Jasna Novak Milic

The number of Croatian speakers in Australia is declining, as evidenced by census data and testimonies of members of the Croatian community in Australia involved in clubs, societies, schools, etc. Since the official recognition of the Croatian language in 1979, the introduction of Croatian as a high school certificate subject (1981) and the establishment of Croatian Studies at Macquarie University (1983), the importance of these notable achievements in the context of the Croatian community is no longer cherished to the extent that it should be. The Croatian language in Australia is facing extinction. To determine the current situation and needs, in July 2020 a research project entitled “Social and affective factors in home language maintenance – Croatian in Australia” has commenced at Macquarie University in Sydney which includes online questionnaires for parents of school children and adult Croatian learners as well as interviews with both groups and others involved and credited with teaching and maintaining the Croatian language learning infrastructure in Australia. In this paper, a section of the data collected through the questionnaire for families who in some way maintain the Croatian language in their home and immediate and/or extended family is analysed. Although statistically unrepresentative, the results show what can also be observed in the Croatian community in Australia – there is less and less Croatians, and language proficiency is declining. Children in Croatian families suffer from insufficient exposure to language, and often also motivation, despite the efforts of their parents and grandparents. At the same time, there are fewer learning programs, and they exist only in areas with a larger population of Croatian background, i.e., where there is a long tradition in teaching the Croatian language. Two pandemic years have exacerbated the situation, making it impossible to travel overseas and hold language classes. Although there is still interest, the Croatian language is losing the battle with English and it is optimistic to hope that the third generation of Croatian emigrants will be able to retain their linguistic identity, as it survives only in modest daily conversations, songs and prayers.

Deep University Press This is an essential text for gaining a deep appreciation of the scope, impact and connections between global languages policies and local education practices and cultures. It is an authentic representation of the authors' current research and collaboration that shows how the information and communication explosion has shifted the languages education playing fi eld to a new dynamic level of opportunity for learning , knowledge sharing, and active participation in the digital age. The extensive coverage of a multiplicity of contexts where languages learning is the key to success demonstrates how languages education needs to be front and centre in education policy and practices today, across disciplines, and in educating for work, leisure, and cultural understanding.

Cilj je poglavlja Hrvatska svakodnevica pokazati u glavnim crtama kako izgleda svakodnevni život u suvremenoj Hrvatskoj i kakva je hrvatska svakodnevna kultura, odnosno kakav je način života te koji su uvriježeni običaji i navike njezinih stanovnika. Prikazani su običaji i navike koje stanovnici Hrvatske dijele s drugim stanovnicima europskih zemalja, kao i specifičnosti života u Hrvatskoj koje njezine stanovnike čine takvima kakvi jesu i po kojima ih stanovnici drugih zemalja prepoznaju i pamte. Hrvatska je raznolika zemlja pa su njezini stanovnici i njihove svakodnevne navike međusobno vrlo različiti, ovise o dobi, dijelu Hrvatske ili mjestu u kojem osobe žive, stupnju njihova obrazovanja i o još puno drugih čimbenika i nemoguće ih je sve obuhvatiti i prikazati. Za sada u Hrvatskoj ne postoji puno istraživanja svakodnevne kulture koja bi mogla poslužiti kao uporište prikazu poput ovoga. Zbog toga se u tekstu ugrubo iznosi što je među stanovnicima Hrvatske često i uvriježeno, što se smatra prosječnim i što je očekivano. U tome se svjetlu u tekstu u glavnim crtama govori o hrvatskim obiteljima i njihovoj djeci, demografskoj situaciji, navikama i običajima koji se tiču oslovljavanja i pozdravljanja drugih ljudi, druženja s prijateljima i kolegama i iskazivanja pažnje, odlasku u goste k hrvatskoj obitelji, hrvatskim blagdanima i praznicima te običajima vezanima uz njih, načinima provođenja slobodnoga vremena, zabavi, sportu i rekreaciji, svijetu rada i posla, životnome standardu, obrazovanju, načinu provođenja praznika i godišnjih odmora i o mnogim drugim temama koje se odnose na svakodnevni život i koje stranci trebaju upoznati da bi mogli razumjeti hrvatsko društvo kad u njemu borave kraće vrijeme kao turisti ili kad se žele uspješno uklopiti u njega kao novi stanovnici Hrvatske. Poglavlje donosi i mali osvrt na najčešće stereotipe stanovnika drugih zemalja o stanovnicima Hrvatske, zatim na hrvatske autostereotipe, osobito one regionalne, i na stereotipe i predrasude Hrvata o stanovnicima drugih zemalja.

