Greater Serbia

[Ryden]

i never tried to speak to serbs in serbian in front of them so i never try to accommodate for them , stuff that . why should i show them some respect when they wont do it to us the same

[Momce Makedonce]

It's that servant mentality of our people. A generalization, true, but true insofar as it is a generalization. I have noticed that many times, the Macedonian adopts the language of the Serb or Croatian when conversing, and not the other way around. People have all kinds of excuses for this, but in the end it is all about a servile mindset.

It is most unfortunate.

Yep and the worst part is its not just the older generations from the Republic who probably grew up learning these languages in school or in the army, its now the younger generations as well probably because of the interest in Serb music and sports teams.

Guys, this is the real world. If you are trying to communicate with someone and they can't speak your language but you can speak theirs, then what's the problem?!

Similar to another thread about Macedonians learning Albanian, one of my uncles in Macedonia would always say: "Albanecot napreduva zatoa so znae mnogu jazici".

I used to think along the lines of 'why do we speak in Serb when with Serbs' but I'm over it to be honest. I now see it as a strength.

I just feel as though Macedonians are breaking their back for them with nothing in return. It sometimes appears like Macedonians seem to have respect for everybody but themselves.

I don't even know how to speak Serbian, so I just speak in Macedonian (with what language skills I have) and they speak in their language. You can still hold a basic conversation, so adopting and either/or method of communication isn't really necessary.

Yeah its sort of like half a conversation when you both speak in your own language, I would preferably speak English and be able to understand everything (although through a heavy accent).

i never tried to speak to serbs in serbian in front of them so i never try to accommodate for them , stuff that . why should i show them some respect when they wont do it to us the same

Yeah I pretty much hold the same view. The problem amongst many Serbs, Croats and Bosnians is that there is this certain expectation that Macedonians should cater for them, which should not be the case in my opinion.

[Risto the Great]

I fear the self-loathing in RoMacedonia manifests itself in a way such that the youth feel that Serbs are somehow more refined than the simple Macedonian peasants. The stupid (young) Macedonians will feel they are more cool if they can get down and funky in Serbian. I am astounded they still learn Serbian. Yugo days are over (or are they?).

In Aegean Macedonia (I won't say occupied Macedonia because the Republic is also occupied presently) if you speak Macedonian, you are regarded as a peasant. A farmer. The lowest demographic. So when this rich King (aka Risto the Great) arrives there with all his swag and speaks Macedonian, it is an immense culture shock to the confused youth.

Macedonians detest their tall poppies and will do their utmost to cut them down to size. In contrast, I think USA and (perversely) China seem to admire their tall poppies. Macedonians need to become proud of some of their own people in many spheres and they might get some sense of self-worth in their identity and language.

A little Aegean Macedonian secret for the Macedonians who hail from RoMacedonia is that it is not so natural to speak Serbian or admire Serbian culture. It has enough foreign elements to Macedonians to make them different. Proof is that Aegean Macedonians struggle to understand Serbian. The familiarity RoMacedonians have with Serbs and Serbian is almost entirely based on historic Yugoslav affiliations along with a very small component related to geographic proximity.

Why honour Serb oppression by speaking their language (poorly)?

[EgejskaMakedonia]

Yeah its sort of like half a conversation when you both speak in your own language, I would preferably speak English and be able to understand everything (although through a heavy accent).

English is always better, especially for me since I can understand Macedonian a lot better than I speak it. But when I bump into a Serb, Croat, Bosniak, etc on online games or something, it's always a bit of fun trying to talk to them in Macedonian. In real life however, most of us just speak English to each other.

I fear the self-loathing in RoMacedonia manifests itself in a way such that the youth feel that Serbs are somehow more refined than the simple Macedonian peasants. The stupid (young) Macedonians will feel they are more cool if they can get down and funky in Serbian. I am astounded they still learn Serbian. Yugo days are over (or are they?).

In Aegean Macedonia (I won't say occupied Macedonia because the Republic is also occupied presently) if you speak Macedonian, you are regarded as a peasant. A farmer. The lowest demographic. So when this rich King (aka Risto the Great) arrives there with all his swag and speaks Macedonian, it is an immense culture shock to the confused youth.

Macedonians detest their tall poppies and will do their utmost to cut them down to size. In contrast, I think USA and (perversely) China seem to admire their tall poppies. Macedonians need to become proud of some of their own people in many spheres and they might get some sense of self-worth in their identity and language.

