At the administrative unit in Slovenian
A window at the administration office, Tuesday, office hours in Slovenian. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Dober dan, prišel sem urediti prijavo prebivališča.» — Good afternoon, I’ve come to register my place of residence.; «Osebno izkaznico in najemno pogodbo, prosim.» — Your ID and the rental contract, please. Every line can be played right on the page. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a window at the administration office, tuesday, office hours. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Dober dan, prišel sem urediti prijavo prebivališča.Good afternoon, I’ve come to register my place of residence.
- Osebno izkaznico in najemno pogodbo, prosim.Your ID and the rental contract, please.
- Izvolite. Rabite tudi kopijo dokumenta?Here you are. Is a copy of the document also needed?
- Ne, kopijo naredimo sami. Rojstni list pa mora biti preveden.No, we’ll make the copy ourselves. But the birth certificate has to be translated.
- Prevod imam, a ni overjen. Je to problem?I have the translation, but it’s not certified. Is that a problem?
- Žal je. Prevod mora narediti sodni tolmač, drugače vloge ne moremo sprejeti.Unfortunately, yes. The translation has to be done by a court interpreter, otherwise we can’t accept the application.
- Kakšen je rok za obravnavo, ko vse oddam?What’s the processing time once I submit everything?
- Do dveh mesecev. Odločbo vam pošljemo po pošti.Up to two months. We’ll send the decision by post.
Lines one by one
| Slovenian | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Dober dan, prišel sem urediti prijavo prebivališča. | — | Good afternoon, I’ve come to register my place of residence. |
| Osebno izkaznico in najemno pogodbo, prosim. | — | Your ID and the rental contract, please. |
| Izvolite. Rabite tudi kopijo dokumenta? | — | Here you are. Is a copy of the document also needed? |
| Ne, kopijo naredimo sami. Rojstni list pa mora biti preveden. | — | No, we’ll make the copy ourselves. But the birth certificate has to be translated. |
| Prevod imam, a ni overjen. Je to problem? | — | I have the translation, but it’s not certified. Is that a problem? |
| Žal je. Prevod mora narediti sodni tolmač, drugače vloge ne moremo sprejeti. | — | Unfortunately, yes. The translation has to be done by a court interpreter, otherwise we can’t accept the application. |
| Kakšen je rok za obravnavo, ko vse oddam? | — | What’s the processing time once I submit everything? |
| Do dveh mesecev. Odločbo vam pošljemo po pošti. | — | Up to two months. We’ll send the decision by post. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Slovenian in this situation?
“Dober dan, prišel sem urediti prijavo prebivališča.” — Good afternoon, I’ve come to register my place of residence.. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.