Na temelju istraživanja provedenoga s polaznicima različitih vrsta tečajeva hrvatskoga jezika, koji su glagolskome sustavu poučavani na različite načine, pokazuje se djelotvornost poučavanje gramatike u usvajanju hrvatskoga kao nematerinskoga jezika.

Pocetno ucenje i usvajanje hrvatskoga kao stranoga i drugoga jezika podrazumijeva svladavanje niza gramatickih i leksickih cinjenica, ali i postizanje određene razine međukulturalne kompetencije. Međutim, poucavanju se i razvijanju MKK u nastavi hrvatskoga kao SJ i J2 pridaje nedovoljna pozornost. Suvremeni pristupi nastavi SJ i J2 zahtijevaju aktivniju ulogu i nastavnika i ucenika u postizanju MKK koja se u danasnje vrijeme opce globalizacije namece kao jedan od najvažnijih ciljeva opcega odgoja i obrazovanja, pa tako i nastave jezika. U clanku se iznose opce cinjenice o MKK i osnovnim nacelima njezina poucavanja. Također se govori o mogucnostima primjene postojecih okvira i pristupa na nastavu hrvatskoga kao SJ i J2.

The textbook of Croatian culture Croatia at First Sight is intended for foreign students of Croatian studies, Slavic studies, history, international relations, and other similar fields. It is a propaedeutic textbook, meaning that it serves as an introduction to further study, and it is made up of ten texts which each cover one segment of Croatian culture. The textbook consists of the following chapters: The Geography of Croatia, The History of Croatia between Periodisation and Problematisation, The Political System and Politics of the Republic of Croatia, The Croatian Language at the Beginning of the 21st Century, Croatian Literature: Authors and Periods, Croatian Traditional Culture and Identity Past and Present, Croatian Film between Nationalised and National Cinema, Everyday Life in Croatia, Croatia’s Art Heritage, and Music in Croatia. These chapters were selected as being vital to understanding everything that is most often encompassed by the concept of culture. For their chapt...

Udžbenik hrvatske kulture Hrvatska na prvi pogled nastao je kao rezultat nastojanja da strani studenti kroatistike, slavistike, povijesti, međunarodnih odnosa i drugih srodnih struka dobiju sažet, zgusnut i relevantan izvor informacija o najvažnijim aspektima hrvatske kulture. Dugogodišnje iskustvo predavanja hrvatskoga kao inoga jezika na Croaticumu – Centru za hrvatski kao drugi i strani jezik na Filozofskome fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, kao i kontakt sa stranim studentima i profesorima koji predaju hrvatski jezik i slične predmete na stranim sveučilištima, pokazao je potrebu za osmišljavanjem, izradom i objavljivanjem propedeutičkoga udžbenika u kojem bi bile iznesene osnovne odrednice glavnih segmenata hrvatske kulture. Budući da je ono što se općenito podrazumijeva pod pojmom kulture, kao i ono što se podrazumijeva pod pojmom kulture neke zemlje, širok pojam koji i u najsažetijim crtama premašuje obujam svake, i najveće, knjige, ovaj je udžbenik donosi izbor tema i područja za koje se pokazalo da postoji najviše interesa među zainteresiranima za hrvatsku kulturu, odnosno ona koja su se pokazala polazišnima i ključnima za sagledavanje njezinih glavnih aspekata. Odabrana su područja: geografija Hrvatske, hrvatska povijest, umjetnička i etnološka baština Hrvatske, svakodnevna hrvatska kultura, hrvatski jezik, hrvatska književnost, glazba u Hrvatskoj, politički sustav Hrvatske i njezina politika te hrvatski film, a o svakome od tih područja napisano je po jedno poglavlje. Sva su poglavlja napisali ugledni hrvatski stručnjaci za ta područja, a svako je poglavlje dodatno pregledao i jedan ugledni stručnjak za isto područje koji je svojom recenzijom potvrdio prikladnost i kvalitetu izbora činjenica i interpretacija iznesenih u poglavlju sa stanovišta matične struke.

