Registering residence at the counter in Serbian

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: a police station for foreigners, the document intake window. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

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  Добар дан, дошао сам да пријавим боравак. Ево личне карте и уговора о закупу.

  Dobar dan, došao sam da prijavim boravak. Evo lične karte i ugovora o zakupu.

  Good afternoon, I've come to register my residence. Here's my ID and the lease agreement.
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  Документа се предају на шалтеру број пет. Имате ли и копију пасоша?

  Dokumenta se predaju na šalteru broj pet. Imate li i kopiju pasoša?

  Documents are submitted at window number five. Do you have a copy of your passport?
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  Имам копију, али није оверена. Да ли је то проблем?

  Imam kopiju, ali nije overena. Da li je to problem?

  I have a copy, but it's not certified. Is that a problem?
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  За пријаву боравка није. За радну дозволу јесте — тамо се тражи оверена копија.

  Za prijavu boravka nije. Za radnu dozvolu jeste — tamo se traži overena kopija.

  For registration, no. For a work permit, yes — there a certified copy is required.
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  Разумем. А колики је рок за решавање захтева?

  Razumem. A koliki je rok za rešavanje zahteva?

  I see. And how long does it take to process an application?
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  Тридесет дана, али бели картон добијате одмах, још данас.

  Trideset dana, ali beli karton dobijate odmah, još danas.

  Thirty days, but you get the migration card right away, today in fact.
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  А ако одбију захтев? Могу ли онда да уложим жалбу?

  A ako odbiju zahtev? Mogu li onda da uložim žalbu?

  And if the application is rejected? Can I file a complaint then?
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  Можете, у року од петнаест дана. Али тешко да ће одбити, папири су вам у реду.

  Možete, u roku od petnaest dana. Ali teško da će odbiti, papiri su vam u redu.

  You can, within fifteen days. But they're unlikely to refuse; your papers are in order.

Lines one by one

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 times
  Teimouri, 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 times
  Xiong 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.

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