Teach Bosnian online in English

Bosnian is spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in neighbouring countries and by a large diaspora around the world. Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian share most of their grammar and their speakers understand one another, but Bosnian has its own standard: ijekavian forms such as “mlijeko” and “rijeka”, a vocabulary with many words borrowed from Turkish, and through Turkish from Arabic and Persian, and an “h” kept in words like “kahva”, “lahko” and “sahat”. It is written mostly in the Latin alphabet, one letter for each sound, so a learner who knows the 30 letters can read any word aloud.

For an English speaker, the hard part starts after the alphabet. Nouns change their endings across seven cases, so you are “u Sarajevu” when you are in the city but travel “u Sarajevo”. Almost every verb comes in a pair, such as “čitati” and “pročitati”, and the choice depends on whether the action is ongoing or finished. Short unstressed words like “sam”, “mu” and “ga” queue up in second place in the sentence, in an order that seems random until someone explains it. A good tutor turns these rules into patterns a learner can hear, and gets them speaking long before the tables are complete.

Why we are looking for Bosnian tutors who teach in English

Clasora shows students the tutors who teach in the language they use the site in. A student who reads Clasora in English is shown tutors who teach in English, so if you explain Bosnian in English, those are the students who find you.

A beginner needs to hear, in words they already understand, why “knjiga” turns into “knjigu” in “Čitam knjigu”, and needs someone who can compare Bosnian sounds with English ones. Many learners are heritage speakers who grew up in Bosnian families abroad and understand their grandparents perfectly but answer them in English. They think in English, and an explanation in English reaches them fastest.

Clasora does not employ tutors, and this is an opening rather than a job. You work independently: you set your own prices and hours, and teach as much or as little as you like. For some it is a side income over a few evenings a week; others teach enough for it to stand in for a job.

What teaching Bosnian online on Clasora looks like

The opening is fully remote. Every lesson takes place online, and you teach from wherever you live.

Students book from your calendar and see only the hours you have marked as free, shown in their own time zone. A student in Toronto booking a tutor in Mostar never has to work out the time difference. You decide how much notice you need and how far ahead people may book.

Lessons run in the browser, and neither of you installs anything. Much of a Bosnian lesson is conversation, with the camera on so the student can watch how you shape “č” and “ć”. Screen sharing covers the rest: a shared document where you collect new words and correct sentences as the student speaks, a news article or song lyric you read together, a table of case endings you fill in line by line. The in-call chat is the quickest way to show how a word is spelt, with every “đ” and “ž” in place, and background blur keeps your room out of the frame.

Between lessons, each student has a conversation with you. A student can send the email they are trying to write to a cousin in Zenica, and you can send it back with corrections. Messages, files and shared links sit next to the sessions they belong to, so an old word list is easy to find. Your own worksheets and grammar notes can live in your personal file area, and documents can come across from Google Drive. If you plan your week in Google Calendar, it can sync with your Clasora calendar.

What students usually want help with

Speaking from the first lesson: greetings, introducing yourself, ordering a coffee, chatting with family.

Pronunciation: telling “č” from “ć” and “dž” from “đ”, the rolled “r”, and words with no written vowel at all, such as “prst” and “srce”.

The seven cases: which ending goes where, and which prepositions call for which case.

Verb aspect: choosing between pairs such as “pisati” and “napisati”, which decides whether an action is in progress or done.

Word order: where the short unstressed words go, as in “Dao sam mu ga”.

Ijekavian spelling: when to write “ije” and when “je”, as in “rijeka” and “rječnik”.

Everyday vocabulary: words such as “čaršija”, “avlija” and “komšija”, and the phrases people actually use.

Heritage learners: turning the Bosnian heard at the kitchen table into confident speech and correct writing.

Reading and writing: news, novels and official documents, messages to relatives and formal letters.

Bosnian for work, study or a move: the vocabulary of a field, practice for an interview, or preparation for a test or an exam.

The differences from Croatian and Serbian, for learners who already know one of them and now want the Bosnian standard.

Who we are looking for

You speak Bosnian very well, as a native speaker or at a comparable level, and you know the standard language: its spelling, its ijekavian forms and its vocabulary.

You can explain Bosnian grammar clearly in English, with examples a beginner can follow.

You correct mistakes without halting the conversation every few seconds.

You might teach Bosnian or another language already, have studied Bosnian or South Slavic languages, work as a translator, or simply be a native speaker who likes explaining how the language works.

You have a computer with a camera, a microphone and a steady internet connection. A decent headset helps.

You are 18 or older.

Teaching experience helps, but it is not required.

What you get

No commission. Clasora takes nothing from the price you set.

Free to join and to publish. There is no subscription and no listing fee.

Your own prices. You set a price for each session length, and you can offer a free first session so a new student can hear how you teach.

Your own hours. You choose your weekly hours and your days off, the notice you need and how far ahead students can book.

A public listing page. Your listing is a page of its own that search engines can find, shown in the language each visitor reads, with your photo, an intro video, what you teach, the languages you speak and your price for each session length.

Reviews on what matters. Students rate you on knowledge, clarity and engagement.

Checked qualifications. You can add your degrees and teaching qualifications to your profile, and a moderator checks them.

Lessons in the browser. Video with screen sharing, background blur and in-call chat, and nothing for you or your students to install.

How to start

Create an account with the button on this page.

Publish a listing for Bosnian.

Open your calendar and mark the hours you are free.

It takes a few minutes. You accept the terms when you become a tutor, and a moderator checks your listing before it goes live.

Questions tutors ask

I am a native speaker but have never taught. Can I still offer lessons?

Yes. You need to speak Bosnian very well and to explain it clearly in English. Teaching experience helps, but it is not required. Any qualification you add to your profile is checked by a moderator.

I grew up speaking Croatian or Serbian. Can I teach Bosnian?

Yes, if you know the Bosnian standard well. The three are mutually intelligible, but a student who chooses Bosnian expects Bosnian spelling and vocabulary, with words such as “kahva”, “sahat” and “historija”. Be ready to point out the differences when a student asks about them.

Should I teach the Latin or the Cyrillic alphabet?

Bosnian is written mostly in the Latin alphabet, and that is where most learners start. The standard also recognises Cyrillic, so you can introduce it later to a student who needs to read it.

How do I get paid?

Card payments are not switched on yet. For now a booking is confirmed without a card, and you and the student settle payment directly between you.