Razlicite vrste korisnika zahtijevaju razlicite vrste rjecnika, kakvih je za velike svjetske jezike sve vise. Za hrvatski kao drugi ili strani jezik postoje sve vrste potreba kao za bilo koji jezik, uz jos neke posebnosti, no neusporedivo je manje buducih korisnika, ali i strucnjaka koji bi se bavili znanstvenim i strucnim radom potrebnim za njihovu izradu. Stoga je važno osmisliti osnovne tipove rjecnika koji bi zadovoljili razlicite potrebe korisnika od pocetnih do visih stupnjeva ucenja. U radu se iznose prijedlozi temeljnih rjecnika koji bi služili za ucenje hrvatskoga jezika, dvojezicnih, visejezicnih i odvojezicenih. Raspravlja se i o poteskocama izrade takvih rjecnika, posebno o izboru rijeci i znacenjskome opsegu.

Ucitelji u hrvatskoj nastavi u inozemstvu te ucitelji i nastavnici hrvatskoga jezika u Hrvatskoj, a zbog sve veceg broja ucenika kojima hrvatski nije prvi jezik, za uspjesan rad trebaju imati mnoga specificna znanja i kompetencije. Uz znanje jezika i znanje o jeziku, sržnom se smatra međukulturna kompetencija (MKK). Ucitelji u inozemstvu i sami moraju imati razvijen visok stupanj MKK-a kako bi uspjesno mogli živjeti i raditi u stranoj sredini. Onima u domovini međukulturna kompetencija presudna je da bi razumjeli svoje inojezicne ucenike i olaksali im snalaženje u novom okruženju – novom skolskom sustavu, drustvenim normama i jeziku. Uz razvijanje vlastite, ucitelj u oba slucaja mora biti sposoban razvijati i MKK kod ucenika. Poželjno je da nastavnici sami imaju visoko razvijen stupanj MKK-a i da posjeduju teorijska znanja o njoj, cime se izbjegava da kod ucenika razvijaju kompetencije koje sami nisu razvili. Autorice u ovome radu istražuju pripremljenost studenata, buducih ucitelja...

With approximately 5.5 million speakers, Croatian is a rather small language. The number includes speakers in Croatia and neighbouring countries. However, it is believed that there are approximately 3 million speakers of Croatian as a heritage language among emigrants and Croats by descent (commonly referred as Croatian diaspora). In countries with large numbers of Croatian diaspora (USA, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Germany) the community is well organized and dedicated to maintaining national and cultural identity, and language. To foster the language, language classes for children are organised in many countries. Classes are either an integral part of the educational system of a host country, organized and supported by Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport or conducted by the Croatian community (mostly non-professional teachers). This paper explores the role of formal language instruction in maintenance of Croatian as a heritage language. For collecting data, an online questionnaire was administered among members of Croatian community in numerous countries during 2014 and 2015, making this research the first of its kind. The purpose of the paper is to present an overview of Croatian language classes outside of Croatia and their influence on language and culture maintenance among different Croatian communities.

Pod pokroviteljstvom Sveucilǐsta u Zagrebu sredinom listopada održan je prvi znanstveni skup Hrvatski kao drugi i strani jezik, koji se bavio poucavanjem i proucavanjem hrvatskoga onih koji ga uce kao neizvorni govornici. Skup je na jednome mjestu okupio najrazlicitije strucnjake koji se bave tim interdisciplinarnim podrucjem: teoreticare ucenja i usvajanja jezika, lektore i nastavnike hrvatskoga kao stranoga i drugoga na hrvatskim i inozemnim obrazovnim ustanovama. Izlaganjima, posterima, predstavljanjem knjiga, prirucnika i programa sudionici Skupa pokazali su kako je to podrucje znatno napredovalo posljednjih godina.

