When Language Becomes Identity

An Englishman in the Balkans is a weekly podcast about the people, places and everyday life of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told by David Bailey, who has lived here for more than 25 years. New episodes arrive every Tuesday.

Language is never simply a collection of words. It carries memories, family stories, humour, history and a sense of where we belong.

In this episode, I speak with Nick Nasev, an Australian-born chartered linguist, translator, writer and editor with Macedonian roots. Nick has spent almost 25 years working professionally with several Balkan languages, including Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Macedonian and Bulgarian.

Nick grew up surrounded by different languages in Australia. As a child, however, his family was advised to stop speaking Macedonian to him because it was believed that using more than one language would confuse him.

That experience almost caused him to lose his mother tongue.

We talk about what happens when a language gradually disappears within a family. Nick explains that the loss goes far beyond vocabulary. When younger generations can no longer fully understand their parents or grandparents, they may also lose access to the stories, cultural references and meanings carried within everyday expressions.

Our conversation then turns to the Balkans, where the question of whether someone speaks Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian or Montenegrin can become surprisingly sensitive.

After more than 25 years of living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I still occasionally find myself stepping carefully through that linguistic minefield. Nick explains why relatively small differences in words, accents and pronunciation can become powerful markers of identity and belonging.

We also discuss Australian English, accents as badges of identity, the languages of the former Yugoslavia, and whether younger generations in the Balkan diaspora will continue speaking the languages of their parents and grandparents.

This is a thoughtful, personal and occasionally amusing conversation about migration, family, language and the complicated question of where we truly belong.

Guest: Nick Nasev

Topics: Balkan languages, language and identity, mother-tongue loss, diaspora, multilingual families, Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, accents and belonging.

You can find out More about Nick at:

Substack: https://nicknasev.substack.com/ for my writing about Balkan things.

For Australian English: https://australianenglishwithnick.substack.com/

My website: www.nicknasev.com

Interested in more of the translation side of things?: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-nasev/

and depending on what language, I have Facebook profiles:

Macedonian: https://www.facebook.com/NickNasevMacedonianToEnglishTranslator/

Bulgarian: https://www.facebook.com/NickNasevBulgarianToEnglishTranslator/

Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian/Montenegrin: https://www.facebook.com/NickNasevBosnianCroatianSerbianToEnglishTranslator/

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