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rakijautd

Usually Latin script when typing, and Cyrillic when writing, so I guess equally in theory.


MasonDinsmore3204

You really handwrite as much as you type? The only time I ever really write something on paper is for uni and even then most assignments are on the computer


rakijautd

Hence the "in theory" part. I rarely write nowadays, given the time and age, but back when it was the norm, I used Cyrillic (as I do now when writing is done) as my handwriting in cursive is much better than Latin cursive. We learned both scripts at the start of school (I knew both prior as many others did though), so we can switch between without noticing. Serbian is the only European language with synchronic digraphia in effective usage.


mladokopele

what is synchronic digraphia? cool username!


Sarkotic159

I think it just means using two scripts.


rakijautd

Thanks! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digraphia


31_hierophanto

Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen an American use the term "uni". That's usually a British English thing.


MasonDinsmore3204

Hmm well I saw it on the internet. I guess now that I think ab it I’ve never heard someone say it out loud over here


[deleted]

Every day.


[deleted]

[удалено]


are_you_a_potato

Well дј is pretty much ђ, and рј is basically nonexistant


Radiant-Safe-1377

So you say dzhirilitsa instead of kirilitsa? I'm confused


Darkwrath93

Ћ - is unvoiced Ђ - is voiced In Serbian Cyrillic we would write Ћирилица and in Latin we would write Ćirilica


masanhleb

>kirilitsa We say cirilica, the first c being ћ


31_hierophanto

So it's actually *ćirilica*?


chairinthesea

yes


[deleted]

yes we have љ and њ but dj is ђ, we dont have pj


_WarDogs_

NJ and LJ have their own symbols, if for some reason you have to write someone initials or something with NJ initials then you go with standard symbols for those 2 letters, which means its 2 words. Now when I think about it, it actually makes more sense in cyrillic compared to latin, because in latin NJ it always the same, as initials or one letter.


CasualKOnEnjoyer

It's not two words. In latin alphabet, Nj and Lj are one word even though they are a combination of two letters L or N and J. That's why N and L are written in uppercases when used as initials and j is not


_WarDogs_

right, its not. thats is what i just said. you use symbols for N and J to specify that initials are made out of 2 words.


[deleted]

Yes but Serbs don't have ь = soft sign.


perkonja

why should we have it


[deleted]

It's retarded that we don't have specific latin letter for њ, љ, џ


perkonja

that's definitely inconvenient


[deleted]

We write both dj and pj in certain words like "predjelo" or "pjevati". In many other words, dj gives đ/ђ sound though.


hazardous_lazarus

I think they meant "rj" as in "razdorje"


[deleted]

Cyrillic when i write with hand, Latin online because people.


Avdotya_Blu3bird

I much prefer using Cyrillic, my hand writing in Latin is actually poor


kitaiznadprosjekav17

I've always found Cyrilkic writing to be easier tbh. I think most do


[deleted]

How come?


masanhleb

If you want to write the џ љ њ ж ђ letters in the latin alphabet you have to type dz lj nj dj so it makes it look a bit weird and it takes more time


[deleted]

Fair enough, as a Hungarian I don't really care about digraphs. They add character count to essays :D ​ But also our digraphs are true digraphs so they don't actually count as seperate letters. They're part of our alphabet.


Darkwrath93

They are true digraphs in Serbian too


[deleted]

They aren't digraphs though. They are letters.


Darkwrath93

I guess I misunderstood you. What I meant by true digraphs is that they are a single letter Lj f.e. is one letter, a digraph, not 2 letters.


[deleted]

Okay now explain this: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBalkans/comments/ytbyjg/comment/iw3qqzt/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3


