What language is spoken in Montenegro?

The history of any language is complex and interesting, but the history of the state language of Montenegro can be considered one of the most unusual. Montenegro is a small country on the Adriatic Sea, with a population of just over 600,000. This republic became independent only in 2006, although it is mentioned in medieval annals.

From 1946 to 1992, the country was part of Yugoslavia, then until 2006 - in the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2006, Montenegro withdrew from the Union and became an independent state.

Recognized as the state national language in the republic Montenegrin. At its core, it is one of the dialects of the Serbo-Croatian language. This dialect received the name of Jeka-Stokva and along with the Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and belongs to the South Slavic languages ​​of the western subgroup.

The debate about which language will be recognized as an official one began in Montenegro at the end of the 1990s and became particularly acute by 2007. Prior to that, the state language was Serbian. The question of the state language was more political than linguistic. The status of the official Montenegrin language was received only in 2011 and was named Montenegrin by international standards. That is why, according to the census results in 2011, only 37% of citizens recognized Montenegrin as their mother tongue.

The main difference between Montenegrin and Serbian is the pronunciation of vowels and their spelling - in Serbian it is more rigid, and in Montenegrin it is softer. This is especially true of the sounds of [e] and [je], that is, the form [uje] is more common, similar to the Old Slavic "yat". In the colloquial version, it is more typical of the southern regions of the country, while in the northern regions the conversation becomes harder.

In the vocabulary of Montenegrin there are words from all closely related South Slavic adverbs. Original words are found, but they are few in order to be able to talk about some fundamental differences. Because of this mixture of dialects, linguists consider Montenegrin language relatively new. The instability of language norms allows us to say that the literary language in Montenegro has not yet been formed, certain language norms exist only for official documents.

Montenegrin written language has another unusual feature - in it Cyrillic and Latin are equally usedAlthough in recent years, the Latin alphabet is increasingly used in official documents, which more clearly conveys the phonetic differences. There are no restrictions in literary work yet.

All Slavic languages ​​have common roots, so they are in many ways similar to each other. Montenegrin language is no exception. Russian language and Montenegrin have many common features. Some words are either similar, or very similar, or understandable: yes - “yes”, no - “not”, good afternoon - “good dan”, good - “good”, sea fish - “sea fish”, city - “hail”.

Tourism and recreation in Montenegro are becoming increasingly popular among Russians. The inhabitants of the country are very warm towards Russian-speaking tourists, many Montenegrins know and understand Russian, especially those who are closely connected with the tourist business by their occupation: tour guides, hotel personnel, salespeople, waiters.

Signs, signs, information boards, restaurants menus are often duplicated in English and Russian, so it’s easy to navigate here.. It is better to address the question to passersby in Russian. English is not known to all residents.

Going on a trip to Montenegro, even if there is no desire to learn a language, you need to know its features. Some words, despite the similarities with the Russians, have a different or even opposite meaning. For example, the customary “right” in Montenegrin means “straight”, the Russian “maniac” means “deficit”, and “shame” and “disgraceful” means theater. The word “diarrhea”, embarrassing for Russians, is “pride” for Montenegrins; therefore, “I myself have blasphemed a girl” insulting to Russian ears has a completely positive meaning - “I am a proud girl”.

Funny for a traveler who speaks Russian, the familiar word "sausage" sounds. In Montenegrin, this is "hrenovki." The Russian verb in the imperative mood “we go” does not mean an invitation to travel, it means “I eat”, and “eat” is not an invitation to a meal, but an offer to “try” or “try”.

Some more unusual lexical meanings:

• “I myself am harmful” - I am good, kind, worthy;
• “Cudgel” - depth;
• "Lyubitsa" - a bug;
• "Belly" - life;
• "Hran" - food;
• “Art” is experience;
• "Cookies" - fried meat;
• "Bezdnost" - safety;
• “Security”, “security service” in the inscriptions on the uniform of security officers will look like Obezbedenje.

You can get into an awkward situation by using the usual words "matches" and "chicken." They are consonant with the Montenegrin rough designation of male and female genital organs, in other words, Russian mat. The bird itself should be called "kokoshka", and chicken meat - "pillets meat" or "pilatina."

Any language is original and inexhaustible, sometimes even seemingly understandable phrases hide a completely different meaning. But in any awkward situation it is necessary to maintain friendliness and calmness, be guided solely by common sense. An open smile, expressive gestures and intonation can help out.

There are many methods for learning foreign languages. But in preparing for a short trip, I don’t really want to spend time and energy on this, and this is completely optional. Montenegrin is still not international English. To those who are going to live in Montenegro constantly, knowledge of the language will come gradually, the relationship of Russian and Montenegrin plays a significant role here. But for constant and for short-term communication, knowledge of the most frequently used words and expressions will be very useful.

The technique is called the "language matrix". Its essence is as follows.

• Movement from easy to hard. First, simple words and phrases close to the Russian language are studied, phrases, sentences and short texts, and then the tasks are complicated.
• Next, you need to enable audio recording and listen to the language material.
• Without referring to the printed text, try to understand by ear what it is about, highlight individual phrases, words. It is worth repeating the audition until it seems that, in general, the essence of the text is clear.
• View typed text, read aloud, and listen to audio at the same time, comparing features of pronunciation and spelling. The translation at this stage should not be addressed yet.
• View written translation and check the correctness of independent guesses.
• Listening and speaking out loud several timesremembering the correct translation.

This method allows you to go through all the stages of training in any free time: on the way, while doing household chores, on a walk. Repeated repetition and a conscious approach will allow us to memorize language material firmly and permanently. Will help in communication and a small phrase book, which includes the most common words and expressions.

About how they say in Montenegro, see below.