Croatian this time...

Not a Croatian speaker, unfortunately. I just have some ideas since no one's responded yet. First, you might want to check the use of "ti," which I'm presuming is the informal "you." Is her relationship with the older man close/informal or more like distant acquaintance/formal?

To get a proper answer, though, you could ask at Yahoo! Answers. Sometimes you get lucky and a native speaker finds your question. I've tried it before.

Otherwise, try www.forum.hr. You have to register up there where it says "registrirati." Then you might post in the "Književnost" section (for books) or anywhere really. There are tons of people at this forum, so I'm sure you'll get an answer.

Just hope those ideas help.

>>have you heard Sajeta and Vlado Kreslin's "Rulet" on YouTube?

I haven't, but I'll go look it up. Why not? Actually, I know next to nothing about Croatians. I used to do some secretarial work for a guy who had some Croatian business partners, but that's about it.

I do, however, like languages way too much, and I just looked through this list of Croatian phrases. Apparently they do have formal/informal you and verb tenses for each. The ite/iš verb ending pair for formal/informal you is similar to Russian. A fair amount of it seems to be mutually understandable with Russian. In your example, the only word I couldn't understand was "cuvajse." Except the first person present tense verb ending appears to be "m," which is different from Russian, but similar to Hungarian. Veddy, veddy interesting.

Good luck with your work.

Croatian and French? Sounds interesting!

I knew many dear, dear Croatians, but we've drifted apart over the years. I lived just barely across the border into Hungary during the Bosnian War. I think I knew more Serbs and Croats than Hungarians in that town!

Their word for tie is about the same as the word in German, and they have lovely names. Doesn't help you, but it made me smile

I really can find someone to e-mail on this if you get stuck. LMK

Hey there.

"Take care" is idiomatic, and you'll find it difficult to look it up online precisely. Do you mean "bye" or do you mean "be careful?"

It sounds from the verb you're using you want "take care of yourself." Is that right?

I think the verb you're using isn't quite right for that. It looks like cuvaj se needs a noun--what are you watching out for (put into genetive, I think). "Watch out for him" would be "cuvaj se njega."

If you want to say: "Be careful" you'll want to go for "Budi oprezan." For a boy. I BELIEVE it's "Budi oprezna" but it could be "Budi oprezana" for a girl. I don't remember if the "a" is swallowed.

Find a Croatian speaker somewhere. Online dictionaries will only get you so far.

One online option, nonetheless.

Note how this online version tells you the answer is "Biti oprezan." I don't think that's right, but I could be wrong. (If so, please let me know.)

Also, formality will play into both that word and into the child's response.

I definitely recommend getting a Croatian reader (as in a live person) if you're going to include much Croatian. (Is there a reason why you need Croatian? Maybe if there's a large group of immigrants from another country who live in your neighborhood, you can switch your Croat to another nationality?)

Also, unless this man comes from Sarajevo, you need to be VERY careful in terms of which dialect you have him speak.

takodjer is Croatian
takodje is Serbian

Plus, I'm not sure takodjer (which means also) is the right choice. It might simply be: I vi.

I'm not sure. I studied Croatian but it's been a long time, and I'm not a born speaker.

Good luck!

I keep posting this link

http://forum.wordreference.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44

The folks there are very nice. I've learned to tell them up front that it's for a novel.

If you like the sound of the language, check out a CD by Rade Serbedjiya. BEAUTIFUL, lyrical, song and poetry to music. Nedaj se Inez is famous.

Good luck!