Tatar Teaches Serbian #2 Foreigners Speak Serbian Language podcast: Interview with Azat Fattakhov

Welcome to the second episode of the "Foreigners speak Serbian" series And this time a more accurate title would be "Foreigners teach Serbian". How one Tatar from Russia learned our language and what to do if you meet a bear in the mountain you will find out in today's episode. My guest is Azat Fattakhov, he teaches, no less no more, but four languages Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin. Azat, you graduated social management in Kazan and then you went to Croatia. Yes. Will you tell us wh

at the program was? How did you go? That was the Erasmus plus program The program is actually called European Voluntary Service. And it is possible, with this program, to go everywhere in Europe and live, work for a year on a social project, in a society, and yeah... When I found out about this program I was looking for where I could go, I came to Croatia finally. - Yeah, yeah. - And that was the first time that I heard the Croatian word and language. I studied Croatian there, there was one Serb

ian coordinator so she spoke Serbian and then sometimes the words were different, and so ... Than again, since I speak Russian it was quite easy for me to learn the language. I don't think we said: you actually came to a program to help as a volunteer at a bear shelter. - Yes. - Is that right? It is a refuge for bears in the village of Kuterevo. - Yes. - And where is that? It's located on Velebit. Velebit to say, 30 kilometers from the Adriatic. That was another advantage of this project for me

because the sea is near. Okay. So, in fact, it was by accident. In fact, you went to Croatia by accident. It was a game of chance, it wasn't your intention, it's not that you specifically wanted to come to Croatia. Yeah, it wasn't exactly my intention to go just to Croatia. It was the second project I could get to. They stopped the first project before I could come. That one was in Italy. But I didn't have the opportunity to go there. I had already started learning Italian, but, like... they sto

pped the project and, well ... then a little later there was an offer to come to Croatia so i came. And the love for bears is older than that, or it originated there? Well, not really, it wasn't love and it did not arise It's more love and interest in nature [interest for nature] because a big part of the project, yes, is the bears bears, you know, the center. That's an attractive part for tourists, for people who come to the village to watch bears. But we, as volunteers, we actually more talked

about how how to behave in the wild nature, how to ... Like, why the bears are there. Because those are always sad stories about why bears are in the refuge why they are not in the wild. And then we talked about that, how man should act in nature and that's what was really interesting to me, that's why I went on that project. Not because of the bears, it's more about nature. I have a son, I don't know if you know that. I have a son who is three years and several months old And he loves bears a

lot. And I promised him I would ask you what a man needs to do when he finds himself in a forest where there might be a bear. What should we do? Now, I'll say what I know from movies, from some stories when we were kids. The advice was to lie down on the ground and pretend to be dead. That's one piece of advice, and the other variant is to climb a tree or somewhere high. Is any of that true? We had one joke that ... because of this "fall down and pretend to be dead" if the bear tries to bite me

then what to do? Then you have to stop pretending to be dead. But yes, I heard about that about this "pretend to be dead" variant I heard from an old lady in the village that she lived just near the forest and she said one time it happened that the bear was so close that she had to pretend to be dead and she said that the bear... But that is one case I don't know if it's always like that or not because the bears are not ... It's not possible to predict it is impossible to say how the bear will r

eact. They are, really, every bear is an individual person It is difficult to say how he will react But this bear came, sniffed her a little, he tried to bury her a biologist from Croatia then explained to us that if something is dead, he'll bury it, then come in two, three or four days then find it and dig it out again, eat it when it's already a bit... you know, when it's ... because it is easier for the bear, then, for his stomach. It's better for his digestion, right? Yes yes yes. Yeah, by t

he time the corpse breaks down a little. Yuck! That's how the bears behave towards dead animals in the forest. That's how it goes. Because they are forest cleaners. Yeah, they clear the forest, that's why you say forest cleaners. They clear the forest. Yes, they clear the forest from dead animals. Usually bears do not eat meat European brown bear that lives in Serbia - Let's say in Croatia, the one in the Balkans. - In Bosnia About 95%, in the wild they eat plants, grass, some fruit Yes, yes, be

