# BCS: 'I go to the university' in Serbian standard language and Shtokavian dialects



## pallina89

It is so interesting!
I would like to 'study' shtokavian.
For example for this sentence ''I go to the university'' in standard serbian and shtokavian?
How could you translate?


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## trance0

'Posećujem univerzitet. =  I am attending a university.' 'Studiram na univerzitetu. = I am studying on a university.'  Or 'Idem na univerzitet. = I am going to university.' Natives should correct possible errors.


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## Orlin

trance0 said:


> 'Posećujem univerzitet. = I am attending a university.' 'Studiram na univerzitetu. = I am studying on a university.' Or 'Idem na univerzitet. = I am going to university.' Natives should correct possible errors.


 
Meni se čini da je to logično i ispravno iako i ja nisam izvorni govornik, ali je definitivno off topic ovde i treba da se diskusija o tome odvoji u nov thread.

@pallina89: dozvoljeno je da postavljate ovde pitanja na srpskom posebno kad je srpski jezik u pitanju, samo ne zaboravljajte da otvarate novu temu za novo pitanje.


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## sokol

Pallina, there are several Shtokavian dialects - but concerning this phrase probably there aren't too many different versions in dialects as "university" surely is pretty much the same in any Shtokavian dialect, only noun declension and the verb may differ (or different syntax patterns preferred in different dialects).

(Mod note - moved to new thread; Pallina - please always open new threads for more specific questions, and please formulate your questions as specific as possible. )


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## Majalj

"I go to the univeristy." = "Idem na fakultet.", "Ja sam student (fakulteta)." 
(The word "student" usually does not refer to primary or secondary school students that are called "učenik" or "đak"). 



trance0 said:


> 'Posećujem univerzitet. = I am attending a university.' 'Studiram na univerzitetu. = I am studying on a university.' Or 'Idem na univerzitet. = I am going to university.' Natives should correct possible errors.


 
"Posećujem univerzitet." would be understood and interpreted as "I occasionally visit the university." while 
"I am attending a a university" means that you are at the moment physically present at a class. 

"Studiram (npr. ekonomiju) na univerzitetu", if at all heard, would mean "I am a (-n economy) student at the university." while 
"I am studying on a university." if at all taken as correct English (it is "at" not "on") could be interpreted as "Učim (sad trenutno) u zgradi fakulteta." 

"I am going to university." means that you are currently physically moving towards the university building, and it indeed also translates as "Idem na univerzitet."

Sorry about corrections, Trance. No hard feelings, but you created a mess with your attempts.


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## Orlin

> Sorry about corrections, Trance. No hard feelings, but you created a mess with your attempts.


 
Da, ne znam da li je problem u interpretaciji srpskog ili engleskog jezika - mislim da je Trans pokušao da doslovno prevede s engleskog na srpski i stvorio je formalno korektne fraze (što sam rekao u postu br. 3 - verovatno i ja sam ih misinterpretirao, izvinjavam se).
Mislim da je najbolje postavljati pitanje na srpskom ako se to odnosi posebno na taj jezik i voditi diskusiju na srpskom - tako bismo izbegli misinterpretaciju nekog drugog jezika i možda nekako "smanjili kaos".
Osim svega drugoga, reči "višeg registra" kao "univerzitet" normalno ne postoje u dijalektima i kad je potrebno pričati o takvim pojmovima, dijalektni govornici koriste odgovarajuću reč respektivnog standardnog jezika - zato naslov ove teme izgleda tako "čudno".


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## Majalj

Nisam sigurna da postavljačica ovog pitanja razumije srpski...


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## doorman

The serbian colleagues may correct me if I'm wrong, but we never literally say "I go to the university" (in the sense of "vado all'universita'"). Instead, we state the we "go to a faculty", eg. if one studies foreign languages (s)he would say
_Idem na filozofski (fakultet)_
which literally means "I go to the faculty of philosophy" (in colloquial speech we usually do not say the word in parenthesis ("faculty")).

More generally, when the exact type of studies is irrelevant (i.e. somebody you don't know all that well asks you what do you do in life), we just state that "we go to a faculty" (literally), i.e.
_Idem na fakultet_
Also, instead of _fakultet_ we use the word _faks_ but only in the spoken language.

Hope this helps


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## Orlin

doorman said:


> The serbian colleagues may correct me if I'm wrong, but we never literally say "I go to the university" (in the sense of "vado all'universita'"). Instead, we state the we "go to a faculty", eg. if one studies foreign languages (s)he would say
> _Idem na filozofski (fakultet)_
> which literally means "I go to the faculty of philosophy" (in colloquial speech we usually do not say the word in parenthesis ("faculty")).
> 
> More generally, when the exact type of studies is irrelevant (i.e. somebody you don't know all that well asks you what do you do in life), we just state that "we go to a faculty" (literally), i.e.
> _Idem na fakultet_
> Also, instead of _fakultet_ we use the word _faks_ but only in the spoken language.
> 
> Hope this helps


 
S moje perspektive izgleda da je to sasvim nelogično (nikako ne mogu da shvatim zbog čega "fakultet" umesto "univerzitet"), ali nažalost ponekad nema logike u jezicima. 
A šta razume Hrvat kad kažem "Idem na univerzitet"? Možda fizički pokret prema zgradi univerziteta, kako je Majalj rekla?


