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PRISTINA — At least since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, common ground has been all too rare in the Balkans, and, where it exists, it has tended to be a source of bitter dispute or even conflict.
But a group of young people from Belgrade and Pristina, two of the most stubbornly antagonistic capitals in the region, are helping to reshape the “muhabet.”
That’s “conversation” or “small talk” in the vernacular. It’s a word, borrowed from Ottoman Turkish but with etymological roots in Arabic or Classical Persian, that is used by Albanian- and Serbian-speakers alike, in addition to Macedonians and Greeks.
It’s also just one of more than 2,000 entries in the latest edition of The Dictionary Of Words That Do Not Need Translation, an online publication that highlights words and cognates spanning ethnic and national divides across a border fraught with misunderstanding.
Backed by NGOs, the dictionary was authored by local linguists with research and contributions by students from the University of Belgrade in Serbia’s capital and the University of Pristina in Kosovo’s capital.
Some of the other notable entries include the words for neighbors (“komshinj” or “komsija”), equal or together (“barabar”), and rolling pin (“okllai” or “oklagija”).
“When it comes to Kosovo or Serbia, there are always some uncomfortable topics that create discord between us,” says Borivoje Lazic, an ethnic Serb student from the majority-Albanian town of Bujanovac in southern Serbia. “[But] these are the things that should actually be written about.”
Lazic says his love for the Albanian language began with music. “I remember that in high school I listened to some songs and I didn’t understand a single word, [but] I liked that positive energy,” he says. “I started researching and found out that there is a department [of the Albanian language] only in Belgrade.” His parents, he adds, “were delighted with the idea” of him pursuing Albanian studies at the University of Belgrade. He’s now studying for a master’s degree.
Serbia continues to deny recognition of its former province, Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 after a bloody conflict and a decade of transitional UN administration but remains excluded from many international organizations.
The European Union has mediated talks since 2013 aimed at normalizing relations between the two neighbors, who share a 366-kilometer border. But lingering resentments are high, and officials on both sides have been reluctant to abandon nationalist rhetoric in pursuit of a breakthrough.
Ethnic cleansing and other atrocities during fighting in the 1990s left many areas ethnically homogeneous, although ethnic Serbs predominate in northern Kosovo and ethnic Albanians are a majority in a few communities in southern Serbia.
Two recent outbreaks of violence in northern Kosovo — when ethnic Serbs clashed with NATO peacekeepers in May followed by a deadly cross-border assault on Kosovar police by commando-style gunmen in September — have underscored the risk to regional stability posed by ongoing Albanian-Serb enmity.
Decades of informal efforts to increase communication and understanding between majority Serbs and minority ethnic Albanians on the Serbian side of the border, and between majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs on the Kosovar side of the border, have gained limited traction.
The Dictionary Of Words That Do Not Need Translation is a response to the constant barrage of media and other messages on social platforms suggesting Serbs and Kosovar Albanians have little in common, say its authors and organizers.
The two main co-authors of the dictionary, linguists Nora Bezera and Marija Orovic, worked with the Belgrade and Pristina students and two Kosovo-based NGOs, Integra and the Center For Affirmative Social Actions CASA. A second edition of the dictionary was launched in Pristina on November 20.
Bezera says all of the entries “are in some way characteristic of the common culture and tradition.” The project, she says, marks a recognition of similarities between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.
“The essence of the project was not only to find words but to unite young people from Kosovo and Serbia,” she tells RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, “bearing in mind that our people have lived in the neighborhood for centuries, but the self-separation of the two communities has prevented us from knowing each other’s cultures and, consequently, our languages.”
In her work as a lecturer and translator, Bezera has promoted language learning to “break down prejudices created over centuries and build new bridges of friendship.” Her work has included an EU-funded public-awareness campaign encouraging cultural diversity.
She says the rapid evolution of “subjective” media, the pervasiveness of English, and a lack of quality translators all contribute to a spread of propaganda in the region. And outside official channels, Bezera argues, it is important to chip away at the obstacles preventing the use of majority and minority languages alike.
More than 90 percent of Kosovo’s population of around 2 million people is ethnic Albanian and an estimated 5 percent ethnic Serb. Ethnic Serbs compose more than 80 percent of Serbia’s nearly 7 million people, while ethnic Albanians represent 1 percent, according to 2022 census figures.
In Serbia, Serbian is the only official language. In Kosovo, however, both Albanian and Serbian are official languages. In both countries, legislation further allows communities to give official status to locally predominant languages.
The University of Belgrade’s Philology Faculty has had an Albanian Language Department for 90 years, stretching back to the early years after what was known colloquially as Yugoslavia changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.
The University of Pristina launched its Balkan Studies program in 2021 in part to explore cultural and linguistic ties with the rest of the Western Balkans, including through the study of the Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Serbian languages.
Elvira Kryeziu, who studies journalism at the University of Pristina, also helped research and introduce The Dictionary Of Words That Do Not Need Translation.
She says she was amazed when she started her work and, along with fellow student Lazic, encountered example after example of words whose meanings were instantly recognizable. “I would ask [Lazic], ‘Is this the same word?’ He’d say ‘yes.’ And then it was just ‘yes, yes, yes, they’re the same words,'” Kryeziu says.
In addition to her native Albanian, Kryeziu speaks English, Italian, and Turkish, and is now learning Serbian. “It’s fun to meet new people, their language and culture,” Kryeziu says. “We found out how much we’re the same.”
Dictionary co-author Orovic says the crossover words represent the “common tradition of both nations.” Those words include the Albanian “qef” and Serbian “cef,” which are cognates for “fun” or “diversion.”
“It’s used to describe the experience of enjoying the moment, without any particular goal or purpose,” Orovic says. “The word emphasizes the importance of small but precious moments in life that make us happy.”
Written by Andy Heil based on reporting by RFE/RL Balkan Service correspondent Sandra Cvetkovic
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