The political situation embroiling the Balkan States is astonishingly complex. War and ethnic violence have been a part of life there for a very long time. This complex situation is compounded even further by the fact that the bad blood and historical entanglements go back for centuries. If you really want to understand the Balkans, you need to be a serious student of history. The geography and conflict come to the forefront when you have to deal with Croatian language translation and the politics of national identity.

The Croatian language is a South Slavic language coming from Serbo-Croatian. The Croats living in Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovina, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (which is located in Serbia) speak some form of standardized Croatian.

Even though the violence has subsided for the time being, language and identity are still extremely important in this slice of Europe. Croatian is an official European Union language now. It’s often mutually intelligible with Bosnian and Serbian, yet there are some importantdifferences. Perhaps most significantly, Croatian only uses a Latin script, whereas Bosnian and Serbian make use of the Cyrillic alphabet and a Latin script.

The politically contentious concept of national identity in the Balkans means many Croatian speakers insist that their language is separate and very distinct from Bosnian or Serbian. The Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics promotes modern Croatian, and regulates its usage and standardization across different regions speaking different dialects of Croatian.

Even if the political situation changes in the future (it probably will), it seems proponents of a separate Croatian language will most likely keep the language alive and thriving for many years come.