Hrvatština na Moravi / Croatian Language in Moravia (Josef Regen)

"Ja sam ovo, kad je biv veletrh v Brnji, tako sam ovo imav guoste. A jednuč sam imav z Bělehrada, z Jugoslaviji guosta. Inžienir je to biv. A ja sam rekav, da sam Hrvat, tako on je s manu hrvatski govoriv. Dica i žena su ur šli spat a mi v kuhinji sme sidili až do rana skoro a sme si povidali. On je biv najgirig a kako velite tomu a tomu… a sa mne pitav kako velime te imiena. A pak mi veli: a kako velite cugu, zastavce? Ja velim, no vidite, to ja hrvatski niznam. Ja znam, da sme tomu velili hajtštele, ale to je nimški. On je se smijav a veli: „No jo, zato vi to niznate, zatoda t´onda oš nisu bili cugi kad su se vaši Hrvati naselili, to imate istinu."

"I used to have guests when there was some trade fair in Brno. Once I had a guest from Beograd, some engineer. I told him that I was a Croat and we began talking in Croatian immediately. My children and wife went to sleep and we were sitting in the kitchen and talking till the morning hours. He was curious what words we used for this and that... and then he tells me: ´And how do you say train and train stop?´ I said: ´Oh, I don’t know this word in Croatian. We used to call it heitschtele, but it comes from German.´ He was laughing and he said: ´Well you don’t know it, because when the Croats came here, there were no trains yet!"