rries Yes, they only eat meat when it's say, a dead animal, or sick animal that cannot run fast enough, then he can catch it. - Yes, bears are slow? They're not very slow, and here I will answer the second variant They are not very slow, they can run about 60 km (37 miles) per hour. - Wow! - Pretty much. - That's pretty fast. So running is not really ... Not a good idea And they climb trees higher and faster than the cats were climbing trees in the village. And that... If you are outdoors, try n

ot to meet the bear. - Not meeting a bear is the safest! Yes, safest. So then you should be loud, talk to ... Best to go with someone. - Make noise, yeah. that he (the bear) hears and he won't come to you because they fear people more than people are afraid of bears So they are scared of people, they are scared of people. That's why you need to make noise. You see... My dad was a mountaineer and when he took me and my brother into the woods he always told us to make noise. To rustle, with our fe

et making noise to scare the snakes and other animals, yes. Snakes feel, like, vibrations. - Yup. But otherwise, if you just met a bear, what i would do myself is to try slowly quietly, gradually go to ... - Backwards. Yeah, back off Back from the bear, yes. Withdraw from the bear. And what else... And yes, if it happens that a bear has a baby bear around, then it's the most dangerous situation, because if the she-bear will think there is any insecurity for the baby bear, for the little bear the

n she can be aggressive. Not because she's hungry but to protect the cub And that's why the most important thing is you must tell that to your son that if he loves bears, then and if he sees a little bear it doesn't matter if he sees a she-bear somewhere or a bigger bear... this is very important: do not touch and do not contact with wild animals in general. And that's again, firstly for safety to live as long as possible and secondly because for a wild animal this contact with man is dangerous

for they will lose this fear of man If we go to nature, we find a bear, and we touch it, we feed it, then the bear will lose its fear of humans so he will come to a village freely he won't mind he will come and ask for food to ask to be touched for someone to pet him Well, when a bear is little, that's good nice, interesting, but in two or three weeks or maybe in half a year he will be a big problem in the garden Very big. I saw a video that one Russian family ... I don't know, did you see that?

A Russian family has a bear as a pet. - Are there cases like this? No? - I didn't see that but I believe it is possible. I don't think it's legal, but ... yeah. I saw bears here as well, not as pets, but like, you know... in prison, and again, these are all sad - In the cage. sad stories of why they are there. It's not possible to let this bear, who has already been in contact with people for a long, long time, to just easily let him into nature because he will return. I have not seen this vide

o with a bear as a pet, but, like... I have no doubt that this is possible in Russia. Russians love bears. I think in Croatia, I saw a restaurant that had how do you say, a zoo - Zoo. they had two or three bears very fat bears, because it's a restaurant. The bears were two or three years old and in the refuge these bears of two or three years are little bears, because there they try to feed them as in the nature and we did not feed them during the winter they hibernated, normally Maybe sometimes

they didn't hibernate but we did not feed them - Like at a restaurant. Yes, at the restaurant I don't think they had such principles and that's why the bears were too fat, I don't know and they were quite young, but already big For people who know the nature the bear it was sad to watch that but I think for an ordinary visitor that is very interesting. Because it's not only a fat bear, but also a beautiful bear, strong You say, you were getting ready for Italy, so you were learning Italian. The

n, you speak Russian, and you speak English, and you speak our language, and you speak Tatar, is that your mother tongue? Yes, it's my native language. Do you speak another language? Well, I learned a little French, I speak French a little, i can explain myself in French, I learned German a little again, I was trying to live in Germany, I was trying to find a job, I failed but... When I was trying, I was learning German. Italian - I think I already forgot it, but Italian is a pretty easy languag

e, especially for Russians, because it sounds almost like Russian. Also our people very easily acquire Italian, both because of the melody and the open vocals We have the same five vocals and the distribution is similar: vocal, consonant, vocal, consonant. We have a little more consonants That's right. Izvrsno (excellent) Well, it's just that R can be vocal at times that's the difference. And you studied something completely different. You studied social management. And where did this interest i

