Croatia One - Text
The subject is a male, 24 year old, acting student. He was born in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina (formerly Mostar, Yugoslavia). Two years later, his family moved to Croatia (formerly Debrovnik) where they stayed for 10 years (living in Split, Zagreb, and Markasa) before returning to Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina for 9 years. He began learning English in the first grade in Bosnia-Herzegovina, though he attributes most of his English language skills to watching the Cartoon Network as a child. The subject describes the places he has lived and the regional dialects of Croatia. Recorded by Mandy Fox and edited by Paul Meier in June 2007.
Transcription of unscripted speech
"Ok, so I was born, uh, in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, uh, actually it was Mostar, Yugoslavia and then after the war it became Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, but before that happened I moved to, uh, Debrovnik, which is now Croatia and I lived there till I was eight. And then, since my parents were crazy lunatics that loved moving around with, with their jobs and so I ended up in Zagreb which was, uh, the capital of Croatia only to, after the was started and all happened, they decided to go back to Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. So, I'm kind of mixed up about where I'm from, but I feel that both Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are my home countries.br>
Oh, it's beautiful. Both Mostar is, uh, an old city. It was formed, I think, in 16th century and, um, it's, it, it has very strange combination of, uh, Ottoman architecture and, um, western architecture and a lot of the buildings from 16th century are preserved especially in, uh, city, like, central city area, which is very touristy. There's this famous bridge that's called Old Bridge and, um, lots of tourists from all over the world come and see it and that bridge was actually, uh, is, is on UNESCO's, uh, List of World Heritage and, um, I should show pictures to my friends sometime because I never do that.br>
Um, as for Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik it was, uh, it, it's not very far away from Mostar. It's about two hours away. It's south. It's on the coast and, um, city was basically a city-state and it was a big competitor for Venetian-state. Venetians tried to take over many, many times, but their army was never strong enough and, uh, was famous merchants' spot and, uh, very, very wealthy city throughout history. Lots of famous, um, writers, and poets, and painters were from that city and, um, uh, it, it's huge touristy spot, like, I think it's the most popular one in Croatia and, uh, lots of cruises come over and, um, I'm very happy that Croatian coast's not very famous in the world because, um, capitalism hasn't completely taken over so, all, all of the old cities, all of the old architecture, and mentality of the people has been preserved and it's not just crazy money chase and it's, it's a lil' paradise, I, I, I have to say. I've seen a lot of coasts, but Croatian is the most beautiful and I'm not just saying it because I'm from there.br>
Uh, as for Zagreb, I really hate that city even though it's, it's huge, it's beautiful, it's in the capital. A lot of things are going there. Lots of theatre, lots of theatre festivals and things like that, but it's so far north and, um, weather is, uh, very cold, much colder than I enjoy it and, um, just mentality of people is a lil' bit different so, I just, I prefer coast better.br>
Oh, I have, my, I, I completely adopted Mostar and, um, Dubrovnik accent which is very southern. We like to, uh, talk , like, we stretch all of our sounds and Zagreb it's all very choppy. Chop, chop, chop, chop. And so, um, I, I actually recognize that when I speak, from people who are from south, even from the the U.S., like, it seems like it's something that keeps occurring relatively regularly, that people from the south tend to have longer sounds. I don't know why's that. Maybe we're just lazy or because of all the warmth. I don't know what it is, but we talk, its, its pretty, people who are from Croatia can always recognize where I'm from.br>
Yes. yea.their accents, actually, I've been told before that my accent is, uh, lil' bit messed up, like even, from like, Croads, like Herzegovinians that it is, um, lil' different and I think that it, it happened because of all the moving and, I don't know, I'm just not, I adopt, uh, lil' bit of each of those accents, but it, it becomes a lil' bit mutanty, so.yea.
Transcribed by Mandy Fox, June 2007