# Croatian (BCS): It's a small world after all



## Aida1967

Can someone please tell me how do you say in Croatian "It's a small world after all"?


----------



## dudasd

Can you provide some more context or give the nuance? It could be translated in more than one way, and with different meanings.

Literally it would be:

Naposletku/Uostalom, to je mali svijet.
(With the meaning: That world is small, after all.)

But I suspect it's:

Svijet je ipak mali.
(Meaning that this world is small, you can meet anyone anywhere, or come to know many supposed secrets.)


----------



## slavic_one

dudasd said:


> Can you provide some more context or give the nuance? It could be translated in more than one way, and with different meanings.
> 
> Literally it would be:
> 
> Naposletku/Uostalom, to je mali svijet.
> (With the meaning: That world is small, after all.)
> 
> But I suspect it's:
> 
> Svijet je ipak mali.
> (Meaning that this world is small, you can meet anyone anywhere, or come to know many supposed secrets.)



 First of all, it's "naposlijetku", not "naposletku"!
 And I think litteraly it would be better: "To je mali svijet na kraju krajeva".

And for "That world is small, after all.".. "that world" it's not the best solution, because it's literally "taj svijet". It's better to say "this world (ovaj svijet)" or just "the world  is small... (svijet je malen...)"


----------



## dudasd

Oooops, mistake, sorry. But the phrase "na kraju krajeva" is loaned from German, so I wouldn't recommend it.


----------



## slavic_one

Well many words and phrases are loaned into many languages from many others. I think "na kraju krajeva" is well integrated in Croatian and it could be used regulary.
But if you insist, then it could be "Naposlijetku, svijet je malen.". I hope naposlijetku is Croatian made word


----------



## dudasd

Being an editor, it's my duty to recommend "homemade" words.  But I've just checked - dictionaries give only "naposljetku". I thought it had both forms.


----------



## slavic_one

That's ok Hmmm.. now I really don't know if it's 'naposlijetku' or 'naposljetku'. Because I have a small problem adding 'ije' everywhere so.. could be 'naposljetku', ain't sure.


----------



## sokol

dudasd said:


> Oooops, mistake, sorry. But the phrase "na kraju krajeva" is loaned from German, so I wouldn't recommend it.



Sorry to ask, dudasd, but how so?
I couldn't imagine how 'na kraju krajeva' would translate into German; so I just can't imagine how this should be a German loan.
(I would use 'Die Welt ist klein' or 'So klein ist die Welt' or 'XX ist (wirklich) ein Dorf' where XX stands for the town you're referring to - all of these meaning, typically, an encounter of two people who didn't expect to meet each other right now, by pure coincidence, nevertheless in a town of significant size. Which would be the meaning _I _would attribute to this phrase, but then that's another question: is this really what was meant here?)


----------



## slavic_one

I don't know what there German sentences mean, but 'na kraju krajeva' is sth like English 'after all' in this context ("after all" is literally "nakon/poslije svega".


----------



## Athaulf

slavic_one said:


> That's ok Hmmm.. now I really don't know if it's 'naposlijetku' or 'naposljetku'. Because I have a small problem adding 'ije' everywhere so.. could be 'naposljetku', ain't sure.



It's _napos*lje*tku, _with a short yat vowel. 



dudasd said:


> But I suspect it's:
> 
> Svijet je ipak mali.



Yes, this is probably the most natural and idiomatic way to put it.


----------



## Athaulf

sokol said:


> Sorry to ask, dudasd, but how so?
> I couldn't imagine how 'na kraju krajeva' would translate into German; so I just can't imagine how this should be a German loan.



_Na kraju krajeva_ would literally translate into German  as _am Ende der Enden_, but as far as I know, the latter phrase doesn't have the same idiomatic meaning. However, I think that an exact German equivalent would be _letzten Endes_. I have no idea about the possible relations between these phrases, though.


----------



## sokol

Athaulf said:


> _Na kraju krajeva_ would literally translate into German  as _am Ende der Enden_, but as far as I know, the latter phrase doesn't have the same idiomatic meaning. However, I think that an exact German equivalent would be _letzten Endes_. I have no idea about the possible relations between these phrases, though.



Yes, I *do *speak some Serbian/Croatian/and-so-on ...  I _do _know that, sorry should have mentioned it. What I couldn't fathom was how this should be a German loan. "Letzten Endes" by the way - yes of course, works in German, but really not in this particular context.

So, that's what my post was about: so, Dudasd, probably you're right, "na kraju krajeva" could be due to German influence, nevertheless not in this phrase (it happens often enough with languages that phrases become other meanings as soon as they're loaned into another language).


----------



## Hole

But if you go with "Svijet je ipak mali", it's better to say "Svijet je ipak malen". But I like the one with "na kraju krajeva".
Also, you can say "Napokon, svijet je malen", right?


----------



## slavic_one

Yes, I aslo used 'malen' rather.
'Napokon' also fits, as well as 'najzad'. Actualy I think that 'najzad' is the most literar supstitution for 'after all'!


----------



## Hole

"Najzad" is not really Croatian, we don't use it that much.


----------



## slavic_one

Why not? Which language is then the most related to 'najzad'?


----------



## Hole

I don't know, but I don't hear it in Croatian very often. I'm not sure that it belongs to the standard language.


----------



## slavic_one

It belongs.. actually now I look up in one dictionary and guess what - that was the only translation of 'after all' !


----------



## Aida1967

Thank you all for your prompt response! Now, let me explain. At my son's school they're having an International Fair, and his classroom had to do some research on Croatia. I am a musician and offered to make up a small choir singing something in Croatian. I chose the song It's a small world, because the children already know it in English and Spanish, so that's why I needed the chorus of the song, you know, the one that they play on Disneyland. Anyway, thank you so much. If you ever need help, I do translations from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. Have a great weekend!


----------



## slavic_one

You're welcome!
I just checked the song on YouTube, never heard it:/ Anyway wish you luck and if you have some more questions just ask!
I hope we didn't confuse you too much with all those variations and words! That's the way this forum is: whatever someone says, the other one won't be satisfied with that and give his expert opinion lol
And thanks for your help offer, I would just be glad if you could link me on a PM if you know some good site(s) for learning spanish! I have some books but not that good, and I was searching on this forum on Spanish section but no luck!
Best regards!


----------