n languages ​​come from? I never, not at school nor college, I never really liked languages. Again, because of this Erasmus + program Thanks to the European Union for including Russia as well, the young people from Russia, in this program. That's really good. We had a youth exchange here in Kazan. I was, like, a volunteer here locally, in a local society and they gave me an offer - because I spoke some English - to get involved into this youth exchange. And I got involved. It was very interestin

g because, you know, foreigners they were from the UK, from Sweden and from Belarus. Three groups. It was very, very interesting because i saw how useful it is to know English. I saw that. I was trying to teach them the Tatar language. I failed. But I was slowly trying to communicate. So you mostly learned languages for some other purpose, in fact the language was for you a means for communication with people. - Yes. And it seems to me that your approach to teaching languages is very pragmatic a

nd very practical. You easily discard things: "You don't need this" "you will rarely use this" "focus on this, you need it for communication." Yes. Would you briefly explain your philosophy how do you teach the language and what ... what philosophy lies behind that. That's not exactly my philosophy. It's a philosophy that I like very much. There is one Russian, a Russian polyglot who speaks, I don't know, about thirty something languages and he has a program on a television, here in Russia where

he teaches (it was the first program) English for sixteen hours. He had eight students and, gradually, taught English You, I think, speak Russian, yes? No no no. I mean, I know a little I understand a lot, but I don't ... I think I'll - if you find it interesting - I'll send a link - For sure. for him on YouTube. Every time someone asks me "Azat, how should I learn English?" If Russians ask me, my friends, I always say, look, look at this YouTube, if you have 16 hours you will talk normally you

will be able to explain yourself, you will understand English. I already spoke English when this program started but after that, after English he made the program with Italian and it was, again one, like... motive, one reason why sought projects in Italy as an opportunity to ... yes ... Ah, actually it's that one another... Because I had the opportunity to learn Italian pretty much, say, how I liked it quite easily. Then there was German, then French. Now I think seven or eight languages ​​alre

ady. There was Chinese. Chinese for sixteen hours. Is it possible to imagine? Wow. Well, without reading, probably, without characters. Only pin-yin. - Yes, pin-yin. - For sure. For sure! (laughs) It is impossible to also learn character writing. Yes. But again, the goal. What is the goal? - Communication. - The goal is for most people, for most. Say, not for everyone. There is this group of people who say: I want to talk literary. I want to talk... like, I wanna be like ... How do you say "spy"

in Serbian? Spy! Like a spy. (laughs) The same word in Russian. Yes, like, so that no one knows I'm not a Serb or a Croat. And, like, for them, again, if someone comes to me with a request like this that, say, "I want to speak well," I want to talk literary, like, for work, or for another reason. That is very rare. And then I say: sorry, I'm not ... I can do it for you ... - I can help you here ... - It's not me, you need someone else. You need to study with Magdalena, I usually say. And who ar

e your students? My first students were volunteers I was in Croatia for a year and, say, in my ninth or tenth month there, new volunteers came from Europe. And they, like, knew nothing, no Croatian, nothing. But when you live in the village, say, normally in summer, there are many tourists during the summer, a lot of people, other volunteers who speak English will come. But in winter only volunteers speak English in the village and maybe two or three young people of the village who have not yet

gone to college. I felt the same when I came to Croatia. It was a little difficult, because Thanks to of the Russian language, I already understood a lot, but it's not enough to explain myself normally. And it's not enough to understand everything they say, like, what people say, what we have to do. Because if you don't understand what you should do what we need to do, what we need to make, it's a little difficult. And that's why when they came they started learning Croatian, and their teacher c

ould not come some days and then I said, come on i know a method now we will learn Croatian say, in sixteen classes. And I took the system that this Russian Dmitry Petrov uses for teaching English, or another language, I copied this system and made something similar for Croatian, as much as I could. And everyone was pleased And to me, on the other hand, it was pleasant, and I felt very good, because I was helping, because I saw that people can explain themselves with the neighbors that they can

not only drink coffee with the old ladies there and say "good, delicious" but something, like, a little more. Say, that was a time when I felt that I'm doing something useful for people, that I'm helping, and that's why I really liked it. And then when I came back to Russia, I was looking so hard for a work where i can teach languages or speak some languages and I became an EVS Coordinator. This is the European Volunteer Service for foreigners who come to Russia, I was their coordinator. I helpe