The  Croatian Studies Centre, in partnership with the Croatian Studies Foundation held an international conference "Heritage and New Horizons: Croatia and Croatians in a Global Context" on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the introduction of Croatian Studies at Macquarie University, from Thursday 8 to Sunday 11 February 2024.

The conference covered a diverse range of fields and research foci, including Croatian language and linguistics, Croatian history and archaeology, and Croats, their language, culture, history, and achievements throughout the centuries.

Tijekom 2012. godine u švedskom je jeziku primijećena češća uporaba lične zamjenice hen, koja se po prvi puta spominje 60-ih godina 20.st., a kao rodno neutralnu zamjenicu predložio ju je 1994. jezikoslovac Hans Karlgren. Od tada se zamjenica pojavljuje sporadično, a prošle je godine zaživjela u knjizi za djecu Jespera Lundqvistsa Kivi och Monsterhund i izazvala burne rasprave u švedskoj javnosti naročito stoga što se u knjizi ne pojavljuje kao zamjena za sintame han eller hon, han/hon i sl. nego se njome označava osoba nepoznata roda. Umjesto sintagme han/hon nedavno je ta zamjenica po prvi puta uporabljena i u švedskome parlamentu.
U radu će se ukratko prikazati povijest zamjenice hen, tijek debata koje je izazvala te ideja i razlozi na kojima se temelji njezina uporaba. Nadalje, istražit će se učestalost uporabe zamjenice hen na različitim internetskim portalima i drugim dostupnim sredstvima javne komunikacije, o kakvim je portalima, tj. medijima i tekstovima riječ te eventualno, kad je to razvidno, odrediti u kojem se značenju ta zamjenica rabi.
Sve češća uporaba zamjenice hen u švedskome usporedit će se sa, čini se, suprotnim težnjama u hrvatskome jeziku, gdje se sve više inzistira na rodnoj ravnopravnosti u jeziku tako što se ističu oba roda, a manje ili uopće ne na rodnoj neutralnosti. Građu za hrvatski jezik čine hrvatske gramatike i izbor iz administrativno-pravnih tekstova različite namjene nastalih u proteklih nekoliko godina te relevantni zakonski tekstovi kojima se regulira pitanje rodne ravnopravnosti.

It has been noted in 2012 that the neutral Swedish personal pronoun hen has been used more often than ever before. The pronoun hen was first mentioned in a newspaper column in the 1960’s and was suggested as a gender neutral pronoun by linguist Hans Karlgren in 1994. Ever since sporadic use of the pronoun has been noted until last year when it became fully alive in a children’s book Kivi och Monsterhund written by Jesper Lundqvists. In Lundqvists’ book the pronoun hen is not used simply as a substitute for han eller hon, hon eller han or han/hon etc. but stands for a person of unknown gender, which has provoked many controversies. Recently hen, this time used instead of han eller hon, hon eller han or han/hon, hon/han, was used in Swedish parliament for the first time.
In this article the author presents the history of the pronoun hen, the course of debates it has provoked as well as the idea and reasoning behind its use. Furthermore, the use of hen on different Swedish web-sites and other available media is discussed as well as the type of texts it appears in, including, when possible, the meaning or context in which it appears.
More frequent use of hen in Swedish is also compared to what seems to be opposite tendencies in Croatian, where gender equality seems to be the recommended norm, not gender neutrality (both female and male gender are explicitly marked either lexically or syntactically). Croatian corpora includes Croatian grammar books, selections of administrative-legal texts written in the past several years as well as a selection of legal texts that raise the problem of gender equality in the language.

U hrvatskome je uporaba pasiva primjetno rjeđa nego u švedskome i u drugim germanskim jezicima. Dok se u hrvatskome češće od „pravoga“ pasiva rabe pasivne konstrukcije, švedski, uz pasivne konstrukcije sa zamjenicom man, nudi čak dva različita pasiva: tzv. s-pasiv i perifrastični pasiv tvoren od kopule vara ili bli i participa perfekta. Pritom nije svejedno koji se od pasiva rabi u nekom kontekstu nego odabir odgovarajućeg pasiva ovisi o nekoliko čimbenika.
Cilj je ovoga rada ukratko prikazati tvorbu i uporabu pasiva u švedskom, a zatim provjeriti jednu od pretpostavki da uporaba pasiva s kopulom bli ili s kopulom vara ovisi o aspektu i(li) akcionalnosti punoznačnoga glagola. Utječe li kopula i ako da kako na odabir svršenoga ili nesvršenoga vida u hrvatskome pokazat će se na građi koju čini nekoliko hrvatskih prijevoda švedskih romana. Također će biti riječi općenito o tome kako se švedski pasiv prevodi u hrvatskome.



