Montenegro's official language will be Montenegrin

Hunddreds of millions of people worldwide speak English, although their respective countries are not the part of the British Empire, not part of British nation nor they belong to the English people. Ditto for the speakers of Spanish, German and Arabic. Although
dialects spoken locally vary from region to region, the name of the language is one.
The language does not belong to nation.

With Serbian, it is the other way around and we must aks why. Every nation continues to use the language but rebadges it for it's local use with own national or state name. The nonsense of BHS becomes BHSM.

Perhaps Serbia as a domicile country of Serbs as a people
and guardian of Serbian cultural heritage should copyright the Serbian dictionary, grammar and usage and sue for copyright infringement and illegal reverse engineering - everyone who wants to speak different language has to invent it, not to use rebadged Serbian as it's own.

Bob,

I agree with your assessment. The absurdity of Montenegro renaming a centuries old language is pure farce. It is akin to an American saying he speaks "American", a Canadian speaking "Canadian" and an Irishman speaking "Irish". Truly bizarre.

Imagine the farce at a conference where a Serb, Montenegran, Croat and Bosnian meet and each demands a translator!

As you correctly write, many countries speak English yet are not English. They have enough confidence and pride in themselves to know that saying you speak English, will not somehow compromise their patriotic and cultural identity.

I did not realize that a NEW language had recently been developed in the world.

I can only speak Serbian and English, i wonder if this *NEW* language Montenegro invented isnt hard to learn.

i don't know whats going on but i am Montenegrin and the language we all speak is Serbian dialect there's no such thing as a new language? everything else is good but this language idea.

Can I claim to speak Serbian, croatian, bosnian and Montenegrin now.

on top of that I speak canadien and quebecois.

What a big joke

RE: Montenegrin

There is no such language as "Montenegrin", "Macedonian" , or "Bosnian" languages.

These are all dialects coming primarily from the Serbian language with the exception of "Macedonian" which is mostly Bulgaria slavic dialect.

"Slovenian" is a mix of Austria and Slavic, Croatian is the sister language of Serbia .

This is ridicules and it won't stand.

Only 20% of people polled in Montenegro about their language said the speak "Montenegrin"....what ever that is, so now they are going against their wishes? maybe that 20% were all people like Ranko Krivokapić in the government exclusively.

I strongly doubt this will pass. Ranko Krivokapić is not the leader of Montenegro and he can't pass what ever he likes.

I am a Montenegrin locally but a Serb nationally period.

This is akin to there being a dozen different official languages in the USA.
ie: Noo Yawkian, Tixin, Georgiany'all, Californjuan, Minnisotuhun etc.

Still not as bad as the UK. A bloke from one county can barely understand one from the next! ;-)

I don't blame them! This is just a result of waging wars and being the black sheep of the Balkans. No one (not even your Montenegrin brothers) want to have anything to do with you. You can spoof the initiative as much as you want, but I think you should at the underlining reason. This is the last chance for the serbian people to reflect on what they committed (or was committed in their name) during the 1990s.

Perhaps they will adopt "Latinica" also - so they can be as their Veliki Brat?

This is truly absurd.

I agree with all of you that whether you are bosnian, montenegrian or serbia is all the same , the language is the same. But , the reason for this is that everybody is trying to distance itself from serbia period.No one in this part of the world wants to be assosiated with serbs in any way.Who would have dreamed that one day montenegrians will just decide they no longer can live under same roof with serbs. Serbs have a lot of thinking to do and soul searching and to ask for forgivness , and than maybe it will change the attidue a little bit of its neigbors.

When I set out to learn what was then a single language called 'Serbo-Croat'I didn't realise that I'd end up as a polyglot with a reasonable knowledge of Serbian, Croatian, Bosniak, and now Montenegrin!

I learned the Ekavski dialect (and, admittedly, I'm not perfect at it) because for me it was easier to pronounce some of the words - 'verovatno' is easier, for example, than the Croatian 'Vjerojatno'.

As other commentators have said, we English speakers do not feel we are all one nation just because we share a common language, and it does not undermine our separate national identities.

One commentator feared that in the future, Serbs, Montebegrins and other former Yugoslavs might insist on translators. This already happened during the 1991-95 war between Serbs and Croats. It is the sign of the madness going on in the Balkans, which, in turn, is a by-product of the even more subtle insanity of western hegemony and interference in Balkan affairs.

I am Canadien, so do we in Canada speak Canadien or English? This language thing in Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia is foolish! Basically its all the same language "Serbian" and these countries trying to call it by another name just makes them look ridiculous in the eyes of any educated person in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DztrX5dXmxU

Cool. I will now be tri-lingual.

Serbs are truly a multilingual lot ;)

"No one (not even your Montenegrin brothers) want to have anything to do with you.(George Carlin, 1. August 2007 03:22)"
I take great offense at such comments. You do not speak for me or my fellow Montenegrins. I may be a Montenegrin, but I am also a Serb. I supported Montenegrin Independence, but not because I dislike Serbs or Serbia, but because smaller governments are easier to govern, and Montenegro will do better economically on its own. I married a Serb, I like them so much.
Calling Montenegrin a different language is rather silly in my opinion. Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks and Montenegrins are ALL the same people, we all speak the same language, we're just different religions. Do you know of any other people or races in the world that can change their ethnic identity simply by changing their religion? I do not.
At a time when the rest of Europe is Uniting, we in the Balkans are obsessed with dividing and looking to create differences where they simply do not exist. Its simply madness...