d them here in Russia. Did you teach them Russian, then? No, I'm not good with Russian. I don't really like Russian especially to teach because - Really ?! Serbian, Croatian is very interesting to me because it is logical. Everything is understandable: why is this word like this, why that word is like that. There are some words in Russia that I have no idea at all why we say this for this thing. It has some illogic things, is that what you're saying? - Not some, but ... - A lot. Yes, for the mos

t part. For the most part, the language is not logical, and especially when you speak Croatian and then Serbian, and then you see how is that in Russian. And I didn't want to speak Russian at all when I came back to Russia. As much as I could, I spoke Tatar or English. As less Russian as possible. And yes, I found this job. I didn't teach but after two or three years I just made, how can I say an account or profile on a website for Russians who want to learn some languages. And, the offer came t

o teach the Croatian language. I was, like, - very satisfied, very happy ... - Overjoyed, overjoyed. overjoyed that I could again teach Serbian or Croatian. So, with this student I began teaching Croatian. You asked who my students were. The first were those volunteers and most of the people I'm trying to help are women who are married to a Croat, a Serb or a Bosnian or - now it's even more interesting - or men who are in love with a Serbian, Bosnian or Croatian woman. That's the majority. The m

ost common cases. Yes, the most common cases. There were a few people who who were learning because of work. There's also this group of the students who learn because of their parents. Their parents went to America, they were born somewhere in another country, so they know English well, but they do not know Croatian or Serbian at all so they want to find out a little more about themselves, so they learn the language or they want to come back and talk to their grandmother or with relatives. These

people are Croats or Serbs by origin, living abroad, in the diaspora. Yes. Well, more or less, those are mostly the reasons. I say, Serbian or Croatian are languages ​​of love. Rarely someone will learn them because of work. Because, whoever is doing some business here, they can always get by with English. And those who are learning the language, it's always love. Either love for a specific person, or for the country or the language All languages ​​except English and German, maybe Chinese are t

he languages ​​of love, then. I think because, well, I don't know ... reasons to learn Tatar, or ... Aha. Do people learn Tatar? What is the status of the Tatar language? Are you officially using it in the republic, or ...? The Tatar language, let's start with that it is the second largest language spoken in Russia after the Russian language. The first is Russian, the second is Tatar. Say, Russian ninety-seven percent, Tatar two and a half percent, but it's the second Sounds very strong. The sec

ond largest language used in Russia. The Tatar language is the second official, how do you say, official language in Tatarstan, in the Republic of Tatarstan, and I think that's it. The Government of Russia I do not know if this is the government of Russia, or is it ... I don’t know who it is, what it is, but it’s something political to interrupt the lessons (classes) of the Tatar language in schools. It's impossible now ... Well, it may not be impossible, but it's getting harder and harder to te

ach Tatar. It's hard to find a job for Tatar language teachers Not because people don't want to learn, but because they are not allowed to teach Tatar more than, I don't know ... one or two hours per week, something like that. What I want to say is that it's a little harder now to teach the Tatar language. But... But people because of this, again, that there is some pressure about the Tatar language, they ... On the other hand, resistance and interest grow stronger - Yes, interest. - Excellent.

There is this ... Dmitry Petrov, Russian, made (a program for) the Tatar language, so it's possible now to learn it in eight hours anyone who wants, who already speaks Russian, can learn tatar. This is, you know... Tatar is similar to Turkish, - If I'm not mistaken. - Yes. And what script do you use? Cyrillic. Well, Tatar uses Cyrillic, but it also used the Latin script and it is possible to use the Latin script officially, let's say, officially it is possible to make, write a letter in the Repu

blic of Tatarstan in Latin script, in Tatar Latin. And it has the old Arabic... Arabic script. Before, the Tatars used the Arabic script, I think maybe because of religion, because, Islam, Muslims are there. And yes, with Turkish quite similar. Like, when I'm in Turkey I can communicate, I can explain myself... - Is it similar to that extent!? - ... say what I want Maybe like Russian and Serbian. It's more similar ​​with Kazakh and Uzbek languages, a little less with Azerbaijani. We can communic

