hope you understand that many Croats learn English on the principle: let me learn as much as I need to communicate with others on a basic level. The rest is not interesting to them. I am not talking about all Croats here, but there are quite a few of them. For example, I learned English through series and movies. I never used a book to learn grammar. I learned to speak the language and grammar correctly by ear. I am happy that you love our country.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Good for you - I am amazed at the high standard of English here - really impressive.

  • @zannawu5749

    @zannawu5749

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, as long as you understand what others say and others can understand what you are saying that is fine 😊

  • @tweetybird30

    @tweetybird30

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PaulBradbury It is quite high, yes.Thank you. I had to come back to this video to see if you responded. Unfortunately I didn't get notified about your response. I am happy you love Croatia and that you enjoy living here.

  • @visnjalivancic3953

    @visnjalivancic3953

    Жыл бұрын

    You are sooooo arrogant narcissist

  • @visnjalivancic3953

    @visnjalivancic3953

    Жыл бұрын

    @@tweetybird30 odvratno, razmisli malo o sebi ,preispitaj se

  • @Jetpans
    @Jetpans2 ай бұрын

    I learned about "indigenous" from this video. I always heard it and thought it meant something like "endemic" and not autochtonous, very interesting how autochtonous is not a common english word.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    2 ай бұрын

    Yes, the first time I heard it was in Croatia

  • @dovlacro6382
    @dovlacro6382 Жыл бұрын

    How yes no

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    haha vrh

  • @CardCaptorDeadpool
    @CardCaptorDeadpool10 ай бұрын

    My girlfriend has fantastic fluency in English and despite that has a funny habit of saying "no matter that" when she normally means "even though" lol.

  • @SvastaOG
    @SvastaOG Жыл бұрын

    a=general the=specific and I don't know about an, or should I say I don't know how to explain it and it just kinda comes naturally for me even tho I'm not a native English speaker

  • @SvastaOG

    @SvastaOG

    Жыл бұрын

    also, you could say let's sit down for a coffee, also also you could use fishes if you refer to different types of fishes once again it's not fair as I am in touch with the English language all day every day and so I can understand the mistakes that you pointed out about my lovely countrymen

  • @Martina1192
    @Martina11928 ай бұрын

    Most of those are simply just because they’re translated word for word how it’s said in Croatian, which might not be the exact phrase in English. And some are also only because there’s only one word in Croatian for both words in English, like your examples of borrow and lend (posuditi), and teach and learn (učiti). And you’d be surprised how many Americans also don’t know the difference between than and then. 😊

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    8 ай бұрын

    Yes agreed. And yes, some native speakers could learn something from this vid

  • @MartinMayhewCRO-ENGtranslator
    @MartinMayhewCRO-ENGtranslator Жыл бұрын

    "Plava" as in "blond hair" would be "pale" in English - etymology comes via Latin and German :)

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    An Englishman correcting an Englishman in Croatia - whatever next? Interesting, thanks for etymology.

  • @MartinMayhewCRO-ENGtranslator

    @MartinMayhewCRO-ENGtranslator

    Жыл бұрын

    Wasn't meant to be a correction, just a linguistic observation 😉

  • @ivanastein2671

    @ivanastein2671

    5 ай бұрын

    "Plava" in this sense means "washed out", diluted. Hair diluted - blonde. Black diluted - blue. Think "isplavljena" (few languages can do with werbs that Croatian can. We are weak in nouns, though

  • @saonestranedinare644
    @saonestranedinare6442 ай бұрын

    Half-island Peljesac, 'blitva' on menus translated as.... 'manigold' (wtf?), W = V (Varvick Avenue), and 'put book on shelves' (My NW London juniors always laugh at the apparent luck of 'the', or, "say 'lethal' tata"). 'Reversely'....I lived in Djubrovnik where people (mainly) support Hajdzuk Split. And modus operandaj, drinking ekspreso itd. Takes two to tango....innit bruv.

  • @wowathena
    @wowathena Жыл бұрын

    People got this habit of forming up sentence in their mind on croatian first, and then they try to translate "that" sentence directly into English instead just speaking English naturally right away. And it comes out so weird at times its actually funny. Like for example, instead of saying "me too" or " i would like the same", they fire out "me same" xD

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha

  • @none4tube
    @none4tube Жыл бұрын

    Until we stumble on Alanis Morissette's lyrics from Canada: "It always looked GOOD on paper, sounded GOOD in theory!" Feels good. Seems good to me ;) Yes, he can't play "good" but you see what I'm talking about, don't you?

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Haha

  • @valsimotdesign
    @valsimotdesign Жыл бұрын

    great video, but you have to keep in mind that a lot of people, who studied English, didn't study grammar properly either, because they didn't feel like it,...

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    and they still speak really well

  • @silvanapenzenstadler5904
    @silvanapenzenstadler59049 ай бұрын

    The same mistakes doing the Germans too. I know this because i seapk both German and Croatian fluentlly.

  • @krunomrki
    @krunomrki Жыл бұрын

    When I was visiting Canada, a decade ago, people there use to ask me, not: How are you? but: How are you doing? My response: I'm ok, or, I'm good. Even today I don't understand why they put this "doing" in the end.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    Жыл бұрын

    Never though about it but possibly related to the more formal How do you do?

  • @enchyxxx
    @enchyxxx8 ай бұрын

    "in the school kids speak English to each other rather than Croat" ummm what? As an English teacher in Croatia, I can confirm this is absolutely not true. You got everything else right though.

  • @PaulBradbury

    @PaulBradbury

    8 ай бұрын

    Thanks for your comment, and while I respect it, my experience is very different and quite a few kids converse with each other in English from my experience.

  • @MrUneTeube
    @MrUneTeube Жыл бұрын

    "Th" pronunciation is also often incorrect. There are many people there who want to "tank" you.

  • @ivanastein2671

    @ivanastein2671

    5 ай бұрын

    I gave up. What I say is either "denk you" or, if I try harder, "senk you". Next I might sink.