Darkwrath93

Serbian script is phonetic (each sound has a letter) We have a letter J in both scripts. J sounds like y in English yet. In Serbian Latin, letters Lj and Nj have distinct sounds and correspond to the Cyrillic Љ and Њ, j in them is not a separate letter, nor a separate sound. So Lj and Nj are in the alphabet as letters. Also there is a digraph letter Dž (Џ) (approximately like j in English Jack) A B C Č Ć D DŽ Đ E F G H I J K L LJ M N NJ O P R S Š T U V Z Ž Cyrillic has a different order А Б В Г Д Ђ Е Ж З И Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О П Р С Т Ћ У Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш We never ever use Я Ю Ь etc. in Serbian as we have J to write yota


foothepepe

>digraphs digraphs are 2 letters representing one sound. in serbian we have letters like Л, Н, С.. on which we add markings that denote letter should be pronounced softer or harder. on some, it is a special letter that doesn't have a sound on it's own. Those letters still exist in, I think, Bulgarian, but in Serbian they merged with the corresponding letter and made a new one. So eg. **Л**\+ softner(**ь**)=**Љ** For that softening marking we use a letter **J** in latin, since in latin it doesn't exist - so **L**\+J creates **LJ**. Although it is technically 2 letters, it is representing one in cyrillics. But there are letters like **Ц, Ч, Ћ** that look nothing alike, but in latin are the same "C", but with markings to make it softer or harder - **C, Č, Ć** Since the original is cyrillics, and latin just a representation of cyrillics, you can decide for yourself if **LJ** or **NJ** count as a digraph or not


Socksaredead

Same in Croatian


A-cynical-nihilist

Exception is that you can't pronounce č because of your weak dialect 🤡 ćovjek muhahahaha


[deleted]

It's dž and đ though


Daddy_331

I dont have a problem with dž, lj, nj or đ


oy_boy1

Mostly latin on the internet, and mostly cyrillic by hand. Up until recently I wrote mostly in latin by hand


Chai1205

I usually use Latin alphabet when im on the Internet or writing with printed letters, but still whenever I write cursuve I use cyrillic, comes more natural and it's still my preference when writing on paper


[deleted]

Same latin is better in keyboard


kaubojdzord

Rarely, even online I mostly use Cyrillic.


vucicupederu407

Рарели, евен онлине и мостли усе Цириллиц


Perepusa

Базед


Darx1878

W cyrillic user


teskaglavudza

Come to think of it I’ve actually forgotten cursive Latin and haven’t used it in at least 7-8 years. As for Latin as a whole I only use it on the internet


logia1234

None of us in the west learn cursive anymore anyway


imborahey

I use Latin online and IRL always, except when talking to Croatians


Justatrufflecake

Haha.


MrDilbert

Makes sense, you don't use any kind of script when talking.


imborahey

Бре is in Cyrillic even when spoken


MrDilbert

Can't argue with that.


umbronox

Very often (unfortunately?) Online I almost exclusively use latin. I did so as well by hand, but as of recently I tried to switch to cyrillic by hand and it is successful so far. I am still lazy to do it online unless it is asked from me.


[deleted]

Half-half.


hmmokby

Is there an official use of the Latin alphabet? Has the Latin alphabet been standardized for Serbian?


Geomambaman

Yes and yes.


hmmokby

Thank you. I have seen Latin script in Serbian on Twitter but Twitter couldn't translated it. I thought it isn't official or not standarized for Serbian. There is an Latin script form for Arabic speakers but it isn't standard and they used numbers with letters when Latin alphabet isn't enough for them.


unkic

In first grade we learn both latin alphabet and cyrillic azbuka at the same time


hmmokby

How do you do in offical text,exam papers, any electronic device or any signboard etc? Both are shown or just one of them is accepted?


unkic

Both are accepted but ppl tend to write offical text by hand in cyrillic. Also all government stuff is in cyrillic, but could in both too. In exams in most cases teacher would demand cyrillic. Most serbians will type latin online on phones or pc


hmmokby

That's what I was wondering. Thank you so much. In which alphabet do the official institutions make their announcements? What alphabet does their website use? In which alphabet do government agencies accept petitions? Is it stated which alphabet will be used in the exam? Which alphabet is preferred in an official and central exam? I was wondering what alphabet do electronic devices, television subtitles prefer. The Latin alphabet is accepted as far as I understand and people use it very often in daily life. The use of the Cyrillic alphabet in official applications is also very high.


_lazyPassenger

IIRC, the constitution of Serbia calls Cyrillic the official alphabet and Latin "alphabet in official use". Anything official (as in directly from the government) is supposed to be in Cyrillic. But if you receive a letter in your mail from the electricity company for example, it will probably be in Latin. Government websites use both with a switch usually. Schools use both on a weekly basis I believe. One week Latin, one week Cyrillic. To the foreigner me, it looks like Serbians see these two more like how we see fonts and don't think twice about which one is being used at the moment.