The use of passive in Croatian is less common than in Swedish and other Germanic languages. While in Croatian passive constructions are preferred, like with the reflexive pronoun se, Swedish has passive construction with man and also two other passive forms: the so called s-passive and the periphrastic passive made of copula vara or bli and past participle. At the same time, it is not irrelevant which passive form is used – the choice of the appropriate form depends on several factors.
The aims of this paper are to present Swedish passive forms and their use, examine one of the hypotheses present in linguistic literature that the choice between copula vara and bli in Swedish passive depends on the aspect and/or aktionsart of the main verb and to look into if the choice of the passive form in Swedish determines the use of perfective or imperfective verbs in Croatian translations. The analysis is based on several Swedish novels and their Croatian translations. Some discussion is also dedicated to the translation of Swedish passive into Croatian in general.

Opće je poznata činjenica da je glagolski vid jedan od najtežih, ako ne i najteži, dio hrvatskoga jezika za većinu inojezičnih govornika hrvatskoga jezika. Razlog je tomu složenost te jezične kategorije i činjenica da za odgovarajuću primjenu glagolskoga vida nije dovoljno poznavati glagolsku morfologiju, koja je u hrvatskome već sama po sebi vrlo složena. Za odgovarajuću je primjenu glagolskoga vida, koji se često definira kao govornikov subjektivan pogled na radnju, presudno i dobro poznavanje sintakse, ali i semantike, odnosno široko znanje o svijetu viđeno kroz prizmu hrvatskoga jezika. Nemogućnost davanja uvijek jasnih, jednoznačnih i egzaktnih pravila o uporabi vida u nastavi inojezičnoga hrvatskoga predstavlja znatnu poteškoću i nastavnicima i studentima.

U ovom će radu biti riječi o glagolskome vidu kao dijelu šire jezične kategorije – aspektnosti te mogućnostima, odnosno preduvjetima za njegovo usvajanje. Poučavanje glagolskoga vida neodvojivo je povezano s upućivanjem i poučavanjem druge sastavnice aspektnosti – s leksičkim vidom, odnosno tipom glagolske situacije, aktionsartom. Problematizirat će se složenost te kategorije i njezino inkorporiranje u nastavu inojezičnoga hrvatskoga od početničkih do naprednih razina. Posebna pozornost posvetit će se izvanjezičnim čimbenicima koji mogu utjecati na uporabu vida, drugim riječima slučajevima kad jezični obilježivači nisu dostatni za odabir svršenoga ili nesvršenoga oblika, već za odabir glagolskoga vida postaju relevantni koncepti kao što su specifično zajedničko znanje sugovornika, očekivanje, veličina objekta i slično.

It a well known fact that verbal aspect is one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, part of Croatian language for most learners of Croatian as L2. The reason for that is the complexity of the category and the fact that it is not enough to master complex Croatian verbal morphology in order to use verbal aspect in the appropriate manner. To use verbal aspect appropriately it is at least equally important to master syntax and semantics as well as to have a broader knowledge of the world as it is seen through Croatian language. Due to the complexity of verbal aspect on different levels it is almost impossible to give clear, unambiguous rules to L2 learners, which is the cause of constant frustration for both students and teachers.

In this paper the authors will present Croatian verbal aspect as a part of a wider linguistic category – aspectuality, and discuss prerequisites for its acquisition. Teaching about verbal aspect is tightly connected to teaching the other important component of aspectuality – verbal aspect, aktionsart. The authors will discuss the complexity of verbal aspect on all levels and possibilities for incorporating it in teaching Croatian as L2 to all learners – from beginners to advanced. Special attention will be given to non-linguistic factors that can influence the use of verbal aspect, i.e. to situations when linguistic markers are not substantial enough for proper choice of verbal form and when concepts like specific common knowledge among collocutors, their expectations, or the size of the object are considered to be more relevant.

