# Traffic across language borders



## vitacit (Feb 8, 2008)

bratislava, capital of slovak republic, and city where i live, is the nice example of the border city. it's the only capital in the world that borders two countries (austria and hungary), plus czech republic is some 50 kms on the highway. the highways go to austria and hungary, plus there are some local border crossings everywhere around. from the history, bratislava has been always four-lingual city (german, hungarian, slovak and hebrew) and with the schengen is the area around totally open. with almost 0% unemployment, a lot of work opportunities and life has bratislava some 120% of EU standard. due to this, the prices of houses and land are rather higher and many slovaks prefer to live behind the border - either in hungary or austria, some of them commute from czech republic even. surprisingly, austria side of the border (which is very close to bratislava city center) is far cheaper and for the price of 3 rooms flat (let's say 70 square meters) one can buy nice house with the garden or even larger property in hungary. i've noticed that in the villages around (kittsee, berg, pama, wolfsthal) austrian placed also tables written in slovak, many slovaks give their kids to austrian or hungarian schools while they work in bratislava. the connection behind the border is very good as the roads are good and the traffic is not high so one can be on 20 minutes at work from behind the border, while it might take one hour in the traffic jam to get from one end of bratislava to the other end. also, morning trains to vienna and afternoon trains back to BA are full as many slovaks live in bratislava and work in vienna. many people here speak german or austrian so the language barrier is small even those languages belong to different language groups. due to the raising number of slovaks living in AUT and HUN, bratislava has placed bus lines to rajka (HUN) and wolfshal/hainburg (AUT) which are part of bratislava traffic system.


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## vitacit (Feb 8, 2008)

*...*

oh, sorry for some mistakes but i wrote while working in the office))) at the end i meant no german and austrian but german and hungarian. although german here at the very east of austria is very specific, too....



vitacit said:


> bratislava, capital of slovak republic, and city where i live, is the nice example of the border city. it's the only capital in the world that borders two countries (austria and hungary), plus czech republic is some 50 kms on the highway. the highways go to austria and hungary, plus there are some local border crossings everywhere around. from the history, bratislava has been always four-lingual city (german, hungarian, slovak and hebrew) and with the schengen is the area around totally open. with almost 0% unemployment, a lot of work opportunities and life has bratislava some 120% of EU standard. due to this, the prices of houses and land are rather higher and many slovaks prefer to live behind the border - either in hungary or austria, some of them commute from czech republic even. surprisingly, austria side of the border (which is very close to bratislava city center) is far cheaper and for the price of 3 rooms flat (let's say 70 square meters) one can buy nice house with the garden or even larger property in hungary. i've noticed that in the villages around (kittsee, berg, pama, wolfsthal) austrian placed also tables written in slovak, many slovaks give their kids to austrian or hungarian schools while they work in bratislava. the connection behind the border is very good as the roads are good and the traffic is not high so one can be on 20 minutes at work from behind the border, while it might take one hour in the traffic jam to get from one end of bratislava to the other end. also, morning trains to vienna and afternoon trains back to BA are full as many slovaks live in bratislava and work in vienna. many people here speak german or austrian so the language barrier is small even those languages belong to different language groups. due to the raising number of slovaks living in AUT and HUN, bratislava has placed bus lines to rajka (HUN) and wolfshal/hainburg (AUT) which are part of bratislava traffic system.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

It always fascinates me, driving through the countryside of Burgenland, Austria and see the freshly painted commie blocks of Bratislava on the horizon. And of course driving on the outskirts of Bratislava, listening to Ö3 radio and looking over the plains of Burgenland.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

I wonder if there are any people from Zagreb living in Slovenia. I haven't heard of it.


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## alserrod (Dec 27, 2007)

I love basket and if you see host cities of next Eurobasket it is said that Spain will play against two host countries because arena where they will play is about 100 km from Zagreb (and they are in the same group than Slovenia and Croatia)


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

alserrod said:


> I love basket and if you see host cities of next Eurobasket it is said that Spain will play against two host countries because arena where they will play is about 100 km from Zagreb


More precisely, in Ljubljana. :lol: C'mon, it's not a village.

Anyway, there are people from Trieste and Gorizia living in Slovenia.


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## Broccolli (May 30, 2010)

Verso said:


> *More precisely, in Ljubljana*. :lol: C'mon, it's not a village.
> 
> Anyway, there are people from Trieste and Gorizia living in Slovenia.


I think he is talking about Celje


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Verso said:


> I wonder if there are any people from Zagreb living in Slovenia. I haven't heard of it.


I know one man who moved from Zagreb to Ljubljana, and lived there for several years in Ljubljana. In another case, a girl I met on the train from Zagreb to Ljubljana, she is studying in Ljubljana, it means there are people who have moved to Slovenia (permanently or temporarily).


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## Broccolli (May 30, 2010)

There are also a lot of students from Rijeka and Pula which are studying in Ljubljana.


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

I know people from Rijeka studying in Trieste. They studied Italian as foreign language at high school in Croatia.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Ok, but I meant people who used to live in Zagreb, now live somewhere in Slovenia close to Zagreb (Obrežje, Dobova, Brežice ...) and still work in Zagreb. Like that example of Bratislava with Austria and Hungary nearby.


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## Broccolli (May 30, 2010)

Verso said:


> *Ok, but I meant people who used to live in Zagreb, now live somewhere in Slovenia close to Zagreb (Obrežje, Dobova, Brežice ...) and still work in Zagreb*. Like that example of Bratislava with Austria and Hungary nearby.


