jota
“jota” — jota stew in Slovenian. Noun, level A1, topic — food and drink. The soured turnip is called kislo repo — more sour than cabbage, and it gives the whole flavor. In a live sentence: “Jota z rebrci” — Jota stew with ribs. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 190 words in the set “food and drink” in the Slovenian course.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | jota |
| Translation | jota stew |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- jotajota stew
What it is
A thick soup of soured turnip or cabbage, beans, potatoes and smoked meat. From the coast and the Karst. Cooked long and eaten in winter; on the second day it is considered better.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
The soured turnip is called kislo repo — more sour than cabbage, and it gives the whole flavor.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Jota z rebrciJota stew with ribs
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- kavacoffeeFeminine gender: ta kava je dobra — "this coffee is good".
- čajteač is "ch": chigh
- vodawaterIn Slovenian cafes tap water comes free if you ask for it.
- kruhbreadfinal h is sounded: krooh
- mlekomilkTake the ml- cluster straight on, no vowel in between: MLEH-koh.
- pivobeerBeer is measured in volume: veliko is the large half-liter, malo the small one. Two beers take the dual: dve pivi.
- vinowineSlovenia is a wine country: people ask for cviček or teran by name, not by color.
- hranafoodShort, stress on the first syllable; the verb hraniti means "to feed, to nourish".
- sircheeseSpelled like the English "sir" but said with a long "ee": seer. One of the easiest words in the course.
- mesomeatStress the second syllable: meh-SOH. One letter away from mesto, which is "city".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “jota stew” in Slovenian?
The soured turnip is called kislo repo — more sour than cabbage, and it gives the whole flavor.
- How do you say “wine” in Slovenian?
Slovenia is a wine country: people ask for cviček or teran by name, not by color.
- How do you say “water” in Slovenian?
In Slovenian cafes tap water comes free if you ask for it.
- How do you say “meat” in Slovenian?
Stress the second syllable: meh-SOH. One letter away from mesto, which is "city".
- How do you say “beer” in Slovenian?
Beer is measured in volume: veliko is the large half-liter, malo the small one. Two beers take the dual: dve pivi.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “jota stew” in Slovenian?
«jota». In a live sentence: “Jota z rebrci” — Jota stew with ribs. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “food and drink”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The soured turnip is called kislo repo — more sour than cabbage, and it gives the whole flavor. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.