LingoflyTalking about work in Serbian
A conversation between two neighbors in the courtyard in Serbian. 7 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Које је ваше занимање?» (Koje je vaše zanimanje) — What do you do for a living?; «Ја (ja) сам (sam) програмер (programer) и (i) радим од куће (radim od kuće).» — I'm a programmer and I work remotely. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a conversation between two neighbors in the courtyard. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- Ja sam programer i radim od kuće.I'm a programmer and I work remotely.
- Nije visoka, ali imam dug godišnji odmor.Not very high, but I get a long vacation.
Lines one by one
| Serbian | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Које је ваше занимање? (Koje je vaše zanimanje) | Koje je vaše zanimanje? | What do you do for a living? |
| Ја (ja) сам (sam) програмер (programer) и (i) радим од куће (radim od kuće). | Ja sam programer i radim od kuće. | I'm a programmer and I work remotely. |
| Занимљиво (zanimljivo). Ја (ja) сам (sam) наставник (nastavnik) у (u) средњој школи (školi). | Zanimljivo. Ja sam nastavnik u srednjoj školi. | Interesting. And I'm a high school teacher. |
| Је (je) ли (li) плата (plata) добра (dobra)? | Je li plata dobra? | Is the salary good? |
| Није (nije) висока (visoka), али (ali) имам (Imam) дуг (dug) годишњи одмор (godišnji odmor). | Nije visoka, ali imam dug godišnji odmor. | Not very high, but I get a long vacation. |
| И (i) радни дан (radni dan) вам (vam) се (se) завршава (završava) у (u) два (dva)? | I radni dan vam se završava u dva? | And does your workday end at two? |
| Отприлике (otprilike). Али (ali) домаће задатке прегледам увече (uveče). | Otprilike. Ali domaće zadatke pregledam uveče. | More or less. But I check homework in the evening. |
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 noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.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 Serbian in this situation?
“Које је ваше занимање?” (Koje je vaše zanimanje?) — What do you do for a living? 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.