ate easily. Uzbek is, in fact, almost the same language. But again, almost all of them speak Russian. It's easier for you to communicate in Russian. Yes. This is the first time I've heard that a language actually has even three scripts. It has Cyrillic and Latin, like Serbian. Serbian officially has two scripts: Cyrillic and Latin script. And you also have the Arabic script, the ability to write in the Arabic script. Yes, but, the Arabic script, you know, I think it's kind of like the Glagolitic

script. It's something old. It is. Yes, old. Someone knows it, someone uses it. But in fact I mean, it's impossible to write an official letter in the Arabic script and ... You will find this interesting: next interview I'll do with a young scientist who is a historian and studies our history here, and who had the opportunity to read Bosnian documents written in Arabic script. That's the man who read our language written in Arabic script. Yes, that's very interesting. Okay, so you have no probl

em, I guess, Cyrillic and Latin script - You're equally good with both Cyrillic and Latin scripts? Yes, it's pretty much the same for me to write in Latin or Cyrillic. But I think Cyrillic is a little easier. Maybe it's just because I understand Russian little more than English. You told me you played tambura (a Balkan string instrument). - Do you normally play any other instruments? - Yes, in Croatia. Or how was that? I played, yes. I knew how to play a guitar. And ... in Kuterevo, in this vill

age, there is the Kuterevo tambura. Fom Kuterevo itself. And it was, like, again, a part of the project to see how it's done to try and tell about it to the people who come as tourists, that there is also this instrument, and ... Yes, I had the opportunity to learn how to play tambura with the young people of Kuterevo. I had the experience of playing tambura, yes. Aha, nice. In which major cities have you been? You've been in Belgrade. - You've probably been in Zagreb. - I've been in Belgrade. I

've been in Zagreb, Dubrovnik in Split in Rijeka (u RIjeke) or in Rijeka (u Rijeci), how do you say? In Rijeka (u Rijeci). - To Pula? - In Pula. And in Bosnia? I've been in a small town in Bosnia. It was not in the capital, it's not Sarajevo, but a small town where I was. We had a little trip through the Balkans. - I was in Kragujevac in Serbia. - In Kragujevac ?! Yes, I have friends in Kragujevac. And ... yes, I've been also in Pristina. But down there they don't speak much Serbian now. But, ye

ah , I've been there. How did you communicate? In English? Yes, in English. But we also communicated in Serbian because I came to a society who were ... who spoke Serbian. You know, again a local organization for the protection of nature. We talked about the mountains down there. You told me you didn't eat meat when you were in the Balkans. Yes, because I was a vegetarian and maybe that was one of the reasons why they chose me to go into the project. Because that was one of the questions: Do you

eat meat? - In the questions that need to be answered. - In the questionnaire. I didn't eat meat. I started being a vegetarian when fridge at home stopped working so I started being a vegetarian because I couldn't feed the meat for long. (hraniti - to feed in Serbian, to store in Russian) You couldn't store meat when your fridge broke down. Yes, when I was in college. - Yeah, as a student. - Yes. This is a common question and a common dilemma. Can a vegetarian survive in the Balkans and how can

a vegetarian survive in the Balkans? What can we eat without meat? I lived with volunteers who came into a nature conservation project. We cooked on our own, and therefore ... We all cooked what we knew how to cook so it was not a problem for us to cook without meat, because it was easy. No one eats meat, we know what we can cook so we cook sauerkraut, beans and potatoes, what else is needed? That's enough. Yes, enough. Another cultural difference: we drink a lot of coffee here, and in Russia

people drink tea. - Yes. - What did you drink in Kuterevo? In Kuterevo they drank coffee. They always said, let's go for coffee, let's go for coffee. Right, I drank coffee. But the biggest cultural shock was when I came, I think it was in Zagreb, in a tavern and in the menu there were seven or eight types of coffee and one type of tea, it says only "tea." I found this interesting because in Russia it is the other way around. You have ten or seven kinds of tea and, well, you have coffee, say, cof

