I'm a bona fide English to Serbian translator...

...hah, not at all! However, there was a little scenario yesterday that presented the opportunity to showcase the Serbian I've learned thus far. Last night I was chatting with the parentals via Skype at the kitchen table. Jasminka, Nikica, and Boško heard what I was doing and wanted to say hi. I moved my laptop so that the Skorić's were within sight, and after a greeting or two, Jasminka and my mom fell into conversation. The exchange went something like this:


Jasminka: "Hi. How are you?"
Mom: "Oh we're fine. How are you?"
Jasminka:"Fine, too. Dominique is sweet girl."
Mom: "Thank you. You guys are sweet. Dominique has said a lot of wonderful things about you guys."

PAUSE

Jasminka (looking at me): "Šta kaže?"

This was it, my moment to be the link between an English and a Serbian speaker. As best as I could, I told Jasminka what my mom said.

Me: "Ona kaže da ja sam rekao rekla mnogo dobro stvar o..."

Jasminka: "O vama."

Me: "Da"

Obviously what I said was no where near perfect, but I'm pretty sure it effectively conveyed the message to Jasminka. Thinking about it now, I probably should have said, "Ona kaže da ja sam rekla mnogo dobrih stvari o vama." I was kinda close.

Once Jasminka and my mom said their goodbyes, I moved my laptop so that I was in sight. When I finally looked back at the screen, it's image caught me off guard: the faces of delighted and proud parents. It then hit me that they just saw and heard me use Serbian semi-conversationally. Seeing their pride and joy made me feel proud of myself. Yeah ,what I said wasn't perfect, but it showed progress; and, I'm all about progressing.