Both L2 students and teacher are well aware of the fact that verbal aspect is one of the most difficult issues to master in Slavic languages. The reason for this is mainly its complexity. Verbal aspect may appear to be a grammatical issue (morphological and syntactical) but it is much more than that.

To master verbal aspect in Croatian, learning verbal forms, i.e. the difference between imperfective and perfective verbs, is just the first step. Verbal aspect is just as much a semantical and pragmatical issue as it is a grammatical one. Therefore its proper use requires good general knowledge of a language and a wide knowledge of the world as it is seen through that particular language.

Using the examples from Swedish and Croatian, the author will show that linguistic markers are important but often not substantial enough for the proper use of verbal aspect in Croatian. She will present “traditional” approaches to the verbal aspect in Croatian as L2 and try to give an insight into approaches that still need to be developed which are based on the fact that verbal aspect cannot be properly learned/acquired unless it is taught on all levels. The influence of L1 on the acquisition of verbal aspect in L2 will also be discussed, i.e. potential markers in L1 that may influence appropriate or inappropriate use of aspect in L2.

When describing phrasal verbs in Swedish, many linguists name aspect as one of the verbal particle’s important characteristics (Teleman 1972, Lindvall 1999). Some even identify Swedish (Germanic) verbal particles with Slavic verbal prefixes, i.e. claim that Swedish verbal particles have the same function(s) as Slavic verbal prefixes (Lindvall 1998). Others, on the other hand, claim that the Slavic type of aspect, defined as a morphological and/or grammatical category does not exist in Swedish (Norén 1996).
In attempt to resolve the existing disaccord and to get a better insight into Swedish phrasal verbs in comparison to Croatian prefixed verbs and their aspect, the author conducted research based on data that was collected from five Swedish novels and their Croatian translations. Altogether 6,472 Swedish sentences and their Croatian translations were analyzed. Three types of relations were investigated: a) Swedish phrasal verbs vs. Croatian (im)perfective verbs, b) the meaning and function of Swedish particles vs. the meaning and function of Croatian prefixes, c) definite objects in Swedish sentences vs. Croatian perfective verbs (Verkuyl 1972, 1993).
The analysis shows that both languages have the ability to express the same aspectual meanings using partially different means. Whereas both languages have the categories of inherent verbal meaning, aktionsart and aspectuality, only Croatian has verbal aspect, a grammatical category which differentiates perfective from imperfective verbs. The hypothesis that Germanic (i.e. Swedish) particles express perfective aspect just like Slavic prefixes, is therefore not supported – Croatian (prefixed) verbs are undoubtedly recognized as perfective or imperfective but aspectual reading of Swedish phrasal verbs can be determined only from their syntactic context, i.e. it depends on other aspectual markers at the syntactic level. The analysis, on the other hand, proves that Swedish particles and Croatian prefixes share lexical characteristics, i.e. both have the ability to express aktionsart. Aktionsart contributes to the aspectual reading of a sentence, but it is not aspect per se.
Based on the evidence from the analyzed data the author shows that Verkuyl’s theory of parallelism between Germanic definite objects and Slavic perfective aspect cannot be supported either. In 87% of sentences Swedish transitive phrasal verbs with definite objects are translated into Croatian with perfective verb forms. However, the analysis shows that other elements of the syntactic context (eg. adverbials, conjunctions, verbal tense, aktionsart, etc.) are at least as important for the perfective reading of a Swedish sentence as the presence of a direct object. In other words, direct objects alone are not enough for a Swedish sentence to have the perfective reading.
The author concludes that the main difference between Croatian and Swedish aspectual system is that Croatian has both simple (verbal aspect) and compound aspectuality (aktionsart, inherent verbal meaning, syntactic context), whereas Swedish has only compound aspectuality. Therefore Croatian (prefixed) perfective verbs and Swedish phrasal verbs should not be perceived as identical in function. They share a certain number of common characteristics, but the ability to express the verbal aspect is not one of them.

