English has one word for uncle. Croatian has a map.Stric is your father’s brother. Ujak is your mother’s brother. They were never the same word, and the word itself tells you which side of the family a person stands on …
Sunday, the same hour, for years. Kako ste. Dobro smo. Kakvo je vrijeme kod vas.Nobody says anything real on that call, and the call was never about information. This episode of Ćakula Café is about the weekly phone cal…
There is a person at every Croatian family table who follows every word and says nothing for four hours. They laugh in the right places. They pass the bread before anyone asks. And they do not speak.Everyone assumes the…
You practised the sentence in the car. You say it correctly. And the waiter answers you in English.Three seconds, and the conversation is over. This episode of Ćakula Café is about those three seconds: what happens insi…
You call your grandmother, you have paper and a pen, and you ask how much flour. And she says: well, however much it needs.This episode of Ćakula Café is about the recipe that can't be written down, because it doesn't l…
The phone rings at three in the morning, and you know before you even answer. In Croatia the funeral will be in two or three days, and you're on the other side of the world.This episode of Ćakula Café talks about someth…
People write in from Canada, Australia and America, and the same sentence comes up again and again: my parents spoke Croatian to each other, and English to me, and I don't know why.This episode of Ćakula Café answers th…
In Croatia, they call you American, or Australian, or Švabo. Where you live, you are Croatian.This final episode in the series is about what it's like to stand between two countries and never be quite at home in either …
A box stands at the post office. Brown paper, thick tape, the address written in capital letters. For many Croatian families, paket was the most important word of the year.This episode of Ćakula Café opens both boxes: t…
A twenty-two-year-old man stands in line with papers in his hand. The clerk asks his name. He says Ivan. The clerk writes John.This episode of Ćakula Café is about the names that were left at the border, about the lette…
A seven-year-old girl stands in front of the mirror, and her mother says the four words every Croatian child hears: what will people say. No one ever explains who these people are, but everyone knows they exist.This epi…
In a small Croatian town, a name is not enough. Someone looks at you, hears your surname, nods, and then asks the real question: and whose are you?This episode of Ćakula Café explains a system where houses have names ol…
For Croatians who feel it but can't say it. Ćakula Café is a slow Croatian podcast for heritage speakers and diaspora adults. You grew up with Croatian at the edges — at the dinner table, in your grandparents' voices. You understand more than you can say. Each episode uses slower, clearer Croatian at A2–B1 level. Real topics. Real culture. Not tourist phrases. Not grammar drills. Hosted by Tihana Klepač, Croatian language teacher and Associate Professor, University of Zagreb. talktimecro.com | @talktimecro
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