How to Learn Croatian: 51 Fast and Free Resources to Learn Croatian and Serbian

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Croatian. Serbian. Serbo-Croatian. Serbo-Croat. Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB). Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS) or even Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS).

Whichever you’re learning you’ve probably run into the same problem I have. Good, affordable, and up-to-date resources are scarce. But learning Croatian or Serbian or BCS and the like doesn’t have to be an insurmountable task. Nor does it need to break the bank.

If you’re learning one of these languages – you’re in the right place.

I’ve searched far and wide for Serbian and Croatian resources to find the best, most fun, and more importantly – free – resources for both.

Learning Croatian, but wondering if Serbian resources will work for you? Or maybe it’s the reverse. Whichever you’re studying, don’t be afraid to try out resources for the other languages. They’re mutually intelligible and so while there are minor differences, you’re sure to pick up a lot of useful information either way.

Ready to learn Croatian fast, and free? Or how about Serbian? Let’s get to it! Here are free Croatian and Serbian resources, regardless of which you’re learning.

Free Online Audio and Podcasts to Help You Learn Croatian and Serbian

Listen to Croatian or Serbian audio in either bite-sized podcasts. Or even dive straight into native-speaking radio stations.

Here’s where to start with Croatian and Serbian language audio:

• Glossika is an audio language course and the first 1,000 repetitions are free. They offer both Serbian and Croatian.
• Get By In Croatian teaches you just enough Croatian to “get by” in the language whether it’s in a conversation or on a trip. The podcast is available for free on iTunes.
• TuneIn Croatia or TuneIn Serbia: You can listen to radio from either Serbia or Croatia on TuneIn. There’s also a Bosnian station. Test out a few stations, see what catches your attention, and enjoy.

YouTube: Free Video Croatian and Serbian Lessons

YouTube is an excellent place to find free Croatian and Serbian language classes and resources. The following channels give you hours of Croatian and Serbian lessons in an engaging medium. Plus, video has the added benefit of letting you see facial expressions, body language and other non-verbal aspects of the Croatian and Serbian languages.

Croatian Language Youtube Channels

• Croatian 101 Lesson will help you learn the basics of Croatian with short, helpful videos.
• Grgo Petrov: Interested in hearing the different Croatian dialects? You’ll hear sample conversations in several of them on Grgo’s channel.
• Easy Languages: I love the Easy Languages channel because it offers you a lot of local culture and context. In the Easy Language series, the hosts go out into the streets of Croatia and interview the people they meet there. It’s a great way to hear the way people really speak the language, pick up useful conversational language, and practice your listening comprehension.

Serbian Language YouTube Channels

• Learn Serbian has several thematic and grammar lessons for Serbian learners.
• Serbian Lessons offers learners either thematic or grammar lessons on a variety of topics, covering everything from cases to talking about clothes.
• Easy Languages has videos for Serbian, too. They’re a useful way to improve your listening comprehension and pick up the language as it’s spoken by people on the street.
• Serbian Language Podcast has several 2-3 minute Serbian lessons that cover specific topics or questions. These include asking the question “what kind of..?”, and how to talk about attending an event.

Both Serbian and Croatian YouTube Channels

• Serbian Courses: On this channel, Magdalena Petrović Jelić teaches you both Serbian and Croatian. Her videos include both language and culture lessons and are all under ten minutes.
• Learn Croatian Serbian Bosnian Montegrin: Are you curious about what it would be like to learn all four languages side by side? This channel does just that, giving you an intro to every language.

