The Croatian education system begins with škola (school) and sveučilište (university), and the period of study is called studij. Within an institution you take a predmet (subject), sit an ispit (exam), receive an ocjena (grade), and may complete a tečaj (course) or earn a potvrda (certificate). Useful sentences include Završio sam studij prošle godine (I finished my studies last year), Tečaj jezika počinje u listopadu (The language course starts in October), and Matematika je moj omiljeni predmet (Maths is my favourite subject).
Working life introduces its own terminology. Your radno mjesto (workplace) is where you earn a plaća (salary), interact with a kolega (colleague), and report to a šef (boss). To find work you prepare a životopis (CV) and a prijava (application) and attend an intervju (interview). Time away from work takes the form of godišnji odmor (vacation) or a blagdan (public holiday), as in Godišnji odmor je u srpnju (The annual leave is in July) and Blagdan je neradni dan (A public holiday is non-working).
Much of professional vocabulary belongs to the broader vocabulary of meetings and relationships. You attend a sastanak (meeting), have a razgovor (conversation), and operate within a veza (relationship). Working with others requires dogovor (agreement) and sometimes produces neslaganje (disagreement). Routine phrases such as Sastanak je odgođen (The meeting has been postponed), Dogovor je potpisan (The agreement has been signed), and Kolega mi pomaže s projektom (A colleague is helping me with the project) capture the everyday flow of professional communication.