Zagreb Residents Divided Over Foreign Workers
Readers of Zagreb.info debated whether foreign workers in hospitality should know Croatian. While some see it as a duty, others are more tolerant and recall the experiences of Croatian guest workers.
Readers of Zagreb.info debated whether foreign workers in hospitality should know Croatian. While some see it as a duty, others are more tolerant and recall the experiences of Croatian guest workers.
Foreign workers have become an indispensable part of everyday life in Zagreb, especially in hospitality, shops, and bakeries. While some residents have no trouble adapting and ordering in English, others are increasingly vocal in their opinion that anyone working in Croatia for an extended period should master at least the basics of the Croatian language.
The portal Zagreb.info asked its Facebook readers whether it bothers them that waiters in cafes and restaurants don't speak Croatian. The responses revealed a deep divide among Zagreb residents.
A significant group of commenters had no doubts. "If you live and work in Croatia, you MUST know the language of the country where you work, period," wrote one user. A female reader expressed a similar view, saying that recently, whether in a shop or a bakery, she turns around and leaves if someone addresses her in English.
"Although I speak several languages, I don't want to speak a foreign language in everyday situations in Croatia. Whenever I go to any country to work for a certain period, I learn at least a bit of the local language. If they've come for a longer stay, it would be polite to learn the basics and then gradually build on that," one user emphasized.
Some readers took a more lenient approach. One of them pointed out that in construction, a basic level of communication might suffice, while in service industries, language skills are crucial. Another drew a comparison with Croatian emigrants: "I couldn't care less; our guest workers, past and present, didn't know the language of the country they went to work in right away, but they learned it, and so will these."
An international comparison also emerged. "Try working in the service industry in Switzerland without knowing at least one official language," one user wrote, suggesting that expectations in Croatia are actually standard.
There were also those for whom the whole topic wasn't particularly important. "They don't speak Croatian in ministries, why should they in cafes?" read one comment, while another summed up the entire discussion in just two words: "Very important." One commenter even offered an unusual solution, suggesting Esperanto.
The discussion also touched on the living conditions of foreign workers. One user criticized the government for not enacting laws on education and sanitary certificates for people working with food, and specifically warned about the problem of overcrowded accommodation. "Many of them have accommodation with 10 people in a room, one toilet and shower, and it's questionable when people get their turn for basic hygiene," they wrote.
