# Slovene, differences



## 涼宮

Good evening 

I am interested in knowing how different Slovene is in comparison by the other Slavic languages. What is the closest language to Slovene? I do not know whether perhaps Slovene and Slovak are too similar or not. (Perhaps I am just getting carried away by the similarity between the names )



Спасибі заздалегідь


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## jazyk

Slovene is a South Slavic language. Slovak is a West Slavic language. They are not mutually intelligible. In fact, Slovene is the Slavic language I have most difficulty with, both in its spoken and its written form, although I already know Czech, Slovak, Polish (West Slavic), Russian (East Slavic), and Macedonian (South Slavic).

This is a newspaper excerpt. I will show you what I understand.

New York - Vodja oddelka za *mednarodne* odnose  *azerbajdžanske vlade* Novruz Mahmadov *je v pogovoru za domačo tiskovno  agencijo* Trend dejal, *da ima Azerbajdžan velike možnosti*, da postane  nestalna članica Varnostnega *sveta ZN v obdobju 2012 in 2013*.

Dejal je, da bodo določeni postopki potekali *do ponedeljka*, *pogovori s * številnimi *državami, ki podpirajo kandidaturo Azerbajdžana*, pa se bodo  nadaljevali. Pri tem je omenil, da *njegovo državo podpirajo Rusija,  Kitajska, Turčija, Pakistan, Iran in Kazahstan.
*

 Of course I know what they are talking about, but I can't understand the details.


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## nonik

jazyk said:


> Slovene is a South Slavic language. Slovak is a West Slavic language. They are not mutually intelligible. In fact, Slovene is the Slavic language I have most difficulty with, both in its spoken and its written form, although I already know Czech, Slovak, Polish (West Slavic), Russian (East Slavic), and Macedonian (South Slavic).
> 
> This is a newspaper excerpt. I will show you what I understand.
> 
> New York - Vodja oddelka za *mednarodne* odnose *azerbajdžanske vlade* Novruz Mahmadov *je v pogovoru za domačo tiskovno agencijo* Trend dejal, *da ima Azerbajdžan velike možnosti*, da postane nestalna članica Varnostnega *sveta ZN v obdobju 2012 in 2013*.
> 
> Dejal je, da bodo določeni postopki potekali *do ponedeljka*, *pogovori s *številnimi *državami, ki podpirajo kandidaturo Azerbajdžana*, pa se bodo nadaljevali. Pri tem je omenil, da *njegovo državo podpirajo Rusija, Kitajska, Turčija, Pakistan, Iran in Kazahstan.
> *
> 
> *sveta ZN v obdobju 2012 in 2013*.
> 
> Of course I know what they are talking about, but I can't understand the details.





I suppose that you didnt understand those ..........vodja oddelka........vedoucí/vůdce  oddílu/ oddělení
                                                                    odnose..................odnosně k něčemu, vztažně k něčemu
                                                                    Novruz Mahmadov....... it is clear I think
*dejal.......prohlásil
*                                                                    da postane nestalna članica...........že se stane nestálým členem
                                                                    varnost........od slova varovat někoho/bezpečnost
                                                                    da bodo določeni postopki potekali.............bodo=bude, postopki=postupy, potekali=téci.........
                                                                    pa se bodo nadaljevali.......že se budou oddalovat/prodlužovat
                                                                    Pri tem je omenil..........při tom oznámil


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## inter1908

The closest one to Slovene is Serbo-Croatian.

I will show you what I understand from what Jazyk's posted (from Slavic languages I only know Polish and very little Croatian):

New York - Vodja oddelka *za mednarodne* odnose *azerbajdžanske* vlade *Novruz Mahmadov* *je v* *pogovoru* *za* domačo tiskovno *agencijo* *Trend* dejal, da *ima* *Azerbajdžan* *velike možnosti*, da postane nestalna *članica* Varnostnega *sveta ZN* *v* obdobju *2012* *in* *2013*.