Free Online Croatian and Serbian Courses and Systems

If you’re interested in guided lessons, there is an exceptional selection of free online Croatian and Serbian courses and systems available. Here are just a few websites that offer online Croatian and Serbian lessons at no cost:

• Surface Languages Croatian and Serbian: Surface Languages offers several topical vocabulary lists with various exercises. You can study everything from food to small talk.
• Easy Croatian was one of my go-to resources for Croatian grammar questions when I was learning Croatian and it is one of the best free resources I found for the language. It is essentially a free digital course book.
• Live Lingua has two free coursebooks for Serbo-Croatian available to download. They include a lot of useful phrases and vocabulary. They also have books available for Serbian.
• Loecsen Croatian and Serbian has almost twenty beginner lessons available to Croatian and Serbian learners. They cover everything from basic greetings to phrases you can use if you find yourself in need of help.
• Learn Croatian: Want to learn the basics of Croatian before a trip to Croatia? This site has a useful vocabulary list with audio for free.
• Goethe Verlag: On this site, you’ll find several free resources including lessons for Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian.
• BBC Languages is another great resource with introductions to Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian.
• Tatoeba: Looking for useful example sentences in Croatian? Tatoeba has thousands to help you get started.

Free Croatian and Serbian Language Apps

Apps are ideal for those who don’t have the time to sit down and study a language, or who like to study on the go.

• Memrise or Anki: Anki(for iOS, for Android, and for everyone else) and Memrise are flashcard systems that you can use to create your own Croatian and Serbian vocabulary decks or download those already created by other users. The desktop version of Anki is free as are both the app and browser versions of Memrise.
• Clozemaster is a language learning app the uses cloze (fill in the blank) to help you master new vocabulary in Croatian or Serbian.

Free Online Croatian and Serbian Language Resources for Advanced Croatian and Serbian Learners

Take a Free Online Course in Serbian or Croatian

Online courses and educational videos are a useful way to learn about new topics in Serbian or Croatian. If you’d like to use Croatian and Serbian to learn more about something you’re passionate in, one of these resources could be a useful way to do two things at once.

Ted Talks in Serbian or Croatian

Ted Talks are a powerful way to learn new things in bite-sized chunks. Most talks are between 10-20 minutes long and are presented so that they keep your attention from start to finish.

• Croatian Ted Talks
• Bosnian Ted Talks
• Serbian Ted Talks
• Serbo-Croatian Ted Talks

Watch Croatian and Serbian Vloggers on YouTube

If you’re looking for native and relevant material for your Croatian and Serbian language learning, YouTubers are a great source. Croatian and Serbian vloggers cover everything from comedy to beauty to food, so you’re sure to find a YouTube personality who covers a topic that you’re interested in.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• An Na is an artist and vlogger. She has a variety of videos on her channels and many of her songs include the lyrics written out in the video description.
• Nugato: Do you enjoy watching gameplay videos? Nugato streams his watch me videos regularly and offers humorous commentary.
• Sašina Kuhinja: If you like food and think you might be ready to try out a new recipe in your new language, Sašina Kuhinja is a video recipe channel. But don’t worry! The video includes the recipe instructions in English, too. Plus, you can get a link to the recipe in the description box in case you miss a step.
• Safari Duha is a lifestyle blogger from Croatia who documents her life and offers tons of advice in her videos.
• Recepti Brigita Husic: If you enjoy sweets, this one is for you. Brigita Husic teaches you how to make a variety of desserts on this channel.
• Dennis Domain is a vlogger who covers a variety of topics. Everything from scary stories to commentary and even mukbang.
• Jana Dačović: If haul and/or beauty videos are more your style, Jana Dačović’s channel may have something for you. She also talks about things like her favorite holidays, so it’s a good step into more advanced resources.
• Mudja is a popular gamer with more than a million subscribers. He posts gameplay videos and reviews different video games in Serbian.
• Yasstertain is a collective of vloggers who release a variety of videos, including a language challenge video where they speak quite a few languages.

Free Croatian and Serbian Language Reading Materials

Croatian and Serbian each use their own alphabet, so reading practice is important when you’re learning. Finding material appropriate for your level in the language can be a challenge. Wikipedia comes in handy here! I recommend you use Wikipedia to read short articles in Croatian and Serbian, then switch back to your native language to check your comprehension.