I would say that is other way around.. living in Zagreb working in Slovenia.:lol:


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

Verso said:


> Ok, but I meant people who used to live in Zagreb, now live somewhere in Slovenia close to Zagreb (Obrežje, Dobova, Brežice ...) and still work in Zagreb. Like that example of Bratislava with Austria and Hungary nearby.


Or people from Salzburg living in a nearby German village and still commuting to Salzburg to work, I know one. In this case no border controls neither language barrier.
Same with the many Lombardians working in Ticino.


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Verso said:


> Ok, but I meant people who used to live in Zagreb, now live somewhere in Slovenia close to Zagreb (Obrežje, Dobova, Brežice ...) and still work in Zagreb. Like that example of Bratislava with Austria and Hungary nearby.


I think most of these cases have in north-western Croatia, say around the city of Varazdin, in Croatian Zagorje region.


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## Verso (Jun 5, 2006)

Broccolli said:


> I would say that is other way around.. living in Zagreb working in Slovenia.:lol:


Sure, plenty of jobs in Brežice. :lol: (unless you wanna drive from Zagreb to Ljubljana and back every workday)


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Broccolli said:


> I would say that is other way around.. living in Zagreb working in Slovenia.:lol:


I agree with this statement, but there are cases of reversal, only in a much smaller number.


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## Broccolli (May 30, 2010)

Yes Zagorje region in my neighborhood in LJ there are also few cars with KR licence plates. At first i thought that it is Kranj licence plate but when i looked closer i saw that is croatian Kranj.. a.k.a Krapina


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## Broccolli (May 30, 2010)

Verso said:


> Sure, plenty of jobs in Brežice. :lol: (unless you wanna drive from Zagreb to Ljubljana and back every workday)


Well Krško nuclear power plant is close


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

How it works in Slovenia, such as whether there are cases in which a someone living in one country and work in another? To what extent are such cases, and have given up more often be Austria or Italy?


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

I think I could see on TV, and there are cases where people cross into Slovenia from Gorski Kotar and Ozalj and cross the border every day for going to work


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Suburbanist said:


> Are there many cross-border commutes between the Serbo-Croatian areas in Bosnia and either Croatia and Serbia?


There are approximately a lot of transition, a lot of people have relatives in all three states, why do you ask?


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## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

oakwood.... said:


> Why do you think so?


Well, because I already told so: Border checks can prevent people from travelling, it is easier to not have border checks then to have them. Furthermore, inside the EU it is quite easy to live and work in an other state (with some excemptions). HR is not an EU-state (yet) and unless there are treaties between HR ans SLO about working in each other countries, people could face more difficulties besides border checks (like tax payment, insurance, etc.)

And most important: In the old days everyone in SFRJ learned Serbo-Croatian, but as far as I know (and what I have encountered on my own), not every Slovene speaks or understands it very well anymore.


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Palance said:


> Well, because I already told so: Border checks can prevent people from travelling, it is easier to not have border checks then to have them. Furthermore, inside the EU it is quite easy to live and work in an other state (with some excemptions). HR is not an EU-state (yet) and unless there are treaties between HR ans SLO about working in each other countries, people could face more difficulties besides border checks (like tax payment, insurance, etc.)
> 
> And most important: In the old days everyone in SFRJ learned Serbo-Croatian, *but as far as I know (and what I have encountered on my own), not every Slovene speaks or understands it very well anymore*.


Everything can be understood with a good will, I was in Slovenia yesterday, and here I was again today, and I had no problems in understanding.


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## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

There is a big difference between understanding and speaking a language fluently. Working in a country needs an other level of understanding/speaking a language then just visiting it as a tourist.

I can understand some Slovene as well, but for sure not enough to get a job there.


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Palance said:


> There is a big difference between understanding and speaking a language fluently. Working in a country needs an other level of understanding/speaking a language then just visiting it as a tourist.
> 
> I can understand some Slovene as well, but for sure not enough to get a job there.


You're right, with this I totally agree, to work in any country is necessary language skills and fluent speech. There is a big difference between the main tourism conversation and language skills for everyday use.


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## italystf (Aug 2, 2011)

Palance said:


> There is a big difference between understanding and speaking a language fluently. Working in a country needs an other level of understanding/speaking a language then just visiting it as a tourist.
> 
> I can understand some Slovene as well, but for sure not enough to get a job there.


Where are you from? I though you was Dutch.


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## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

I am Dutch - sort of.. :nuts:

(I'm half Bosnian)


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Palance said:


> I am Dutch - sort of.. :nuts:
> 
> (I'm half Bosnian)


That's probably not your fault


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Palance said:


> I am Dutch - sort of.. :nuts:
> 
> (I'm half Bosnian)


Do you understand or speak the language spoken by the people from Bosnia?


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## Palance (Mar 23, 2005)

Da


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## oakwood.... (Apr 24, 2011)

Palance said:


> Da


Onda dobro Jarane, kaže se "Koliko jezika govoriš, za toliko ljudi vrijediš". 

:cheers:


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## volodaaaa (Apr 9, 2013)

Traffic signs marking inhabited area with communal name in Slovakia.

slovak-hungarian mixed area


















slovak-ukrainian mixed area









and one of two villages with autochtonous german minority









The condition to use dual names is satisfield also in one borough of Bratislava (Jarovce) with noticeable ratio of Croatian inhabitants (Hrvatski Jarndorf). But I can't tell you why the sign is not used that way. 

The dual names don't have to be used in case when the written name is the same in both languages. Then it depends on the mayor whether the dual signs are installed or not. A little problem emerged few years ago in case of Roma minority in which language all names are similar. Some critics has compared usage of such unnecessary signs to yellow stars used to mark Jewish people during WW2 :nuts: associations of some people are borderless:cheers2:


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