A little Aegean Macedonian secret for the Macedonians who hail from RoMacedonia is that it is not so natural to speak Serbian or admire Serbian culture. It has enough foreign elements to Macedonians to make them different. Proof is that Aegean Macedonians struggle to understand Serbian. The familiarity RoMacedonians have with Serbs and Serbian is almost entirely based on historic Yugoslav affiliations along with a very small component related to geographic proximity.

Why honour Serb oppression by speaking their language (poorly)?

It's a shame our dialect isn't taught in schools and relies solely on a generation to generation connection. I suppose we have more resources available today, but our dialect should be the standardised language in Macedonia...after all it is the best .

I was talking to some maco online a while ago and used words like 'ne para,' 'spolaj ti,' etc...and he got all excited with the dialect I spoke. I guess we can't help it Risto, Egejci are just that good.

[George S.]

Its a sad indictment of the politicians and the people's mindset in Macedonia.THe language has been basterdised and its degenerating in time. and people can't keep up to the standard.I think as one person has said pretty soon we are going to learn Albanian whether we like it or not.It all comes down to the calibre of the people.

[Gocka]

Macedonians don't speak Serbian or Macedonian they speak English, so much so that our entire Macedonian language is now English with a Macedonian accent. Its now the "educated" way of speaking to just use English words and pretend that they are Macedonian.

Despite the fact that the average city dweller is just as poor as your average farmer (sometimes more) there is a huge "class" division. Its really sad to see it play out in front of your eyes, but Macedonians are just misguided, and they think they are accomplishing something but they aren't. The language thing is just a way of trying to "move up" where being a traditional Macedonian is at the bottom.

If you forget where you come from you will never know where you're going. That is why Macedonia is stuck and not moving forward, because everyone wants to abandon their roots, not realizing that with out an identity without a moral compass, without something to hold on to, they have nothing to build from.

Personally I don't understand it. If you talk to the majority of Macedonians all they talk about is how stupid and fat Americans are, yet they copy everything they see Americans do. They feel superior to Americans yet American culture is superior to Macedonian culture? Then again does anything make sense in that miserable excuse for a country.

[Vangelovski]

macedonians don't speak serbian or macedonian they speak english, so much so that our entire macedonian language is now english with a macedonian accent. Its now the "educated" way of speaking to just use english words and pretend that they are macedonian.

Гоцка, не ги имаш коректните факти. Но ван притендова дека Енглеш е Македонски.

[George S.]

Worst still we in the diaspora are forgetting the language We are forgetting to read and write in Macedonian..Even our maichin Macedonian language is lacking.We are either neglecting due to age and length of time in the fiaspora.We are substituting English for Macedonian that should be rather obvious.A sad state of affairs.Or we are assimilating and need to speak less Macedonian and more English.ova e mnogu losho za nac makedonsite. treba da go zborvame I vezbame nashiot jazik.Ako go zaborajme samo so ime ke se vikame.I imeto ke zagini po generjcite.

[sydney]

Гоцка, не ги имаш коректните факти. Но ван притендова дека Енглеш е Македонски.

Тенк ју шо ме насмеј, вери фани!

[Tomche Makedonche]

Macedonians don't speak Serbian or Macedonian they speak English, so much so that our entire Macedonian language is now English with a Macedonian accent. Its now the "educated" way of speaking to just use English words and pretend that they are Macedonian

My favourite has to be the term "nema Shantsa". Unlike the Greeks, we have no issue pronouncing "Ch", but why do that when u can use a "Sh" instead and make it sound more exotic?

But on a more serious note, I agree that the idea of class has always played a huge role on the social perceptions amongst our people, I wonder how many unique attributes have been sacrificed in the pursuit of modernity

[Gocka]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. During a recent speech Gruevski used the word timing. He literally said tajmingot bese. There are so many that are now part of our language that have no root in Macedonian.

Akcija, tajming, representacija, integrira, jargon, top, hit, miting, fond, skandal, shoping, shou, programa, fakt, aktuelno, toleriraj, haos, kuliraj, generalno, spontantno, video, sajna, eskalacija, eskalator, manipulacija, ekstremno, tajmerot, elegantno, arogantno, narcist, maksimum,minimalno, katalog, drama, plej, stop, kreator, kreativno, kreiras, lider, ideja, faktor.


The more "educated" people are in Macedonia, the more they speak broken English and think its "litereturno" Makedonsko.

Гоцка, не ги имаш коректните факти. Но ван притендова дека Енглеш е Македонски.