Brush up on your beach terms and impress the locals in Poreč

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What’s block in Croatian? If you read this article you will know the answer! Photocredit: Tomislav Moze.

The world of beach volleyball is jam-packed with sights and sounds of noisy crowds, partying under the sun as they watch the international superstars do their thing on the sand.

Next week we pitch up for the Poreč Major for the second successive summer after last year’s extravaganza on the stunning shores of the Adriatic.

In our quest to give beach volleyball fans another epic Major experience, we’ve gone to great lengths to give you a good time. We try and think of everything.

So, with the Poreč Major creeping excitingly closer, what could be better than some handy Croatian beach volleyball phrases to add to your armory when you’re basking in baking hot sunshine on Center Court?

Now if this is your first Croatian language lesson you might want to read this little guide, courtesy of Wikitravel or this smart webpage which gives you some basic rules of Croatian pronunciation!

When chatting up the person next to you courtside, start off with this line:

Volim odbojku na pijesku, koji je tvoj najdraži igrač?

“I love beach volleyball, who is your favorite player?”

During the week, you might overhear somebody asking this question:

Znaš li kada igraju Alison i Bruno?

A beach fan wants an answer to “Do you know what time Alison and Bruno are playing?”

With so many courts playing host to beach volleyball matches each day you may lose your bearings. If you do, use this:

Možete li mi reći kako doći do centralnog terena?

Which means “Can you tell me the way to Center Court?”

Then, when you’re settled in your seat in the stadium and psyched to suck in the atmosphere you’ll be ready to try out these phrases…

Ajmo! or Idemo! (let’s go!)

Ajmo servis! (go serve!)

Ajmo prijem! (go reception)

Blok! (block!)

Set lopta! (set point!)

Meč lopta! (match point!)

As! (ace!)

Ne volim odbojku na pijesku… Obožavam ju! (I don’t like beach volleyball…I love it!)

And once you’ve mastered these, you can celebrate with your new Croatian friends long into the night discussing the day’s play and then tell them:

“Hrvatski navijači odbojke na pijesku su najbolji!”

And we’re sure they’ll smile back at you – after all you’ve just told them that “Croatian beach volleyball fans are the best!”