In this latest episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, I spoke with Jasna Novak Milić, the director of the Croatian Studies Center at Macquarie University.
The Croatian Studies program at Macquarie University celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. One of a very small number of Croatian Studies programs at university level outside Croatia, Jasna and I took this opportunity to chat about Croatian language learning in Australia, Croatian migrations to Australia, languages in higher education, and heritage language learning.
Broadly speaking, Croatian Studies in Australia attracts three groups of students: first, children and grandchildren of immigrants from former Yugoslavia who learned the language at home and want to study it formally to develop higher levels of proficiency, including academic literacies; second, students with a heritage connection who did not learn the language in the home but want to develop some level of proficiency to connect with extended family, also on visits back to Croatia; and third, a small but growing number of students, with no heritage connection who have developed an interest in Croatian for various reasons. The latter include mature age students who take up the challenge of learning another language later in life for reasons of personal interest and intellectual development.
Dr Jasna Novak Milić in the Croatian Studies Centre Library at Macquarie University
Croatian is a fascinating language in many ways and so the conversation is also a springboard to speak about language politics and language naming, both back in Croatia/former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora. Croatian speakers first came to Australia in the early 20th century but mass migration from former Yugoslavia was a phenomenon of the second half of the 20th century.
The Croatian Studies program at Macquarie University developed in this context and during Australia’s decisive turn to multiculturalism from the 1980s onward. The Croatian Studies Centre today enjoys strong community support through the Croatian Studies Foundation and is also benefitting from the commitment of the Croatian state, a member of the European Union, to the Croatian diaspora.
Beyond the specifics of Croatian language learning, our conversation also turned to broader issues related to “small” languages in Australian higher education, and why the availability of languages programs in higher education is critical for heritage language maintenance.
Enjoy the show!
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Related resources
- About the Croatian Studies Centre at Macquarie University
- Study Croatian at Macquarie University
- “Easy Croatian” Podcast” hosted by Dr Jasna Novak Milić on SBS
- Keynote lecture by Dr Jasna Novak Milić, “Why Australia needs Croatian Studies“
- Petition to save Croatian, German, Greek, Italian, and Russian at Macquarie University
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