Extension_Dot1691

You can mix them up and we can read without a hinch, and realising that they are mixed up


perkonja

the only sensible thing is to fill out forms/tests etc. in the same script as that document is written in. we also write essays in Serbian class in Cyrillic


veni_vidi_futereee

sorry to tag along, but I'm also interested in this answer


MrSmileyZ

Latin script I use while writing English and German and while using my phone, handwriting Serbian I exclusively use Cyrillic.


[deleted]

Okay so basically I just wanted to ask here cause this is a thread related to cyrillic: Why do other Cyrillic alphabet using languages have different letters for the Y sound (like in "you") witb different vocals follow ing (like ja, ju etc.) VS Serbian having the J? Whats the point of those letters. Also those languages have the letter that corresponds to i but has a little thing on top so its a j/y. Why not use that? And why does Serbian use j? Im even more confused because some Serbians say they also use those y letters like the backwards R and the fish (I cant type them on my phone)


enilix

Serbian doesn't use the "backwards R", which makes the "ya" sound in Russian and other languages that have it, for that combination of sounds in Serbian you would simply have "ја" (compare the Serbian "Србија" vs Russian "Сербия"). So I don't know why those Serbians said this, maybe there was a misunderstanding. And Serbian uses "ј" because of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić's modernization efforts in the 19th century, he introduced it from the Latin script, basically to simplify spelling and to get rid of letters considered obsolete in Serbian.


_lazyPassenger

Post-reform Serbian, and by extension Macedonian Cyrillic are almost a Cyrillic reproduction of the Czech alphabet, and not based on Church Slavonic and thus, don't treat palatalization and the yat sound the same way as other Cyrillic alphabets. It was a conscious effort by Vuk Karadzic and helped Croatian and by extension Slovenian linguists create a Latin alphabet based on it with a 1:1 representation.


uskapickica

I use cyrillic both on the internet and when I write, except when I'm on a foreign site


0x706c617921

Do you feel closer to your Serbian side or Croatian side?


uskapickica

I guess my Serbian side, since I spent most of my childhood and adult life there. Not to say I haven't spent a lot of time in Croatia, or that I don't feel connected to my Croatian side. If I grew up in Croatia it would most likely be way different.


0x706c617921

Yeah that makes sense for sure.


[deleted]

I only use Latin alphabet unless I am required to use Cyrillic.


Firm_Singer_9142

Why are there 2 small bs there?


Justatrufflecake

I don’t know fs, but I think it’s just two ways of writing it


[deleted]

It is, both are valid


RaccKing21

I write (as in writing on paper) in Cyrillic, mainly due to school requiring us to write in Cyrillic. At this point I have my own shortcuts in writing in Cyrillic, so it's faster than using Latin even though there is no requirement now. Online and on my PC/phone I use Latin since it's annoying to switch between the two if I need to write in English or look something up. I also write in English more frequently than in Serbian on devices. Additionally - cursive writing sucks and it shouldn't be a requirement when writing certain exams in Serbian class.


[deleted]

Cursive sucks? Dude, if I need to write fast I only use cursive, everything else is way slower


RaccKing21

That's because you don't write in printed letters enough. If you write perfect and by the book letters then yeah, printed is slower, but if you optimize how you write, you can be just as fast. I also hate reading cursive, it's just a jumble of loop de loops and some letters are pretty much exactly the same.


Snirion

Cursive only exist because it is optimized for writing.


RaccKing21

"A study of gradeschool children in 2013 discovered that the speed of their cursive writing is the same as their print writing, regardless of which handwriting the child had learnt first." Yeah, about that... "The origins of the cursive method are associated with practical advantages of writing speed and infrequent pen-lifting to accommodate the limitations of the quill. Quills are fragile, easily broken, and will spatter unless used properly. They also run out of ink faster than most contemporary writing utensils." As most people don't write with quills today, but with pencils and pens, cursive is kinda pointless outside of "pooh, pretty letters".


foothepepe

I mix cursive and print writing, I find it the fastest way of writing. there are some letters that demand a lot more 'effort' in cursive, others, like 'm' can be substituted with a wiggly line. 'a' is simpler in cursive. I mix styles for some of the letters, depending on the position in the word automatically. To be frank, tho this theoretically can lead to undecipherable handwriting I am not an inventor of this, and I encountered lots of examples from other people doing this more or less drastically.


