From fear to fluency: A Croatian learning journey in NYC

The language that sounded so strange

Stan’s relationship with languages started young. At 12, he began studying French, eventually spending a year at the University of Bordeaux. His journalism career took him around the world, particularly to Italy for fashion coverage, and living in New York made Spanish almost second nature. Romance languages came easily – the patterns felt familiar, the sounds recognisable.

Croatian was different. “It sounded so strange,” he admits. His first trip to Croatia came in summer 2000, and like many visitors, his initial Croatian vocabulary consisted entirely of colourful curse words and terrible sayings that amused his Croatian friends. But proper learning felt out of reach. New York offered no accessible Croatian courses – the only option was children’s classes at the Croatian church, which didn’t feel right for an adult learner.

Morning rituals and flea market adventures

Stan’s days begin with physical movement – Pilates classes twice weekly and nearly daily gym sessions first thing in the morning. For him, it’s as much mental exercise as physical, a way of starting each day with a positive accomplishment. Even if nothing else gets done, that early morning routine provides a foundation, a sense of something completed before the day truly begins.

His other passion involves a different kind of movement – roaming flea markets, tag sales, and thrift shops across New York. He rarely buys anything, but the adventure lies in the hunt itself, in learning how people live through what they’re selling. The stories behind objects fascinate him, and the characters he meets at these sales can be genuinely interesting. Many of his favourite pieces at home – furniture and objects that fill his space – came from these secondhand discoveries, some even rescued from New York streets.

A city of hidden culinary treasures

Stan’s love for Croatia centres on Istria, where he’s discovered that you can stumble upon gourmet meals in the smallest coastal towns. One particular restaurant in Valone, on the island of Cres, served him the best seafood meal he’d ever had – so good that when he couldn’t remember the town’s name, his friends didn’t believe it existed. He eventually found it again, proving his memory right.

The food matters particularly because Stan doesn’t eat meat. Istria’s seafood-focused cuisine suits him perfectly, from fresh catches to a lavender-infused cheese he once tried in a small town. He appreciates being able to drive somewhere and stop in an unremarkable-looking place for an extraordinary meal – something he finds happens regularly in Croatian coastal villages. The heavy sausage-dominated menus elsewhere sometimes feel overwhelming, but Istria always delivers options. He loves the small-town community spirit too – even tiny places like Lubenice on Cres, with its handful of elderly residents, maintains active cultural life with music festivals and communal events.

Learning from mistakes in a supportive group

A year and a half ago, Stan finally started formal Croatian lessons with Let’s Learn Croatian. The timing worked perfectly – Wednesday noon classes that fit his freelance schedule as a content creator, editor, and marketing consultant. More importantly, he found himself in a group that stayed together for the entire journey, creating something that feels like family.

The group dynamic transformed his learning experience. Everyone in his class has some Croatian background – childhood homes where Croatian was spoken, or schooling in Croatia – which means Stan lacks the early-years foundation his classmates have. But rather than feeling behind, he’s found strength in the collective. They learn from each other’s mistakes, tease each other good-naturedly, and know each other’s lives well enough to understand where everyone excels and struggles. His grammar is strong – he understands the rules thoroughly. Speaking remains harder without that childhood foundation, though he practices with Croatian friends through messages and conversations with his partner’s mother, a former teacher who knows every grammatical intricacy. His teacher Nikolina makes classes both enjoyable and rigorous, and the textbook and exercises provide exactly the structured support he needs.

Facing fear to expand the mind

Stan’s partner is Croatian, his family all based in Zagreb. They’ve recently renovated an apartment in Jarun, creating a curious temporal split – step inside and you’re in contemporary design; step outside and the smell of chicken soup and the 1970s architecture transport you back decades. His partner’s mother lives across the road, and summer visits mean shuttling between family obligations and coastal escapes.

He’s navigating the particular challenge of learning a language when his partner already speaks perfect English. Sometimes they try conversing in Croatian, though impatience creeps in. Speaking with his partner’s mother provides better practice – she knows he understands far more now than he once did, which eliminates the convenient escape route of playing confused. What began partly as a way to communicate with her has become something much larger – a way of facing the perfectionism that kept him afraid for years. He worried about making too many mistakes, about not being good enough. Making mistakes in front of his group has taught him something valuable about letting go of perfect. His next challenge is travelling to Croatia alone, without anyone to translate or smooth conversations, forcing himself to trust what he’s learned. After 25 years of visits, he’s finally trying properly, discovering that learning a language opens your mind to the world in ways that extend far beyond vocabulary.