Poučavanje aspektu, ili točnije aspektnosti, teško je iz najmanje dva razloga: aspekt nije jednoznačno definirana, a u hrvatskom je izrazito složena jezična kategorija. Aspektom se nazivaju različite jezične pojave pa je preduvjet uspješnome poučavanju dobro definiranje termina. No to što se obično misli pod aspektom u hrvatskom je osobina glagola, ali u germanskim se jezicima pod aspektom misli na znatno širu sintaktičku kategoriju. Prvi je cilj rada stoga ukazati na terminološka neslaganja i neslaganja u definiranju toga što aspekt zapravo jest.

Drugi je cilj rada pokazati da u dvama jezicima nije uvijek slično to što se na prvi pogled čini sličnim, ali i da sličnosti u izricanju aspektnosti u germanskim i u hrvatskome jeziku ipak ima, samo ih ne treba tražiti (isključivo) u glagolu. U slučaju aspektnosti u dvama se jezicima (hrvatski i švedski, kao primjer germanskoga jezika) ispresijecaju isti, slični i sasvim različiti elementi, što neminovno tu jezičnu kategoriju čini najtežom za neslavenske učenike. Osvještavanje sličnosti i razlika među jezicima pomaže u općem razumijevanju problematike a time i u osmišljavanju pristupa za poučavanje toj zahtjevnoj jezičnoj kategoriji.

The claim that intercultural competence is at least as important as language competence is nowadays widely accepted. Therefore the intercultural education has become an essential part of the language learning process in the classroom environment. It includes teaching and learning about “big” culture (C) – about society, history, artifacts, sights etc., but also about “small” culture (c) – everyday life, habits, customs, appropriate behaviour, communicating in different situations etc. Depending on language being learnt, the quantity and quality of cultural information can vary. It is not rare, for example, that learners of English know a lot about British or American society and culture, but little about their own. The reason to that is that learning about culture is an important part of English language curriculum. On the other hand, while learning, for example, Croatian as a minority or foreign language, how much culture is learnt depends mostly on the teacher since textbooks usually don’t dedicate necessary attention to cultural topics and concentrate almost exclusively on language itself. Even when the curriculum assumes teaching about culture, that culture is often presented with stereotypes or is used only as a base to teaching of grammar. Such intercultural teaching in not appropriate in modern world since it can deepen the gap between cultures instead of crossing it.
Generally speaking, raising intercultural knowledge should become one of the primary goals in the general education but even more in language learning process. However, not only the foreign culture should be included, but also learners’ own culture, minority cultures important for the certain area or country and even neighboring cultures. Logically, teaching about stereotypes should be avoided and replaced by teaching that encourages understanding of differences among cultures and people.
In this paper authors discuss importance of intercultural competence in education in foreign/minority language classroom. Special attention is being given to the so called ‘small’ languages some of which are characterized by complex morphology (e.g. Croatian), which often influences the avoidance of cultural topics. Limited amount of time and complex morphology are often causes of neglecting intercultural education in foreign language classroom.  The authors present some examples of inadequate intercultural competence that taken from real experiences with learners of Croatian as a foreign (Croatian as a foreign language), minority (Croatian as a second language in Croatian communities around the world) or majority language (Croatian as a second or foreign language for, for example, Roma or Hungarian learners). The goal is to show that language competence alone is not enough for successful intercultural communication and that intercultural competence in language learning plays a crucial role.