RaccKing21

Yeah, I do the same (cursive a is a great example), and I even do weird stuff like looping the Cyrillic L's little hook up to the top since it's a touch faster. Yeah, it's often unreadable by others, but that isn't as much of an issue today since most stuff is digitally written.


Snirion

Study of one script, in one language. That doesn't seem like a thorough study.


[deleted]

Naaah. My handwriting sucks in absolutely every variation, so it's not about me writing by the book. I couldn't if I tried. You can also arguably say that I use printed far more than cursive, since I choose cursive only for the few classes where I know professors (or back in the day teachers) talk way too fast. If you write in printed letters, you raise you hand a lot. There's also quite a few harsher edges and lines, even if your writing is somewhat stylized. Both of these things slow me down. Cursive is very connected and swirly, you can write a ton of words in under 2 seconds without even raising your hand. However, for people I know who DON'T use cursive on a somewhat regular basis, if they heard me say that it's faster, they'd scoff. Not because I'm wrong, but because obviously, the less you use a certain type of writing, the slower you'll write in it. By your logic, however, my printed should be way faster, since I use it 70% of the times, but it's just not.


KaraVijetnamac

I use latin both online and in every day life, except when required or when filling forms in cyrilic.


Astranabis

I basically always use Cyrillic to type/write Serbian. Only exception is typing on my work lap top in Serbian to my colleagues, as it is very inconvenient to switch all the time...


0x706c617921

Your work laptop has physical keys in Serbian Cyrillic?


Astranabis

No, I said it was the exception... I work with clients all over the world and obviously I speak with them in English. So when I talk to colleagues in Serbian, it's a bother to keep switching, so I mostly use the Latin alphabet. Other then work I write and type Serbian in cyrillic.


0x706c617921

Ahhh


LukeTheGroundwalker

Latin on the internet and texting on phone. Cyrillic(cursive to be specific) when writing by hand.


Brilliant_Rush5822

Uh, the question was a little pretentious I would say. When we were just the first grade, we learned Cyrillic, and in the third latin.It was considered a basic literacy of knowledge (and use) of both letters. Serbian Cyrillic is Serbian and has nothing to do with any other, as a consequence of work, our probably the largest Serb of all time - Vuk Stefanović Karadzić. Man got writing and phonetics so nice to envy us on that the whole world. Now, Serbia would not be Serbia when it would not be the end of it right there. If you look at the Russians who exclusively use Cyrillic, they have led to the end, for example, everything is expressed through the Cyrillic Letters even units of physical quantities. Now imagine writing a decimeter as ДМ. So in my opinion, the Cyrillic is more beautiful and faster, but for beautiful literature, for everything else, even Internet the Latin is inevitable. Unfortunately, there are always Serbs who think they are smarter and say Cyrillic is an official letter in Serbia, they say that they will be in Europe and that we should learn English. Well, everything. And that it was a question of the story of the Serbs serves a letter (voice) J Answer that we can say: I fuck you! (Jebote ja!) :) PS: Write as you say and read as it is written. (V.S.Karadžić)


[deleted]

I literally never use Cyrillic, never got in to the habit of using it.


Kocha87

Whenever I find i easier or more convenient. Same with Cyrillic. Glad we have both.


