Croatian heritage sparks language journey

Finding family roots across an ocean

Four generations of Josh’s family lived on the same street in Alliance, Ohio – Mahoning Avenue – after his great-grandfather arrived from a tiny village in Slavonia in 1910. Growing up, Josh knew his heritage was Croatian, but the language and many cultural connections had faded over time. His great-grandfather had died in the 1940s, and whilst some traditions survived, the stories behind them remained unclear.

“I had always been interested in it a little bit,” Josh explains about learning Croatian. “Even when I was in high school, I thought about trying to learn Serbo-Croatian as it was being called back then. But you couldn’t do it really in the US anyway – there was no class I could have taken.” The opportunity simply wasn’t there alongside the standard offerings of German, Latin, or Spanish.

A professor’s practical awakening

Years later, Josh discovered that his family’s Croatian heritage made him eligible for citizenship. Working as a professor at Tulane University’s School of Public Health, researching malaria prevention across Africa and Asia, he began to seriously consider the application process. But something felt fundamentally wrong about the idea of claiming citizenship without speaking the language.

“I thought, you know, this is really stupid,” he reflects. “If I’m going to try to apply for citizenship, it would be ridiculous to not be at least sort of functional in it.” He recognised that achieving native-level fluency starting in his mid-40s was “almost impossible to imagine,” but being completely unable to communicate seemed absurd. This realisation marked the beginning of his serious commitment to learning Croatian.

Technology opens unexpected doors

What made Josh’s language learning journey possible was technology that simply hadn’t existed during his earlier years of interest. The ability to connect with native speakers through video calls transformed what had once been an impossible dream into a practical reality. In his youth, finding Croatian instruction would have required travelling to specific cities like Chicago or New York, assuming such classes even existed.

“These things like Zoom make it super possible to have one-on-one or group lessons,” he notes. “Years ago, it would have been very hard for me to find someone to teach me that I could speak with and have conversations.” This technological breakthrough meant he could finally pursue the language that had always intrigued him, connecting directly with teachers in Croatia despite being thousands of miles away in New Orleans.

Rediscovering hidden family traditions

As Josh progressed in his Croatian studies, he began recognising aspects of his upbringing that he’d never connected to his heritage. His grandmother had always made sarma, the traditional stuffed cabbage rolls, and his grandfather prepared sauerkraut in wooden barrels in the basement. The family had assumed these were German traditions from his grandmother’s side, never realising their true Croatian origins.

“We grew up eating sarma and still make them, and they’re very Croatian,” Josh realises now. “But she always made them, so by my generation, we assumed they must be a German thing.” His grandfather also used Croatian words that the family didn’t recognise at the time, phrases that Josh now understands were part of their linguistic heritage. Learning the language has become a bridge to understanding his own family’s preserved traditions in a completely new light.

Musical immersion and daily practice

The challenge of learning Croatian in New Orleans, where the language has little visible presence, has led Josh to creative solutions for daily immersion. Unlike Spanish, which students can encounter throughout American cities, Croatian requires more intentional effort to experience. Josh has transformed his daily routines to include the language – listening to Croatian hip-hop artists like Edo Maajka and Elemental during school runs with his son, watching Croatian documentaries, and following news broadcasts.

“I listen to probably more Croatian hip-hop than anything else,” he laughs, acknowledging the unexpected musical journey his language learning has taken him on. He’s discovered artists like Frenkie and explored Croatian rock bands including Prljavo Kazalište and Azra, using music as a bridge to both language and culture. This daily exposure, whether through the car radio or late-night Croatian television shows, has become essential to his progress.