Language courses in Croatia
Children & Youth
There are no special Croatian courses for children. However, primary school in Croatia is mandatory and your children who attend it will learn Croatian language at school. Primary and secondary schools in Croatia are obliged to organise a minimum of 70 hours of preparatory Croatian language education for child refugee and children with insufficient knowledge of the Croatian language, as well as additional education in certain subjects. Practices vary and depend on each school.
Adults
As asylum seeker, you don’t have the right for official Croatian language course but several organizations provide it for free both in reception centres and in their premises.
If you come from resettlement programs, you will have a minimum of 80 hours of Croatian course while you are in reception centre, as well as no less than 18 hours of socio-economic orientation.
All persons granted international protection are entitled to 220 school hours of language classes of (one school hour = 45 minutes) funded by the state’s budget, but there are lot of problems in practice.
The courses are organized by different language schools and they last for 70 hours per level. So far, these courses have been carried out in six cities (Zagreb, Velika Gorica, Split, Kutina, Pula, Poreč).
You will receive more information about the courses and your rights and obligations of attending it once you get international protection from your Integration officer.
Croatian language learning for adults, who are not included in the educational system, is organized in open universities, primary schools and other institutions that are authorized to perform the annual school calendar.
Other language learning opportunities
Courses of Croatian language and culture for foreigners are organized in Croaticum (http://croaticum.ffzg.unizg.hr/) – Centre for Croatian as Second and Foreign Language at the Department for Croatian studies in Zagreb. They carry out semester courses, one-month courses and summer school. They also carry out examinations of Croatian language for non-native speakers.
Online tools
Croaticum – Centre for Croatian as Second and Foreign Language provides occasionally free online course for A1 level. It consists of 80 units, 45 minutes each, and it is available in English and Spanish. The current e-course is available until the 30th of September 2018 at this link: http://croaticum.ffzg.unizg.hr/?p=4297
Further information & links
Several organisations have Croatian language courses for asylum seekers, persons granted international protection and family members who came in family reunification. These courses are often carried out by volunteers. Even when professional Croatian language teachers carry out these courses, you will not receive a certificate if complete such course.
Centre for peace studies – http://www.cms.hr/en
Are you Syrious? – https://www.facebook.com/areyousyrious?_rdc=1&_rdr
Rehabilitation centre for stress and trauma – http://rctzg.hr/-/en/kontakt/
Jesuit refugee service – http://www.jrs.hr/kontakt/