 Dejal je, da bodo določeni postopki potekali do ponedeljka, *pogovori* *s*  številnimi državami, ki *podpirajo* *kandidaturo Azerbajdžana*, pa se bodo nadaljevali. Pri tem je omenil, da njegovo državo *podpirajo Rusija, Kitajska, Turčija, Pakistan, Iran in Kazahstan*.

So I've got a rough idea what it's about, but as well as Jazyk I can't understand the details.


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## 涼宮

inter1908 said:


> *The closest one to Slovene is Serbo-Croatian. *



That confuses me, Is Serbo-Croatian not supposed to be just a name that was used to talk about Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian as a whole in Yugoslavia? Is it a language on its own?

And thank you everyone  I see Slovene is pretty different from the point of view of several Slavic speakers.

*Jazyk*, could you tell me why is Slovene the language you are having most difficulties with?


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## jazyk

I'm not having difficulty with it because I'm not studying it, but I have difficulty with it when I try to understand something I read. I think the vocabulary is really different.


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## inter1908

涼宮 said:


> That confuses me, Is Serbo-Croatian not supposed to be just a name that was used to talk about Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian as a whole in Yugoslavia? Is it a language on its own?



It's Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrian under one name. They're mutual intelligible to a *very* high degree, they're a lot more like dialects of each other than languages on their own.


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## kloie

Well when writting i can say that if i type in croatian i can understand a person typing in slovene don't know about spoke thogh.


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## DenisBiH

inter1908 said:


> It's Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrian under one name. They're mutual intelligible to a *very* high degree, they're a lot more like dialects of each other than languages on their own.




Gone out of use some two decades ago here where I live. Not very popular among many. The neutral term most on this forum use when referring to all the standard languages is BCS, BCSM or some other variation.


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## nonik

I didnt learn slovene ( just a bit croatian/russian), and it is possible to understand at least something.
Of course it is not mutually understandable.
 But if you try to understand and associate different shape of slovene word with your language you can get good result.

I just try it with polish vocabulary
Vodja...wódz 
 oddelka .., oddział
domačo...dom/domowy
postopki ...postępować
pondeljka...poniedziałek...
bodo...będzie
tisk...druk (odčisk)
nestalny...nie ustalony
postane...staje sie
obdobju...period,...(doba)
nadaljevali...daleko/przedłużać
njegovo...jego
omenil...miano


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## inter1908

nonik said:


> I just try it with polish vocabulary *(inter1908 - I will try to tell similar words I have in my mind)*
> Vodja...wódz  *could be also "woda"*
> oddelka .., oddział *could be also "oddalać, oddalony"*
> nestalny...nie ustalony *could be also "niestały"*
> postane...staje sie *could be also "powstanie, powstanę"*
> obdobju...period,...(doba) *doba in Polish means a 24h period*
> nadaljevali...daleko/przedłużać *could be also "nadawać"*
> omenil...miano *could be also "odmienił" or even "omamił"*



 So it's not as easy as you think...


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## nonik

inter 1908......please, dont misunderstand me,  I am not telling that it is easy, exctually it is pretty hard, especilally in the first contact, but after you get familliar with different writting system, you can understand much more better, especially in the context.

but of course it is not mutually understandable . When I first saw written croatian, I understand very very little.


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## nonik

)) you are completely right, i agree with you

oddelka .., oddział *could be also "oddalać, oddalony".........*yap, etymologicaly odzial is from oddalony, the separate things

nestalny...nie ustalony *could be also "niestały".......*now I am confused,how in polish diferenciate these words ...nie ustalony from niestaly/niepewny, niestabilny

postane...staje sie *could be also "powstanie, powstanę"..............*yes,powstane is from root stać as the staje sie

doba....yes, it is day/24 hour in polish, but still you can connected this word to time

of course, lot of words is really confusing, you are right.


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## inter1908

Yes that's what makes it (extremely) hard for me to read in and listen to other Slavic languages. It (well 90-95% of it) just looks and sounds like random meaningless stuff.

 To the moderator: sorry for all the offtopic, but if you want to delete all our posts please move them into a new thread instead, it's an interesting topic. Thanks.


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## Orlin

A current discussion about the relation between BCS language group and Slovene here.


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