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Croatian is the country's official language and spoken by the majority of people. Most Croatians also speak at least one foreign language, such as German, French, Italian, Czech or Hungarian. Most younger people speak some English. Croatian belongs to the South Slavic branch of the Slavic language group, which also includes Serbian, Bosnian, Slovene, Macedonian and Bulgarian. The structures and vocabularies of Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian are so similar that speakers of any one of them can easily understand one another; consequently, outside of Croatia, the three languages are usually referred to as one, called Serbo-Croat. Croatian also has three regional dialects: Kajkavian, Chakavian and Shtokavian, the last of which is considered standard Croatian. Many Croatian words contain no vowels; although spellings appear intimidating, each word is spoken as it is written, with every letter pronounced. Until the 19th century, Croatian was written in the Latin or Glagolithic scripts. Glagolithic is a unique script whose origins are disputed, though it appears to have arisen sometime before the Middle Ages. The Baska Tablet from 1100 is the oldest example of this writing, while the The Annals, from 1177, mention that when Pope Alexander visited Zadar, he was greeted with enthusiasm and the singing of the people in the Croatian language. Today, written Croatian uses the Latin script.
Despite internal conflicts, most Croatians tend to be tolerant and pragmatic when it comes to the practices and beliefs of others, and they are warm both to each other and to strangers. Croatians usually greet by shaking hands, and affectionate touching is common and acceptable between people of the same sex. Women often kiss each other on both cheeks; male friends also sometimes kiss on the cheek.
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