Interfob 2006 . . . . . . . . . ..Ljubljana, Slovenia . . . .

GETTING AROUND…

Well most people in Slovenia can speak English or at least they understand it, but if you ever find yourself in a situation when you have to use Slovene, here are some useful phrases:

Good day. - Dober dan.
Thank you. - Hvala.
Excuse me. - Oprostite.
I am… - Jaz sem…
How are you? - Kako si?
Where is…? - Kje je… ?
Left, right, straight - Levo, desno, naravnost
What’s the time? - Koliko je ura?
one, two, three, four, five - ena, dva, tri, štiri, pet
six, seven, eight, nine, ten - šest, sedem, osem, devet, deset

Ordering in a bar or store:
One beer, please! - Pivo, prosim!
Wine. - Vino!
Coffee. - Kavo.

This is how the dual works – it's no beast:
Friend. - Prijatelj.
2 Friends (as in we are friends) - Prijatelja.
3 Friends (as in we are friends) - Prijatelji.

Other vital phrases:
I like you. - Všeč si mi!
You look great! - Čudovito izgledaš!
Let's use a condom. - Uporabiva kondom. (dual form )

If you want to know more Slovene phrases please e-mail them to us and we’ll be more than happy to translate them for you!

Pronunciation: well... we realize that we have some really difficult words to pronounce, so here’s a little help:
č: is pronounced like ch in cheers!
š: is pronounced like sh in sheep or shit
ž: is pronounced like dg in bridge

Homework:
Try to pronounce the following words :

K'kšn (meaning: anyone at all)
Škrnic'lj (meaning: paper bag)
Čmrlj (meaning: bumblebee)


SLOVENIAN CUISINE

Our country is also known for its great wines, beer and delicious traditional food, which we love to share with our guests. Some of the traditional foods are potica, krofi, buhtelnji, žganci, štruklji, jota and many more.

We will, of course, do our best in preparing some of them for you during the Slovenian evening.

There are two major brands of beer in our country (Union and Laško) and the is an evergoing battle going on between fans of the two brands. In Ljubljana most people prefer Union beer, but in other parts of our country they mainly prefer Laško 
There are three wine producing regions, which are further divided into ten subgroups in Slovenia, each of them with their own specialities. Wine is very popular, and it is not hard to get good wine at bargain prices from local producers.


MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND…

Our currency is called Tolar (SIT – Slovenian Tolar) and they come in bills of 10SIT, 20SIT, 50SIT, 100SIT, 200SIT, 500SIT, 1000SIT, 5000SIT and my favorite 10,000SIT. Of course we also have coins. One hundredth of a Tolar is called “stotin”. We have coins for 0.1SIT, 0.2SIT, 0.5SIT, 1SIT, 2SIT, 5SIT, 10SIT, 20SIT, 50SIT, 100SIT and 500SIT (there is a rumor that we even have a coin for 20,000SIT, but that was only to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our currency).

And here’s a picture of our bills:

The current exchange rate is 240 SIT ~ 1 €.


HITCHHIKING

It's pretty safe and many young people do it so you can try your luck… For more information contact Aleš (poznic.ales@gmail.com).


CONTACTS

Exit code for Slovenia is 00 (double zero), entry is 386.
If you were to call home, you would dial:
00 (your country code) (area code) (home number)
If you don't know what your country code is, ask us and we'll find out for you.
Other important numbers:
Police - 113
Emergency center - 112 - (fire department, paramedics, etc)


OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM AND SOME HISTORY:

Our national anthem is called "Zdravljica", meaning "A toast". It was written by the great poet France Prešeren (his portrait also marks the 1,000 SIT note), whose work brought Slovene from a language of farmers and peasants on equal level as other European languages. Whereas the first records of Slovene can be found in Freising manuscripts around 1,000 years ago, it was not until the 16th century when we got our first book (Catechism, later also the Bible), and only in the 18th century when we got our first play (Matiček se ženi – Matiček searches for his wife). Prešeren could use German for his work, and indeed, it was said that the "Slovene is a too small language for a poet of his caliber."
His poem Zdravljica sums up his dedication to the nation, as well as an idea of pan-Slavism. It was heavily censored in the era of Austro-Habsburg monarchy, with only the first stanza being permitted. You can find the lyrics on the next two pages.

Today, thirty generations after the first records of our language, six generations after the death of France Prešeren, their work is honored in our independence.

The seventh stanza in bold is the actual national anthem. First and seventh stanzas are sung by the chorus on the mp3 .






If you want to know some more about anything, please get us know on info@interfob2006.com.