The main purpose of the thesis is to compare the Swedish and the Croatian language with respect to verbal aspect. Special attention is given to the “aspectual” role of Swedish verbal particles and to the comparison of the Swedish verbal particles, i.e. Swedish phrasal verbs, and Croatian prefixes, i.e. Croatian prefixed verbs.
Aspect is in many ways a controversial term, defined differently in Germanic and Slavic languages. The Germanic tradition perceives aspect as a lexical and/or syntactic category whereas the Slavic tradition mostly perceives aspect as a grammatical category characteristic of Slavic verbs. From the Slavic perspective it is therefore often claimed that Germanic languages do not have the category of aspect. On the other hand, some linguists claim that there are significant similarities between Germanic phrasal verbs and Slavic prefixed verbs and that both express verbal aspect. Contradictory attitudes are a result of a long and complicated history, presented in the first part of the thesis, in which Germanic and Slavic traditions were viewed separately in some periods and joined in others. Consequently, different categories are understood under the term aspect: verbal category of Slavic verbs, lexical category of all verbs, lexical category of derived verbs (phrasal or prefixed), syntactic category, etc. In this dissertation the first category is called (verbal) aspect, the second is called inherent verbal meaning, the third is understood under the term aktionsart, and the fourth is called aspectuality.
Based on previous research conducted by other linguists, three major hypotheses were proposed:
a) Swedish particles and Croatian prefixes have very similar characteristics – they have the same origin, use and function (e.g. Strzelecka 1988, Lindvall 2000). Therefore it can be concluded that particles, as well as prefixes, have the aspectual function, i.e. some express perfective, others imperfective aspect.
b) According to the Verkuyl’s theory of parallelism (1972, 1993 etc.), in Germanic languages definite nominal phrases used as arguments have the same role as perfective verbs in Slavic languages. In other words, if an object in a Swedish sentence is a definite nominal phrase, in the Croatian translation of the same sentence, the perfective verb will be used. In the dissertation this hypothesis has been tested only on sentences with phrasal verbs.
c) Swedish particles and Croatian prefixes have the same lexical function – both can modify the meaning of the main verb in the same manner and express aktionsart.
The data was collected from five Swedish novels (Friedriksson, Gardell, Lindgren, Marklund, Niemi) and their Croatian translations. Altogether 6,472 Swedish sentences and their Croatian translations were analyzed. The total number of Swedish phrasal verbs was 7,736. Each Croatian verb used as the translation of a Swedish phrasal verb was marked for aspect. Swedish sentences with definite objects were also marked. Three types of relations were investigated: Swedish phrasal verbs vs. Croatian (im)perfective verbs, definite objects in Swedish sentences vs. Croatian perfective verbs and the meaning and function of Swedish particles vs. the meaning and function of Croatian prefixes.
The analysis showed that both languages have the ability to express the same aspectual meanings using partially different means. Whereas both languages have the categories of inherent verbal meaning, aktionsart and aspectuality, only Croatian has verbal aspect, a grammatical category which clearly differentiates perfective from imperfective verbs. The first hypothesis, that Germanic (i.e. Swedish) particles express perfective aspect just like Slavic prefixes, could therefore not be supported – Croatian (prefixed) verbs are undoubtedly recognized as perfective or imperfective but aspectual reading of Swedish phrasal verbs can be determined only from their syntactic context, which means that it depends on other aspectual markers on the syntactic level. The analysis has, on the other hand, proved that Swedish particles and Croatian prefixes share lexical characteristics, i.e. both have the ability to express aktionsart (resultative, semelfactive, incoative, iterative etc.). Aktionsart contributes to the aspectual reading of a sentence, but it is not aspect per se.
Based on the evidence from the analyzed data it was concluded that Verkuyl’s theory of parallelism between Germanic definite objects and Slavic perfective aspect cannot be supported, at least not in the case of languages studied here. It is true that in 87% of sentences Swedish transitive phrasal verbs with definite objects were translated into Croatian with perfective verb forms. However, the analysis showed that other elements of the syntactic context (eg. adverbials, conjunctions, verbal tense, aktionsart, etc.) are at least as important for the perfective reading of a Swedish sentence as the presence of a direct object. In other words, direct objects alone are not enough for a Swedish sentence to have the perfective reading.
Based on the analyzed data the author concludes that the main difference between Croatian and Swedish aspectual system is that Croatian has both simple (verbal aspect) and compound aspectuality (aktionsart, inherent verbal meaning, syntactic context), whereas in Swedish there is only the compound aspectuality. Therefore Croatian (prefixed) perfective verbs and Swedish phrasal verbs should not be perceived as identical in function. They definitely share a certain number of common characteristics, but the ability to express the verbal aspect is not one of them.
Key words: aspect, aspectuality, aktionsart, verbal aspect, phrasal verbs, particles, prefixed verbs