From Heritage to Heart: Master Croatian Culture and Language with a Native Expert

Croatia is my heart, my heritage, and my story—let me guide you to make it yours too.

It was 1994. On a Croatia Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Zagreb, I settled into a window seat. As the plane descended, I gazed out at the patchwork of cornfields below. Then suddenly, there it was—Zagreb. I caught only a fleeting glimpse before tears obscured my view.

Even the bold letters of ZRAČNA LUKA ZAGREB – ZAGREB AIRPORT blurred beneath a veil of tears. Home,. At last. After a year spent studying abroad. That year had enriched my life immensely with new friendships and knowledge. Yet, it also cemented a realization: my life was inextricably tied to this tiny piece of Earth called Croatia.

“Why did you come back?” my mom asked as I disembarked.

I was silent at first, searching for the words. Then it came to me.

“Do you remember the last scene from the Smogovci series? When the Smogovci celebrate Dunja and Mazalo’s wedding in the garden of the Vragec house? Around that long table, all the brothers with their families and friends raise their glasses and sing: 'Nikom nije lepše neg je nam, samo da je tako svaki dan!' (Nowhere is it better than here with us, if only it could be like this every day!) That's why, Mom. That's why I came back.”

My mom embraced me, tears streaming down her face. “You will never leave.”

“I know, Mom,” I replied, my own tears mixing with hers. “Now, I truly know.”

I’ve loved Croatia since I was able to love. I was taught to love it: my parents telling me stories about its history, taking me to museums to see its living culture and artefacts from long ago, visiting ruins and castles, national parks, climbing its mountains, paddling down its rivers, driving through its fields sprinkled with poppied, admiring the deep, clear blue of its Adriatic. We attended song festivals in Krapina, Omiš, and  Kvarner, and folk dance performances at the Zagreb and Dubrovnik festivals.

I learned and continued to perform my Croatian identity from just honouring its cuisine, to dancing Istrian balun in a folk-dance group, to participation in the celebrations of national sports successes, or contributing to enrichment of its culture by translating literature from and into Croatian.

Years later, I realized my youthful belief that true art and life were centered in the Western cultural hubs—London, Paris, Rome, New York—was just teenage zeal. It was a fervor untempered by the wisdom of later years, a belief that I needed to be in these places to make a meaningful impact. But I was wrong. I was here, in Croatia.

Now, sitting on this bench in Zagreb’s Maksimir Park, I am surrounded by the ethereal presence of second and third-generation Croatians who only know of this place through stories passed down by their ancestors. They would gladly trade places with me, drawn to the cultural richness that their forebears left behind.

This place—here—is a cultural epicenter, rich and valuable, narrated into existence by our grandparents. Blood, thicker than any barrier, pulls us back to our roots, family, and history whenever life allows a moment’s respite.

I recall meeting Croatian Americans and Australians, their hearts aching with the desire to connect with their ancestral land, eager to absorb its stories and knowledge. And as Maya Angelou profoundly noted, "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." I carried those stories across the globe for years.

Decades passed.

I grew older.

The world has changed.

Technology made it possible for us to communicate in ways hitherto unimagined. I learned how to use it for the good. To spread knowledge about my Croatia. To tell those stories buried in me for so long.

I married the stories with my knowledge of Croatian language teaching and methodology of teaching a language and culture gathered through two decades of teaching at the Zagreb University.

And I put them here before you – my labour of love – my courses about Croatian language and culture. I invite you to entrust me with your learning journey. From your very first words in Croatian to engaging in lively conversations at the dinner table with your Croatian friends and family, I will be there to guide you every step of the way.

I wish to show you why “nikom nije lepše neg je nam”, I wish to teach you about our ways and mores, teach you our language so that you can celebrate life with us.

Welcome.

If this story stirred something in you and you don't want to wait for the January cohort to begin, the Croatian Entry Point program will get you speaking and ready before the Croatian Quadrant starts.

Tihana Klepač is an Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb's Department of English and the founder of TalkTime Croatian. She teaches the Croatian Quadrant™, a structured, culturally immersive course designed to help learners stop translating and start thinking in Croatian. Find out more at: talktimecro.com.