Words R Us
- Croatian (hrv)

Croatian is used mainly in Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the official and literary standard of Croatia, one of official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, the Serbian province of Vojvodina, the European Union and a recognized minority language elsewhere in Serbia and other neighbouring countries. There are approximately 7 million native speakers of Croatian and another 7 million who speak Croatian as a second language.

Standard Croatian is based on the Shtokavian dialect and is the main version of the language used in literature. Other dialects include Kaykavski, and Chakavian, although some classify them as separate languages.

Croatian contains many words of Latin and German origin. Many new Croatian words are created by combining and adapting existing ones. Croatian is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin, but most Croatian linguists regard Croatian as a separate language that is considered key to national identity. The issue is sensitive in Croatia as the notion of a separate language being the most important characteristic of a nation is widely accepted, stemming from the 19th-century history of Europe.

The oldest texts in Croatian date back to the 11th century and were written in the Glagolitic alphabet, mainly in Croatia. Up to the mid 19th century there was no standard written form of Croatian, but there was extensive literature in different dialects.

The Croatian Latin alphabet was mostly designed in 1835 by Ljudevit Gaj, a Croatian linguist, who based it on the Czech and Polish alphabets. Today his alphabet is used in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, and variations of his alphabet are used for Slovene and Macedonian.

Sources: Wikipedia
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