I don't blame them! This is just a result of waging wars and being the black sheep of the Balkans. No one (not even your Montenegrin brothers) want to have anything to do with you. You can spoof the initiative as much as you want, but I think you should at the underlining reason. This is the last chance for the serbian people to reflect on what they committed (or was committed in their name) during the 1990s.

This is ridicules and it won't stand.

Only 20% of people polled in Montenegro about their language said the speak "Montenegrin"....what ever that is, so now they are going against their wishes? maybe that 20% were all people like Ranko Krivokapić in the government exclusively.

I strongly doubt this will pass. Ranko Krivokapić is not the leader of Montenegro and he can't pass what ever he likes.

I am a Montenegrin locally but a Serb nationally period.

Cool. I will now be tri-lingual.

Perhaps they will adopt "Latinica" also - so they can be as their Veliki Brat?

This is truly absurd.

I agree with all of you that whether you are bosnian, montenegrian or serbia is all the same , the language is the same. But , the reason for this is that everybody is trying to distance itself from serbia period.No one in this part of the world wants to be assosiated with serbs in any way.Who would have dreamed that one day montenegrians will just decide they no longer can live under same roof with serbs. Serbs have a lot of thinking to do and soul searching and to ask for forgivness , and than maybe it will change the attidue a little bit of its neigbors.

I am Canadien, so do we in Canada speak Canadien or English? This language thing in Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia is foolish! Basically its all the same language "Serbian" and these countries trying to call it by another name just makes them look ridiculous in the eyes of any educated person in the world.

Hunddreds of millions of people worldwide speak English, although their respective countries are not the part of the British Empire, not part of British nation nor they belong to the English people. Ditto for the speakers of Spanish, German and Arabic. Although
dialects spoken locally vary from region to region, the name of the language is one.
The language does not belong to nation.

With Serbian, it is the other way around and we must aks why. Every nation continues to use the language but rebadges it for it's local use with own national or state name. The nonsense of BHS becomes BHSM.

Perhaps Serbia as a domicile country of Serbs as a people
and guardian of Serbian cultural heritage should copyright the Serbian dictionary, grammar and usage and sue for copyright infringement and illegal reverse engineering - everyone who wants to speak different language has to invent it, not to use rebadged Serbian as it's own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DztrX5dXmxU

Bob,

I agree with your assessment. The absurdity of Montenegro renaming a centuries old language is pure farce. It is akin to an American saying he speaks "American", a Canadian speaking "Canadian" and an Irishman speaking "Irish". Truly bizarre.

Imagine the farce at a conference where a Serb, Montenegran, Croat and Bosnian meet and each demands a translator!

As you correctly write, many countries speak English yet are not English. They have enough confidence and pride in themselves to know that saying you speak English, will not somehow compromise their patriotic and cultural identity.

I did not realize that a NEW language had recently been developed in the world.

i don't know whats going on but i am Montenegrin and the language we all speak is Serbian dialect there's no such thing as a new language? everything else is good but this language idea.

I can only speak Serbian and English, i wonder if this *NEW* language Montenegro invented isnt hard to learn.

Can I claim to speak Serbian, croatian, bosnian and Montenegrin now.

on top of that I speak canadien and quebecois.

What a big joke

RE: Montenegrin

There is no such language as "Montenegrin", "Macedonian" , or "Bosnian" languages.

These are all dialects coming primarily from the Serbian language with the exception of "Macedonian" which is mostly Bulgaria slavic dialect.

"Slovenian" is a mix of Austria and Slavic, Croatian is the sister language of Serbia .

This is akin to there being a dozen different official languages in the USA.
ie: Noo Yawkian, Tixin, Georgiany'all, Californjuan, Minnisotuhun etc.

Still not as bad as the UK. A bloke from one county can barely understand one from the next! ;-)

Serbs are truly a multilingual lot ;)

When I set out to learn what was then a single language called 'Serbo-Croat'I didn't realise that I'd end up as a polyglot with a reasonable knowledge of Serbian, Croatian, Bosniak, and now Montenegrin!

I learned the Ekavski dialect (and, admittedly, I'm not perfect at it) because for me it was easier to pronounce some of the words - 'verovatno' is easier, for example, than the Croatian 'Vjerojatno'.

As other commentators have said, we English speakers do not feel we are all one nation just because we share a common language, and it does not undermine our separate national identities.

One commentator feared that in the future, Serbs, Montebegrins and other former Yugoslavs might insist on translators. This already happened during the 1991-95 war between Serbs and Croats. It is the sign of the madness going on in the Balkans, which, in turn, is a by-product of the even more subtle insanity of western hegemony and interference in Balkan affairs.

"No one (not even your Montenegrin brothers) want to have anything to do with you.(George Carlin, 1. August 2007 03:22)"
I take great offense at such comments. You do not speak for me or my fellow Montenegrins. I may be a Montenegrin, but I am also a Serb. I supported Montenegrin Independence, but not because I dislike Serbs or Serbia, but because smaller governments are easier to govern, and Montenegro will do better economically on its own. I married a Serb, I like them so much.
Calling Montenegrin a different language is rather silly in my opinion. Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks and Montenegrins are ALL the same people, we all speak the same language, we're just different religions. Do you know of any other people or races in the world that can change their ethnic identity simply by changing their religion? I do not.
At a time when the rest of Europe is Uniting, we in the Balkans are obsessed with dividing and looking to create differences where they simply do not exist. Its simply madness...