fee with or without milk, what do you want... What else? Yes. At least there's black tea and green tea. Or: black tea, fruit tea, green tea. That's the least they have. And there (in Croatia) it just says "tea" and then you say "tea" and then you think: what will they bring? Either it will be some herbs or it will be a fruit tea or it will be a normal black tea. Your instagram profile is also called "Let's go for coffee". - Yes. - Yes. Why? Because that's another part, again, of Dmitry Petrov's

teaching (the Russian I told you about). He says we need as soon as possible, before we start talking, we should start feeling that we are in a place where the language is spoken. And for me this first association with the Balkans is coffee. It is... perhaps the strongest association that people here drink coffee. And it’s a cultural phenomenon to say “let’s go for coffee”. That's how we socialize, in fact, it's an invitation to hang out when we say "let's go for coffee", or ... Yeah, it's not t

hat people go out for coffee but rather, to socialize. Well yes, we say "let's go for coffee" and then drink beer. That can also happen. Now, surely a Russian will be watching us who is starting to learn Serbian or who is thinking of starting to learn Serbian / Croatian. And now, you remember what it looks like: everything sounds kinda familiar, you can grasp something, it sounds nice, it's somewhat similar, but you don't know what to hold on to (what to start with), you don't know where to star

t. What would you advise such a person to do? What would be your advice for someone who is in this situation now? I want to say first how I felt when I came to Croatia. In the first two weeks I felt like I was living in a fairy tale. That you live in a fairy tale. Yes. Because everyone was talking in this way... as if... They say, "please, pass me the bread." For me, who knows Russian, that sounds very funny Above all, because all the words are understandable. I understand the words, but you can

only see them if you go to church or you read a fairy tale. I don't go to church often, because I'm a Muslim. But... I have sometimes seen fairy tales on, say, TV or I read ... We sit, drink, or eat, or drink coffee and people talk and I, you know, I laugh because it was funny to me. And what, for example? That "please, pass me the salt" ... What is it that you don't use? Please (molim) - Russians say "умоляю" (umoljaju) Please (molim) - they say ... you know... I don't know the Serbian word, b

ut - in English they say "I'm begging you". - Yup. Aha, I beg, "preklinjati" means "to beg." We sit, eat something, drink tea and they say, "pass me the bread, please!" And it was very funny to me. For the first two weeks I enjoyed it, and then I started getting a little frustrated because I did not understand. Now, the answer to the question about the Russian who wants to learn the language Right, I would say that you take a Russian verb in Russia in the infinitive we have -ть we say: говорить

(to speak) and remove that -ть (t and the soft sign) and put -ti. And then it will be: govoriti (to talk), spavati (to sleep)... It's not the same, but almost everything is understandable. Because of that... But if you start learning this goes for anyone, for a Russian or an Englishman or for anyone the most important thing is the verbal system and especially the pronouns One needs to know how to say I, you, he, she. It's easier for the Russians, because it's almost the same. The Russians say a

little harder: я, ты, он, она́ (I, you, he, she) - and, you know... - The pronunciation is a bit different, - but it's practically the same. - But everything is understandable. No problem at all to understand. That's why the system especially the pronoun system and verbal system, so that I can say: I eat, you pay I sleep, you work and only with that it's already possible - to complete quite a lot of everyday needs. - To have a lot of communication. This was Azat Fatahov. Am I saying right? For

some reason, it's hard for me to pronounce... Fatahov, with h? Yes, h. Azat Fatahov. Ah, Fatahov, okay! Okay. This was Azat Fatahov who teaches Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Bosnian in a very practical and pragmatic way. If you want to contact him we will leave, in the video description, his YouTube channel, and of course, if you are on Instagram his profile is "let's go for coffee" (idemo na kavu), Follow him. And that's it. We'll also leave the link, you will send me, so we will leave the

link for that Russian ... What was his name, I forgot? Dmitry Petrov. And we'll leave his link so that you can, maybe, learn a language in that manner, by this method. Thanks a lot, Azat! - An interesting talk! - You're welcome, thank you!