Searching for a dictionary

During my first week in Belgrade, I've been disappointed with how many of the words I look for don't show up in either of my two dictionaries. So on Saturday, I decided to go find a monolingual Serbian dictionary. This was not easy, but it was fun.

Belgrade has lots and lots of small bookstores, each with its own specialized inventory. I walked past several bookstores that appeared to sell more art supplies than books, and I actually visited four others before I found what I was looking for. It was a challenge even describing it to the salespeople. Even with the some of the salespeople who spoke English. 

The third bookstore I tried is right next to the hotel I was in during my first visit to Belgrade. I bought a pocket bilingual dictionary that visit. The same salesperson was there, and he remembered me. I told him what I was looking for, and he recommended a dictionary for me. They didn't have it in stock, but he checked the inventory of some of their other stores in the city. He sent me to a bookstore  south of the parliament building, near the University of Belgrade law faculty. That's a 20-30 minute walk, but only 10 minutes farther than my apartment. The weather was nice, and I was happy to explore a little more of the city.

On my way there, I passed another bookstore. I poked my head in. The saleswoman spoke a little English, but she said a lot of things to me in Serbian that I just pretended to understand. It turned out that she also had the dictionary that had been recommended to me. She said, "It's very expensive. 7,000 dinars," which is about 50 or 60 dollars and is cheap compared to the OED. I tried looking up a few words, including "sesame" (which is "susam"), and said I'd like to buy it.

She rung up my order. While she was taking care of that, I managed to forget that she had my credit card and panicked that I had lost it. ("How will they send me a new one while I'm in Serbia?") Luckily, I came to my senses pretty quickly. I probably forgot because I was spending so much time trying to read the signs on the wall ("Канцеларије Материал" means "Office Supplies").

After she was finished, but before I left, she gestured, "Wait just a second." She went to her shelves and pulled out another book to show me. It was a fiction or history book called "King Petar's Socks". It had side-by-side Serbian and English translation. It looked interesting, so I said "OK".

I thought by saying "OK" that I was indicating that I wanted to buy it, but she just stood there and looked at me for a while. After a very long pause, I got confused and said what I had come to suspect was the Serbian word for gift. "Poklon je?" (Is this a gift?)

Her reaction immediately proved that my suspicion was correct. She waved her arms and said, "No! No! No!" She said some more, but I didn't really understand. She walked back to the register and sold me the book.

I had a big smile on my face as I walked back home, even though I didn't get any special gifts that day. I posted a photo of all my Serbian dictionaries on Facebook. I like the way my coffee table looks with my dictionaries arranged like that, so I've decided to leave them there.

I've read one page so far of "King Petar's Socks." It reminds me of young adult fiction that I read in junior high. It should be a pleasant read. Stay tuned.