Slovene is one of the oldest Slavic languages in the world. Although there is a rather small number of speakers, with almost all of them living in Slovenia, there are many dialects which are categorised into 7 regional groups. In addition to singular and plural, Slovene also has forms for expressing the dual number in nouns and verbs. Dual is used when referring to precisely two persons, objects or concepts, identified by the noun or pronoun. No wonder Slovenia has LOVE in its name!
While all of this may sound complex, the Slovene language is beautiful and funny. It uses basic Latin alphabet with added letters Č, Š, Ž, with the letter "Č" being pronounced as /ch/ in cherry 🍒, "Š" as /sh/ in bush
and "Ž" as /ʒ/ in television 📺. Another interesting fact obout Slovene is that it does not have any serious curse words. When Slovenians use traditional curse words, it sounds sillier than it does offensive. Among the most popular traditional curses in the Slovene language are:
“Tristo kosmatih medvedov" (Three hundred hairy bears)
| "Naj te koklja brcne!“ (A hen should kick you!) | "Krščen matiček! " (Baptised Matthew!) |
When you become our student, it would be very practical, if not obligatory, to get familiar with Slovene. No worries! We have gathered some useful links for you where you can find online courses and learning material. As the first step, you can attend an online course for beginners that is organised by the UM.
The Slovene language course organised by the Univerity of Maribor
We kindly invite you to join the Slovene language course organised by the UM International Relations Office. Course is held in the e-learning environment Moodle.
ON-LINE
| BEGINNER LEVEL
| FREE
|
The course is free of charge for students of the University of Maribor. If you have any questions, please contact: erasmus@um.si.