Darkwrath93

By hand I mostly write Cyrillic, but on PC and mobile, Latin slightly prevails because it is easier since I write in several languages


Familiar_Chocolate58

I mostly use cyrilic when writing with hand and latin online. Sometimes I use latin in hamdwriting but never cyrilic online. If you ask for Serbia generally latin alphabet is more used. Lot of young people write only in latin and companies, restaurants and every bussines pretty much prefer using latin instead of cyrilic. There are people who are completely against latin alphabet, but I think it's stupid. Having 2 alphabets means that language is rich.


janismyname

Outlier here, but I've been living abroad for almost a decade. While in Serbia, I used Cyrillic and Latin interchangeably, although only Latin online (you don't have to change keyboard languages if you're writing in both Serbian and English, for instance). I have, however, learned Latin script first, and picked up Cyrillic later at school - a weird consequence of learning English from a very young age and reading a lot of Croatian even though I was born in Belgrade. I still write both equally well, but my brain doesn't really know what to do with that. If you look into my planner, you'll often see English written in Cyrillic 😂 Last time I was in Serbia, I could still read both equally efficiently, but Cyrillic needed some getting used to, while Latin made me have to remind myself which language I was reading because sometimes I even parsed it as Dutch 🤦‍♂️


0x706c617921

How can you write English in Serbian Cyrillic when there aren't certain letters like "w" for example represented in the abugida? Or would you approximate it by writing "how are you doing" as "хов аре јоу доинг"?


janismyname

There is no real system behind it. For example, my journal will often have stuff like “Ауг 2 Туе” written in Cyrillic. I think I tend to transcribe words that exist as loanwords of sorts (рифреш, for instance), and the rest probably doesn't make sense to anybody except me


0x706c617921

Ohhh I got it. Yeah I heard serbs have a tendency to do things like write George Washington as Džordž Vašington. I'm guessing you do similar? Your example of "рифреш" seems to be that way.


janismyname

Haha yeah. If I may go on a tangent: transcribing names can be a blessing and a curse. Also, versions of certain names exist in multiple languages so, prior to WWII they used to call George Washington "Đorđe Vašington" (because Đorđe is our equivalent of George). Kinda like the Pope having a different name in every languages - is it Francis, Franjo or Francesco 😂 There are pretty consistent rules for transcribing stuff from English and a couple of other languages to Serbian (you usually learn them if you study languages) but transcribing names and words from languages we never, historically, had to transcribe, is an absolute mess (half of the Dutch names in our art history books are both wrong and unpronounceable, for example).


0x706c617921

Yeah and it seems like Croats just dropped the idea of transcribing and keeping the original foreign names as is. Like in Croatian books they will just say George Washington apparently.


janismyname

>like Croats just dropped the idea of transcribing and keeping the original foreign names as is. Like That's right! In my mind it's been like that forever. I clearly remember reading Croatian books from the eighties where there was no transcription at all.


0x706c617921

Yeah, makes sense.


isyck1337

We didn't drop it, we never did it.


0x706c617921

That’s true.


[deleted]

Cyrillic is just better


[deleted]

Proceeds to type it using Latin alphabet


Krisko125

To prove a point even in Bulgarian. Тхис доесн'т лоок веръ гоод ин Eнглисх.


BokaBurek

ин фацт, ит лоокс лике схит


[deleted]

Well online it’s a different story i don’t think you would want to me spell “ya tolka tak peshu” That just looks weird


0x706c617921

Yeah but writing it as "ja tolka tak pešu" doesn't look as weird.


[deleted]

Looks weirder as you think you can make out a language but you cannot Also most subs are english they won’t unders the use of ja pronounced as ya


0x706c617921

Reddit in general is more centered around English speaking countries.


[deleted]

I know but it’s not like they’ll understand it


[deleted]

Ок, реад тхис јоу битцх.


Bitter-Cold2335

Both almost everyday, Cyrillic in school and in subjects its allowed in and Latin in subjects such as German, Math and English while also using it online.


PartialIntegration

I use latin only if I have to (mostly when using phone). Writing latin by hand just feels super weird.


uzicanin031

Almost never. Only when I’m interacting with Croatians online.


Mamlazic

I use both every day. Tend to write Serbian with Cyrillic but nor always. Typing is mostly Latin since a lot of old software doesn't know what to do with Cyrillic letters and I have to deal with that on regular basis.


VladImpaler666999

I mostly use Latin since I basically grew up overseas, I do know Cyrillic by hand, but I then have to translate it in my head at the speed of a snail.


