Lesson Four, Culture

Social and Health Care System

Although social and health care services deteriorated considerably during the last decade or so, general expectations are still that they should be one's basic right rather than benefits.

Social security contributions are collected from the salary and paid at the age of retirement. The most important difference in comparison with the United States is that retirement is mandatory (at the age of 70 for men and 65 for women, in most professions). In addition, one fixed retirement plan (somewhat of an equivalent to the social security in the United States) is used. Market-driven plans, such as 401k, are normally not an option.

The health care system is undergoing a transition from the model where all services were included free of charge for everybody, to the system where users financially participate in most services.

Foreigners on shorter stays in the target countries can purchase tourist insurance (turističko osiguranje in Serbo-Croatian), which would cover the cost of medical emergencies only. Foreigners staying for longer periods of time (e.g., a semester or a year) can purchase the general medical insurance (zdravstveno osiguranje) that citizens of the target countries enjoy. As in the United States, there is a co-payment for most medical services and prescription drugs.

The health care system is organized somewhat differently than in the United States. The following differences should be mentioned:

• The institution called hitna pomoć (literally: urgent help), not the ER sections of hospitals, handle emergencies such as traumas. This is a separate institution which serves the function of paramedics, ER, and after-hours medical center. Two other key elements of the system are medical centeres (outpatient clinics) called ambulanta, and hospitals, called bolnica.
• Pharmacies are separate institutions rather than parts of grocery stores. They are called apoteka in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro and ljekarna in Croatia.
• All medical services, and hospital treatments in particular, stand at considerably lower levels than in the United States. This is also true for patients' comfort, e.g., in the region, one would normally share a hospital room with other people.
• Before the 1990s, the health care system was by-and-large controlled by the state. Private and state healthcare service existed in the field of dentistry only. Nowadays, private practice is allowed for other fields of medicine and in most cases one can choose between a doctor who runs his/her own practice and a doctor who is employed by the state.

!!!Instead of one 911 number for all emergencies you have to dial the following:!!!

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 122 Police, 123 Firefighters, 124 Paramedics (i.e., the "hitna pomoć")
Croatia: 92 Police, 93 Firefighters, 94 Paramedics (i.e., the "hitna pomoć")
Serbia-Montenegro: 92 Police, 93 Firefighters, 94 Paramedics (i.e., the "hitna pomoć")

Further Attitudinal and Behavioral Differences

Most notable differences in cultural schemata have been mentioned in Lesson 2. We will elaborate on some of these differences with regard to their relevance in official and private contacts with the inhabitants of the region.

Formal contacts: The general pattern is that the person in the position of power exhibits much less tolerance and courtesy in relation to those lacking that position. This means that doctors do not expect patients to challenge their decisions, that professors treat students as their subordinates rather than partners, various clerks act like little gods, etc. One should therefore stay more restrained and obedient in contacts with anyone holding a formal office. In addition, corruption is much more widespread than in the United States. Doctors, clerks, and even law enforcement officers often expect to be bribed. Bribing, however, requires advanced cultural skills and the usage of elaborate linguistic devices, such as "Is there any other way we can solve this?" while pointing to a bill of money, when pulled over for speeding. English learners of Serbo-Croatian are not supposed to attempt those strategies without help from the locals.

Informal contacts: Two observations should be made with regard to informal contacts. First, being Europeans, most intellectuals in the region would consider practices such as death penalty or unrestricted proliferation of firearms to be uncivilized. Defending such views may be percieved as an act of insolence. Secondly, one should be aware of the fact that the locals are, as a rule, far less reliable than main-stream Americans. One should therefore develop back-up strategies for most actions and expect one's partners to be late for arranged meetings. An illustrative example of lower levels of responsibility is the phrase used when one misses a means of transportation. The phrase reads Pob(j)egao mi je autobus 'The bus run away from me', in which all personal responsibility for the failure is lifted.

Tolerance: People in the region exhibit considerably lower tolerance to all kinds of marginal phenomena, such as AIDS, homosexual partnerships, etc.

Again, these statements are somewhat overgeneralized, as the region is internally diversified (primarily between the more friendly North and less friendly center and South).

Conceptualizing Differences

English learners of Serbo-Croatian should be aware of the fact that different languages and their cultures have their own way of selecting relevant concepts and building their networks. The Serbo-Croatian network of concepts exhibits some differences in relation to English. At this point one should be aware of their existence. They will be treated at the appropriate sections of the course. The following conceptualizing differences can be differentiated:

• Culture-bound concepts
• Concepts related to historical identity
• General conceptual differences

An astute observer of American daily speech will notice that many expressions such as "the whole nine yards", "Monday-morning quarterback", "strike two", "touch base", "do not pass second base", etc., are derived from popular American sports. These are examples of culture-bound concepts, which do not bare any meaning for speakers of the cultures where these sports are not practiced. Similarly, Serbo-Croatian has concepts such slava which is related to the Orthodox Christian tradition of observing the family's patron saint's day, kurban 'sacrificial mutton in Islam', related to the Bosnian Muslim tradition of sharing the mutton with relatives and friends during their major holiday of Bairam, etc.

Moreover, the region has a certain historical identity, which causes certain concepts to be charged with meanings not familiar to the speakers of English. For example, the concept of Yugoslavia will be charged with strongly negative connotations in one group of speakers while other group of speakers will have a strongly positive attitude toward it. This is due to their respective historical attitudes and the manner in which history is percieved.

Finally, different languages have specific ways of organizing their concepts in words. For example, the English verb to have is very prolific - you are having a baby, lunch, conversation, a pain in the neck, etc. In Serbo-Croatian, you literally are getting a baby, eating lunch, leading conversation, and your neck is aching you. Similarly, the concept of shoes is wider in English than in Serbo-Croatian. In Serbo-Croatian, sport shoes cannot be called shoes. They are a separate category called teniske (in Serbian and Bosnia) or tenisice (in Croatia).

Again, at this point the most important issue is to be aware of the existence of such differences.