The Croatian Conundrum

As I mentioned in the previous post, the reason why I decided to write this is a conversation I had with my mom. The talk on competent and incompetent people, and the arguments swaying in favor of the latter reminded me of the mental anguish I suffered for years every time I’d have to write a formal email in Croatian to someone who was not a colleague, or a worker in any sphere of language field.

You may find this post seemingly irrelevant to the overall topic of AI vs Human, but bear with me as it lays the perfect foundation for understanding what’s coming next.

To Be Literate or To Be Polite?

In Croatia, we have a different way of addressing people formally. In short, “vi” is the second person plural, meaning “you.” “Vi” is also used as a polite form for addressing one or more persons.

And if that’s not complicated enough, in Croatia, we also have several orthographies. In general, different institutions, companies, universities, proofreaders, and the like, are governed solely, in most cases, by the orthography of their choice. Let me explain.

The most recent orthography is that of the Institute for the Croatian Language (Institut za hrvatski jezik), which was published in 2013, and which is also the officially recommended orthography in Croatia.

This is also the orthography I personally prefer as it offers several neat solutions to various long-standing linguistic issues, though it also comes with a few first-class bits of hogwash. Because – why would things be simple if we can complicate them, right?

Before we proceed, let me just remind you that introducing orthographic rules is not the same as, for example, introducing new words to the language. One person can easily conclude one day, out of the blue, that “selfie” is a handy little way to express taking a photo of oneself, and the masses may well follow the next.

However, if the same person were to proclaim that, from now on, “gray” would be the only officially accepted way of writing the color (or colour, for that matter?! 😱) since “this is the way it had always been written,” then you may see how easily the same person would bring the wrath of millions of people upon them.

These are the joys of changing or consolidating orthographies. And I was at the forefront of one of these events. For years. Hooray.

But let’s get back to the Institute’s orthography. One of these utter nonsenses it prescribes is the very rule about addressing people.

While the old orthographies prescribed addressing people as “vi” for plural, and “Vi” as the polite form, the Institute’s orthography instructs that “vi” is used for plural, “Vi” for the polite form – but only for singular, and “vi” is again used as the polite form – but in plural.

This basically means that before, we wrote formal emails with “Vi,” no matter whom – or more specifically, how many people – we addressed, and informal ones with “vi.” Yet now, we should write “Vi” only if addressing one person, and “vi” for more than one person, regardless of the formality of the situation.

Since I knew very well that not everyone saw the most recent Croatian orthography pop up the first thing when they opened their browser, and I also knew that 99% of people didn’t care the slightest bit about orthography in the first place, for years, I had been undergoing severe mental torment before sending out a formal letter or an email.

Here’s the thing. I was aware of the fact that writing “vi” was the correct use, but I was also aware that a vast majority of people on the receiving end would interpret this as a sign of illiteracy because it goes against the old rules. And what’s even worse – a sign of disrespect.

So there I was – perpetually torn between being perceived as illiterate but being right and at peace with myself, or being wrong intentionally but regarded as courteous and thoughtful.

Now you can see why leaving the language world behind was one of the greatest reliefs in my whole life.

Then came ChatGPT. And brought along a spear to poke open the old wound – but this time, on a whole new level.

Have you ever been in a situation where being right simply felt wrong?

Get in touch, let us know & share the post with someone who can relate. 🙌