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## doorman

Orlin said:


> A šta razume Hrvat kad kažem "Idem na univerzitet"? Možda fizički pokret prema zgradi univerziteta, kako je Majalj rekla?



Ta recenica nama zapravo ne znaci ama bas nista. Mi u hrv imamo nekoliko sveucilista (univerziteta), koji su, za razliku od opcenite prakse, grupirani po gradovima, a ne po tipovima studija. Tako postoji Sveuciliste u Zagrebu, Sveuciliste u Rijeci, itd. Iz tog razloga mi u svakidasnjem govoru ne koristimo tu rijec (jer, objektivno gledano ona ne nosi nikakvu informaciju), vec umjesto toga koristimo rijec "fakultet". Primjer:
A: Sta radis u zivotu?
B: Idem na fax (fakultet)
A: Koji?
B: Filozofski

S druge strane, takav dijalog je nemoguc sa "univerzitet":
A: Sta radis u zivotu?
B: Idem na univerzitet
A: Koji?
B: Onaj u Zagrebu.

Nema bas smisla 

Sto se tice samo smisla recenice "I go to the university" (i.e. "Idem na univerzitet"): vidim da je cura talijanka. Kod njih ta recenica ima dvojako znacenje:
a) student sam
b) idem na univerzitet (doslovno hodam prema zgradi)

Tocan smisao onoga sto se htjelo reci ovisi, dakle, o kontekstu. Kako se moze vidjet iz mog prethodnog primjera (ako se "univerzitet" zamjeni sa "fakultet"), tako je i u hrvatskom. Prethodni primjer bi potkrijepio slucaj A, dok za slucaj B primjer moze biti:
Dva poznanika se susrecu na ulici:
A: Sta radis? Kamo ides?
B: Idem na fakultet

Nadam se da sam pojasnio dilemu


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## TriglavNationalPark

Orlin said:


> S moje perspektive izgleda da je to sasvim nelogično (nikako ne mogu da shvatim zbog čega "fakultet" umesto "univerzitet")


 
Well, the same principle applies in English. In AmE at least, people usually say "He goes to *college*," rather than "He goes to the university."

Since "college" in AmE and "fakultet" in BCS mean essentially the same thing (both are basic units of larger universities), the BCS (and Slovenian) use effectively parallels that of English.


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## phosphore

Although formally organised in universities, the faculties in Serbia are practically completely autonomous. That's why we study at faculties and not at universities.

Idem na univerzitet. = I'm going to the rectorate. = Idem u rektorat.
Idem na fakultet. = I go/am going to the faculty.
Idem na ETF. = I am going to the Faculty of Technical Engineering.

Studiram. = I study at university.
Studiram ekonomiju. = I study economics at university. (used for most faculties)
Studiram ETF. = I study at the Faculty of Technical Engineering.


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## phosphore

doorman said:


> Primjer:
> A: Sta radis u zivotu?
> B: Idem na fax (fakultet)


 

Is that really the way you would answer? I would never say "idem na fakultet", which means "I am going to the faculty" or "I usually go to the faculty". I would say simply "studiram" instead.


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## doorman

phosphore said:


> Is that really the way you would answer? I would never say "idem na fakultet", which means "I am going to the faculty" or "I usually go to the faculty". I would say simply "studiram" instead.



In fact, the two ("idem na fax" and "studiram") are _phrase synonyms_. I.e. there's absolutely no difference between the two. However, you can hear "idem na filozofski" (or any another faculty for that matter) much more often than "idem na fax" since people (probably) like to brag about it


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## trance0

Majalj said:


> "I go to the univeristy." = "Idem na fakultet.", "Ja sam student (fakulteta)."
> (The word "student" usually does not refer to primary or secondary school students that are called "učenik" or "đak").
> 
> 
> 
> "Posećujem univerzitet." would be understood and interpreted as "I occasionally visit the university."while "I am attending a a university" means that you are at the moment physically present at a class. Well, I have found native examples of usage in a very similar sense, but obviously it is possible that this can never be understood as Slovene(obiskujem univerzo...) and English(I am attending (lectures) at a university/ I am attending a university). Like in the comment below, one can use both constructions 'I am attending a university' (present continuous) or 'I attend a university' (present simple) in this sense more or less interchangeably without a change in meaning. I could be wrong though, since I am no expert on English verbal tense system.
> 
> "Studiram (npr. ekonomiju) na univerzitetu", if at all heard, would mean "I am a (-n economy) student at the university." while
> "I am studying on a university." if at all taken as correct English (it is "at" not "on") could be interpreted as "Učim (sad trenutno) u zgradi fakulteta."
> Correct, I should have used 'at' instead of 'on', but other than that 'I am studying at a University' does not necessarily mean that one is studying in the University building at the moment, it can also mean that one is just (still) a student at some university.
> 
> "I am going to (the/my/his...) university. = I am on my way to the university (building, to my faculty) " means that you are currently physically moving towards the university building, and it indeed also translates as "Idem na univerzitet." This is precisely what I wanted to express with my example, but I think I should have used the article 'the' or a possessive pronoun. I *wasn`t *trying to produce examples that have synonymous meanings. Admittedly, my examples are probably not the best, but I was merely trying to show that English 'to go' can be understood and translated in different ways.
> 
> Sorry about corrections, Trance. No hard feelings, but you created a mess with your attempts. Well, I asked for corrections from natives, so I see no reason to have a grudge against you.


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