CROATIA/HRVATSKA Verna Hämäläinen Gudrun Hammer Ilena Maslać Lisa Pöschlmayer

General Info Republic of Croatia/ Republika Hrvatska Declaration of Independence: 8 October, 1991 Capital City: Zagreb Population: 4.4 million Official Language: Croatian President: Stjepan Mesić

Activity 1 Goran Ivanišević Ivano Balić Janica Kostelić Davor Šuker

Activity 2 Croatian Inventions?

Cultural Traits Family attachments Nepotism Direct culture Gestures Concept of time Humour Catholic attitudes Antipathy towards Serbs/ Nationalism Regional differences

Family Attachments strong family ties Croatians marry usually quite young a big celebration with lots of people invited divorce rate is not high average of 1.5 children per woman

Direct Culture Level of relationship is important to consider Exaggerations Very emotional and high-tempered Nepotism

Business Etiquette Do not rely too much on schedules Small talk very important Never jump straight into business Building relationship initially more important than business

Gestures/ Body Language Croatians use their hands and arms when talking Love talking a lot and loud

Concept of time Flexible and slower concept of time “Relax, we still have time“ Tend to miss deadlines Punctuality is not one of the Croatians’ strengths

Religion 90% Roman Catholic, 10 % others Croatians feel very catholic and the vast majority of them practises the religion too Herzegovinian Croatians and Dalmatians feel the most catholic of all Croatians - history Communistic Yugoslavia and Tito's antipathy towards catholic church Relations to Vatican

Humour the south and the coastal areas irony, cynicism, or dark humour most jokes are sexist or about Bosnians or regional mentality make fun of people’s mistakes, lack of judgement or serious thoughts, reversal of fortune, regional mentality, frivolity, drunkenness, and lack of professionalism

Nationalism/Antipathy towards Serbs/Regional Differences very proud and aware of their national identity antipathy towards Serbs is due to the recent war regional identity is important difference south-north historical influence on the regional mentality

Do’s / Don’ts Praise and know about: Croatian cuisine: food, cooking and wine Croatian cuisine Croatian sports Their clean and beautiful environment Do not Criticize Croatia’s role in the Croatian War of Independence Make comparisons between Croats and Serbians Criticize catholic church

Activity 3 Try to read these Croatian sentences: Laku noć. – Good night. Dobar dan. – Good afternoon. Ne govorim hrvatski. – I cannot speak Croatian. Studiram engleski. I am studying English.