https://www.bookzvook.com/knjige/audiobrosura-o-zagrebu-i-hrvatskoj
A small primer for language, the city and everyday life; an open format that can grow together with the people who are just beginning to live in Croatia.
...
Before you is a small language and cultural primer — one made for listening. It's made for people who have come to Croatia from distant parts of the world to live and work, and for those who meet them here. Croatia has been a country of departure for a century and a half; only in the last few years, for the first time in its history, has it faced the arrival of foreign workers from far corners of the world. This audio guide is one of the first sound works to address that very moment.
The audio guide walks the listener through basic things — climate, currency, trams, Grič, the central square, the Constitution, the anthem — but not in the tone of a tourist guide. The voice that welcomes the listener is honest and open-ended. It suggests that work should not swallow all of the newcomer's time. It admits that some locals don't greet their neighbours, but gently advises against taking them as a model. It explains that in city traffic everyone is on edge, not only towards foreigners. It notes that it will take some time to stop flinching when the noon cannon fires from Grič.
Woven through the guide are also around fifty words and phrases that make the first steps into the Croatian language — dobro jutro, hvala, molim, kruh, kava, sloboda, svi su jednaki pred zakonom — and these words are not heard only in Croatian and English. We hear them in Ukrainian, Turkish, Arabic and Mandinka too. Migrants themselves are among those who took part in the production. In this version, the Croatian anthem is not sung in one voice — it is spoken, stanza by stanza, by the voices of people who are adopting Croatian as their new language.
Conceived as a gesture of welcome, the audio guide is an open, adaptable format that can be extended into other languages and used in a variety of contexts: in cooperation with city institutions, libraries, language-learning programmes and organisations working with new residents. It is not definitive. It doesn't try to be everything. It serves as the start of a dialogue, with those who are coming to Croatia, and with those who are growing accustomed to Croatia speaking several languages at once.
A little guide to the language, the city and everyday life; an open format that can grow alongside people who are just beginning their lives in Croatia.
PRODUCTION CREW
Ivica Đikić
Matt Robinson
Valeriia Movenko
Nawar Ghanim Murad
Abdoulie Jobe
Semih Husein Adiguzel
Srđan Nogić
Marko Čavlović
The project is funded by the City of Zagreb, through the City Office for Culture and Civil Society, as part of the Public Call for Proposals for Programs of Public Needs in Culture of the City of Zagreb for 2026.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pred vama je mala jezična i kulturna početnica — ali za slušanje. Napravljena je za ljude koji su iz dalekih krajeva svijeta stigli u Hrvatsku živjeti i raditi, i za one koji ih ovdje dočekuju. Hrvatska je stoljeće i pol bila zemlja odlaska; tek se posljednjih nekoliko godina, prvi put u svojoj povijesti, suočila s dolaskom većeg broja stranih radnika iz udaljenih dijelova svijeta. Ova audiobrošura je zvučni rad koji se obraća upravo tom trenutku.
Audiobrošura vodi kroz osnovne stvari kao što su klima, valuta, tramvaj, Grič, Trg, Ustav, himna, ali ne u tonu turističkog vodiča. Glas koji dočekuje slušatelja iskren je i nezaokružen. Sugerira da posao ne bi trebao progutati svo došljakovo vrijeme. Priznaje da postoje ovdašnji ljudi koji se ne pozdravljaju sa susjedima, ali predlaže da takvi ne budu uzor. Objašnjava da su u gradskoj gužvi svi nervozni, ne samo prema strancima. Napominje da će trebati vremena da se prestane trzati kad u podne odjekne top s Griča.
Kroz brošuru je protkano i pedesetak riječi i izraza koji čine prve korake u hrvatski jezik — dobro jutro, hvala, molim, kruh, kava, sloboda, svi su jednaki pred zakonom — i te riječi ne slušamo samo na hrvatskom i engleskom. Slušamo ih i na ukrajinskom, turskom, arapskom, mandinki. Sudionici u produkciji jednim su dijelom i sami migranti. Hrvatska himna u ovoj izvedbi ne pjeva se jednim glasom, nego se izgovara stih po stih, glasovima ljudi koji usvajaju hrvatski kao svoj novi jezik.
Zamišljena kao gesta dobrodošlice, audiobrošura je otvoren, prilagodljiv format koji se može širiti na druge jezike i koristiti u različitim kontekstima: u suradnji s gradskim institucijama, knjižnicama, tečajevima jezika i organizacijama koje rade s novim stanovnicima. Nije definitivna. Ne pokušava biti sve. Služi kao početak dijaloga s onima koji dolaze u Hrvatsku i s onima koji se navikavaju na to da Hrvatska govori više jezika odjednom.
Mala početnica za jezik, grad i svakodnevni život; otvoren format koji može rasti zajedno s ljudima koji u Hrvatskoj tek počinju živjeti.
PRODUKCIJSKI TIM/ PRODUCTION CREW
Ivica Đikić
Matt Robinson
Valeriia Movenko
Nawar Ghanim Murad
Abdoulie Jobe
Semih Husein Adiguzel
Srđan Nogić
Marko Čavlović
Projekt je financiran sredstvima Grada Zagreba, Gradskog ureda za kulturu i civilno društvo, kroz Javni poziv za predlaganje programa javnih potreba u kulturi Grada Zagreba za 2026. godinu.
