zmaj
“zmaj” — dragon in Slovenian. Noun, level A1. The bridge was built for the jubilee of Franz Joseph, but the name stuck to the statues instead. In a live sentence: “Zmajski most je znan” — The Dragon Bridge is famous. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Slovenian course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Slovenian | zmaj |
| Translation | dragon |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- zmajdragon
What it is
The coat of arms of Ljubljana and the four figures on the Dragon Bridge of 1901. Legend says Jason slew the dragon here while sailing past with the Argonauts. Locals joke that the dragons wag their tails when a girl crosses the bridge.
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 bridge was built for the jubilee of Franz Joseph, but the name stuck to the statues instead.
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.
- Zmajski most je znanThe Dragon Bridge is famous
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 “dragon” in Slovenian?
«zmaj». In a live sentence: “Zmajski most je znan” — The Dragon Bridge is famous. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The bridge was built for the jubilee of Franz Joseph, but the name stuck to the statues instead. 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.