To which language should you translate to localize in Croatia?
What we know from our community
Croatia is a small but geographically and climatically diverse country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe. Its coast lies on the Adriatic Sea, which historically had a great influence on Croatian language and culture.
The country’s capital and largest city, Zagreb, forms the country’s primary subdivision, while other major urban centers include Split, Rijeka and Osijek. These cities are centers of Croatian dialects, each of them very similar to the other, but with clear-cut differences that spice up the richness of Croatian language and its variations.
While the eastern part of Croatia, Slavonija, is dominated by a dialect most similar to standard Croatian or Shtokavian, people in the western part of the country on the border with Slovenia speak in the Kajkavian dialect, most notably known for having a lot of Germanisms because Croatia was once ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The southern part of Croatia, also known as Dalmatia, speaks in Ikavian dialect, filled with words borrowed from Italian, the region’s former ruler and trading partner.
Croatian culture is known for being hospitable and having an easy-going attitude towards social interactions, so carefully groomed for generations with the help of the famous Croatian coffee culture, when friends and family meet in coffee shops to talk for hours.
Croatian
Hrvatska je mala, ali geografski i klimatski raznolika zemlja smještena na raskrižju Srednje i Jugoistočne Europe. Njena obala leži na Jadranskom moru koje je oduvijek imalo velik utjecaj na hrvatski jezik i kulturu.
Glavni grad i najveći grad zemlje, Zagreb, poslovno je i demografsko središte, dok su drugi važni urbani centri Split, Rijeka i Osijek. Ovi gradovi čine središta hrvatskih narječja koja, iako slična jedno drugome, posjeduju jasne razlike koje obogaćuju hrvatski jezik i njegove varijacije.
Dok istočnim dijelom Hrvatske, Slavonijom, dominira narječje najbliže standardnom hrvatskom jeziku, odnosno štokavskom narječju, stanovništvo u zapadnom dijelu, uz granicu sa Slovenijom, govori kajkavskim narječjem punim germanizama jer je Hrvatska nekoć bila pod vlašću Austro-Ugarske monarhije. Južni dio Hrvatske, Dalmacija, govori čakavskim narječjem, ispunjenim riječima posuđenim iz talijanskog jezika, budući da je Italija bila bivši vladar i važan trgovački partner te regije.
Hrvatska kultura poznata je po gostoljubivosti i opuštenom odnosu kada je riječ o obiteljskim i prijateljskim dinamikama, pažljivo njegovanim kroz generacije uz pomoć poznate hrvatske kulture ispijanja kave, kada se prijatelji i obitelj sastaju u kafićima te razgovaraju satima.
Iva Trcic, translator, writer and communication specialist
LANGUAGE INSIGHT
Official language
Croatian (91.4%)
Actual languages
Croatian (91.4%), Serbian (4.4%), Italian (0.5%), Albanian (0.4%), Bosnian (0.3%), Hungarian (0.2%), other (2.8%).
What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Croatia
(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)
63/150 localize by translating into Croatian
1/150 localizes by translating into Croatian, French and Simplified Chinese
1/150 localizes by translating into both Croatian and Croatian Sign Language
1/150 localizes by translating into Spanish
1/150 localizes by translating into Italian
1/150 localizes by translating into both French and German
1/150 localizes by translating into Italian, Spanish, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Thai, Ukrainian, Russian, Japanese, Turkish, Romanian and Bahasa Indonesia
3M
ABB
Accenture
Adidas
Adobe
Airbnb
Aldi
Amazon
American Airlines
American Express
Apple
Audi
Autodesk
Avis
Bayer
BMW
Booking.com
Bosch
British Airways
Bumble
Burberry
BYD
Canon
Capgemini
Cartier
Caterpillar
Chevrolet
Cisco Systems
Citibank
Coca-Cola
Costco
Dell
Deloitte
Delta
DHL
Disney+
Dyson
eBay
Eli Lilly
Emirates
Ernst & Young
Facebook
FedEx
Ford
Four Seasons
Fujifilm
GE
Gillette
GoDaddy
Google
Gucci
Haier
Heineken
Hermès
Hertz
Hilton
Hisense
Hitachi
Honda
Hotels.com
HP
HP Enterprise
HSBC
Huawei
Hyatt
Hyundai
IBM
IKEA
Intel
InterContinental Hotels
J&J
Jack Daniel's
Jehovah’s Witnesses
John Deere
Kellogg's
Kia
KPMG
LOréal
Land Rover
LEGO
Lenovo
Lexus
LG
Louis Vuitton
Lululemon
LUSH
Marriott
MasterCard
McDonald's
Mercedes-Benz
Merck
Microsoft
Mitsubishi Electric
Nestlé
Netflix
Nike
Nikon
Nintendo
Nio
Nissan
NIVEA
Oracle
Pampers
Panasonic
PayPal
Pepsi
Pfizer
Philips
Pitney Bowes
Porsche
Procter & Gamble
PWC
Revolut
Rolex
Royal Caribbean
Salesforce
Samsung
Sanofi
SAP
Sephora
Shopify
Siemens
Sony
Spotify
Starbucks
Steelcase
Stripe
Subaru
Tesla
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Tiffany
Tinder
Toshiba
Toyota
TripAdvisor
Uber
United Airlines
UPS
Visa
Volkswagen
Volvo Cars
Vrbo
Walmart
Western Union
Wikipedia
Wise
WordPress
Workday
Xerox
Xiaomi (Mi)
Zara
Zoom
Available in
If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data
Imports $27.2 billion (2020). Crude Petroleum ($1.22B), Packaged Medicaments ($943M), Cars ($919M), Vaccines, blood, antisera, toxins and cultures ($835M), and Refined Petroleum ($805M), importing mostly from Germany ($3.82B), Italy ($3.19B), Slovenia ($2.98B), Hungary ($1.99B), and Austria ($1.58B).
Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of age) • 86% have an account with a financial institution • 35% have a credit card • 54% make online purchases
Ease of doing business It is moderately easy to conduct business (rated 73.6 out of 100) ranked 16th out of 24 European and central Asian countries, and ranked 51st out of 190 countries worldwide (2022, World Bank).
Global Innovation Index Ranked 27th out of 39 European countries, and 42nd out of 132 worldwide.
The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.
Exports $17.7 billion (2020). Crude Petroleum ($754M), Packaged Medicaments ($719M), Refined Petroleum ($610M), Vaccines, blood, antisera, toxins and cultures ($502M), and Electrical Transformers ($402M), exporting mostly to Germany ($2.16B), Italy ($2.11B), Slovenia ($1.73B), Bosnia and Herzegovina ($1.34B), and Hungary ($1.26B).
Main local online stores njuskalo.hr, ebay.com and aliexpress.com, amazon.com and ikea.com
Economic freedom ‘Moderately free’ (rated 66.4 out of 100) ranked 26th out of 44 European countries and ranked 46th out of 186 countries worldwide (2022, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).
Specialisation is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage, an index that takes the ratio between Croatia observed and expected exports in each product
Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product, the barchart show only products that Croatia is not specialized in
Information channels: Public broadcaster HRT is funded by advertising and a license fee. It faces stiff competition from private networks, including leading national station Nova TV, which is owned by a US investment company. TV is the main source of news, followed by the internet. As well as a digital terrestrial TV (DTT) service, there are established cable, satellite and internet protocol TV (IPTV) operators. Radio is a popular medium, with national and local commercial networks operating alongside public HRT. Austrian and German media companies have stakes in print media. A tabloid, 24 Sata, is the best-selling newspaper. In line with worldwide trends, circulation figures for the printed press are falling. Reporters face harassment and occasional attacks, says US-based Freedom House. Reporters Without Borders says the government “meddling” at HRT is a problem
Media language Predominantly French, English, Arabic
Information channels: Television is France’s most popular medium. The flagship network, TF1, is privately-owned and public broadcaster France Televisions is funded from the TV licence fee and advertising revenue. Satellite and cable offer a proliferation of channels. Major pay-TV operator Canal+ is owned by media giant Vivendi. Digital terrestrial TV carries dozens of channels. France has a free press and more than 100 daily newspapers. Most of them are in private hands and are not linked to political parties. Public Radio France serves a domestic audience and French overseas territories. Commercial radios, particularly RTL and Europe 1, command large audiences. France is a force in international broadcasting. Radio France Internationale is a leading outlet and its Arabic-language Monte Carlo Doualiya service broadcasts across the Middle East. Global news channel France 24 TV broadcasts in French, English and Arabic. It has said it aims to present “a different point of view from the Anglo-Saxon world”.
The press
Le Monde – respected national daily, considered to be France’s newspaper of record Liberation – national daily, founded in 1973 by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, centre-left leaning Le Figaro – national daily, centre-right leaning Ouest France – Rennes-based; France’s best-selling daily L’Express– news weekly Le Point – news weekly
Television
France 2 – national, main public TV network France 3– national, public France 5 – national, public, educational BFM TV– national, commercial news channel TF1– national, commercial M6 – national, commercial La Chaine Info – rolling news channel owned by TF1 France 24 – publicly-owned global news channel; services in French, English, Arabic TV5 Monde – international French-language TV, with programs from French, Belgian, Swiss and Canadian public broadcasters Canal Plus– national, subscription channel
Radio
Radio France– operates national and regional outlets, including speech-based France Inter and all-news France Info Radio France Internationale (RFI)– international broadcaster, via shortwave and FM relays worldwide Europe 1 – major commercial station, news and entertainment RTL – major commercial station, speech and music NRJ – commercial, leading hit music network
Ethnicities This varies according to ethnic background and workplace. Generally, being Serbian or Roma, to a lesser extent, will have little impact in the workplace. At work, Croatians tend to keep their thoughts and feelings private. Occasionally, Croatians may make derogatory ethnic comments to Serbians –and other ethnicities – when irritated or in disagreement with them. Otherwise, attitudes regarding ethnicity are not expressed in the presence of the person and will not affect work. Stereotypes of certain ethnic groups exist but will not affect work. Ethnicity plays a minor role in the workplace, except during the hiring phase. Ethnicity plays a role when applying for a job.
Religion Religion and nationality have no impact in the workplace. Croatia is a secular state and religion is not discussed in the workplace, nor given any importance.
Gender Women are as educated as men and thus have an equal opportunity for advancement in the professional hierarchies. However, salary equality is still poorly established, as is authority in a workplace.
The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com
Languages research
Languages spoken in Croatia
Legend
Italian
Croatian
Czech
Slovak
Serbian Pannonian Rusyn
Hungarian
Pannonian Rusyn
Pannonian Rusyn Hungarian
Serbian
The language research that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com
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