Cyrillic or latin in Serbia?

Question

What script is most used in Serbia, cyrillic or latin? What is written in official papers? What is written in TVs?

Answer 1

Basically, You use cyrillic everywhere in Serbia.



However, You can use latin too. Road signs are "translated" into cyrillic AND into latin.



If You to to an administration, You may ask EITHER fr documents in latin OR in cyrillic.

Answer 2

Officially, the alphabet is still Cyrillic, and government forms and letters are almost exclusively written using Cyrillic, but the Latin alphabet is almost universally understood, and is used more and more in popular culture, especially among the younger generation. Serbs have for decades been able to switch back and forth from one alphabet to another with ease. There is, as always, some resistance to this from ultranationalists, but the convenienece of being able to text and tweet without using the Cyrillic alphabet gives the Latin alphabet a big advantage in the 21st century.

Answer 3

Ethnologue says "Cyrillic script, primary usage. Latin script." : http://www.ethnologue.com/language/srp



Wikipedia says :



- "the Cyrillic script was made the official script of Serbia's administration by the 2006 Constitution. [...] government paperwork production and [...] official written communication with state officials, which have to be in Cyrillic. . Even in official government documents this constitutional requirement is rarely enforced. Media and publishers typically select one alphabet or another. For example, the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia, predominantly uses the Cyrillic script whereas the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink, predominantly use the Latin script." : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_language#Writing_system



- "The Cyrillic alphabet is seen as being more traditional, and has official status in Serbia (designated in the Constitution as the "official script", compared to Serbian Latin's status of "script in official use" designated by a lower-level act)" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Cyrillic_alphabet





Omniglot says : "People in Serbia, many of them complaining about the fact that the majority of Serbian sites are written in Latin, not Cyrillic, use this site for adapting web-contents they view daily." : http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/serbocroatian.htm

Answer 4

Latin is used more often. I'll give you examples. Among the 9 news dailies in Belgrade (Politika, Danas, Večernje novosti, Blic, Kurir, Alo!, Informer, Naše novine and 24 Sata) only 2 use the Cyrillic script (Politika and Večernje novosti). However Politika has a Latin version on its online version (You can choose Latin or Cyrillic) and Večernje novosti uses only Latin in its online version.

Among (the nationally broadcasted) TV stations, only one uses Cyrillic (Radio Television of Serbia/ RTS) since it's public-owned. Prva, Pink TV, Happy TV and B92 are private-owned TV networks and use Latin.

Other TV stations that are broadcasted regionally and locally predominantly use Latin.



In marketing, almost all companies use Latin. Not to mention that foreign companies never use Cyrillic.

In the social networks (facebook, twitter, Youtube, etc.) the majority of Serbs (About 95%) use Latin. It's visible in their Youtube comments and Facebook accounts.

Latin is more popular because it's more modern and convenient. There is a minority of nationalists and traditionalists in Serbia, though, which don't like to use Latin at all. But even those people get forced to use it especially when using technology (cell phones, computers...).



Official papers are normally in Cyrillic since it's the official script. In passports your personal information (name, place of birth, place of residence, etc) is printed in Latin but everything else is in Cyrillic and English. ID cards are in Cyrillic but you can order one in Latin. All government websites (ministries, agencies..etc) have both Cyrillic and Latin (and English) options. Government paperwork (say application forms) are available in Latin and Cyrillic. You choose either.



Street signs are either in both Cyrillic and Latin or in Latin only. Shop signs can be in any, but of course much more in Latin. Books published by Serbian writers are mostly in Latin, as it allows them to sell them in Croatia and Bosnia. In supermarkets, products are labelled in Latin. TV commercials are all Latin. Restaurant menus are in Latin.



Did I miss anything?