Croatian is not considered an easy language to learn, especially if you do not have a background in another Slavic language. However, you will encounter many Croatians (especially in areas frequented by tourists) who are fluent in French, Italian, English and German, or a combination of them all.

Croatian is a South-Slavic language. Croatian utilizes the Roman alphabet and spelling is phonetic, so once you've learned the basics you should be able to read the written word, or at least pronounce words correctly. Many residents of Istria speak and understand Italian, and both English and German are widely spoken as second languages throughout the country.