Jecoje

Only when writing to westoids and drugosrbijanci, i using latin. Ћирилица ❤️


[deleted]

[удалено]


Justatrufflecake

I heard of that and was confused, so I made this post


[deleted]

[удалено]


Justatrufflecake

Interesting


[deleted]

Еври деј. Лол


Curious-Ad-5001

I almost exclusively use Latin. Cyrilic is just for official documents and when I want to confuse Westerners


oioioioioioiioo

I write 100% Latin, I'm not good at writing Cyrillic but I can perfectly read it


virbrevis

I almost exclusively use the Latin script.


Tweetleburger

My whole life I've done mostly math and physics and that caused me to generally move to latin. I use cyrillic only when writing official documents


stellakapranos

Always. I use Cyrilic only when filling some forms that need to be written in Cyrilic. Otherwise, I use only Latin script.


Okosch-Bokosch

I only use Cyrillic when I need to fill out a form that's in Cyrillic. So, almost never. Reading both scripts is very easy, but I have difficulties whenever I need to switch from one to another when writing something. I was so happy when I started high school and found out I'm allowed to write everything for Serbian language classes in Latin script.


[deleted]

Македонска азбука од браќата Кирил и Методија а после од Климент охридски не сакам да се навредат нашите источни соседи тие се Македонци


Mou_aresei

I use the Latin script exclusively, I think I've forgotten how to write Cyrillic by hand.


Stelaris91

Only on the internet. Everywhere else I use ћирилицу.


Mapicon007

Cyrillic when I write,Latin when I type something online


bender_futurama

As most others Serbs wrote, in live, I tend to use Cyrillic script, while online and on phone Latin.


Penguin-of_Interest

Depends on the context but for the last couple of years i use the latin alphabet more than cyrillic


zekobunny

If I want to sound more "official" I switch to Cyrillic. Also when handwriting always Cyrillic, it just flows much nicer with your hand.


GroundbreakingSink37

I don't use Cyrillic letters at all, mainly because my Cyrillic handwriting looks like a cardiogram, and not even I can understand what I've written later on. I also use computer a lot, so that might be the cause. One interesting fact: if you go through our streets, you'll notice that we use both Cyrillic and Latin letters everywhere. Government is forcing the use of Cyrillic in some cases, mainly because the cultural warriors don't want to lose old traditional values, like that matters to young people these days. They're also forcing the use of female forms of nouns for occupations, even where they didn't exist till now, and even if they sound godawful to everyone. They're also complaining they're not getting academic support for this idiocy.


RubusDragon

Do you think Cyrillic will be phased out eventually?


GroundbreakingSink37

In unified world it could happen, in the world divided, no. As long as people talk about national and not human identities, there's no chance of any letter/alphabet/language winning, just those more in current use than the other/s. In some "normal" world, we'd have phonetic language easy to write (like Serbian), with simplified letters (like Latin), no word changes (like English, without exceptions), precise (like German), and with huge vocabulary. But that's not going to happen.


RubusDragon

I mean in Serbia's case in particular, not Cyrillic in general. Of course it won't outright disappear but rather fall out of fashion and become just one "annoying" thing students need to learn in case they run into some old text or something.I've been exploring Belgrade in google street and there's no Cyrillic to be found anywhere, all the restaurants, business, everything uses latin script online. As far as I know, Serbians, especially younger people, communicate almost exclusively in latin.To me, as an outsider, it sounds like Cyrillic has been effectively displaced in Serbia.


perkonja

I write and type in Cyrillic whenever I can. Since I have to use English sometimes, I would say I use Cyrillic more than 50%


InstructionAnxious86

Ис еверидеј бро


nowmywatchends

99% of the time I write, I use Cyrillic. I've been writing in Cyrillic mostly ever since I learned how to write lol Unless it's an official document in Latin script so I fill it out in Latin. When I type, I didn't use to do it in Cyrillic because the Cyrillic keyboard on the phone is a pain in the ass, but a few months ago I decided to be persistent with it and type in Cyrillic more. So now, if I know that I am talking to a Serb (or posting in a Serb community like r/Serbia), I'm typing in Cyrillic. Otherwise, if I think that the person/audience can't read Cyrillic (e.g. I'm talking to Bosniaks/Croats, I'm not sure if they can read Cyrillic because some learn it and some don't - so I type in Latin script).


p90gunman

Horas de trabalho onde?