File talk:Serbian language map.PNG

This is not merely because the countries marked red are Slavic-speaking. Croatian is academically considered to be the same language as Serbian, with slight differences in lexicon and orthography. Indeed, Serbian and Croatian were known as Serbo-Croat until recently. In Macedonia, Serbian music etc is quite popular, and the languages are so similar it can take me a couple of seconds to realise I'm reading Macedonian. In Slovenia, Serbian and Croatia music and culture are popular, which leads to further widespread knowledge of the language. Finally, these countries were part of a common state until a mere 15 years ago, and the legacy of that time persists. In addition, cultural ties (hence knowledge of Serbian, in this case) are being re-established. Indeed, a few months ago everyone I met in Slovenia seemed to have at least an intermediate knowledge of the language, and surprisingly the young generation often know Serbian/Croatian better than their parents. --Estavisti 15:47, 15 November 2006 (UTC)