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Nick Nasev

@nicknasev.bsky.social
318 followers 181 following 1.4K posts

Chartered Linguist Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin into English Translator Australian English Expert Let's talk about Balkan and Aussie stuff! nicknasev.com

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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 1h
Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex, commemorating the Battle of Gök Tepe (1881), the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) and the Ashgabat Earthquake (1948) Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 8h
Needing a camel? The huge Tolkuchka market north of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan is the place to go. Plenty of Soviet-era trucks in excellent condition too. #turkmenistan #camels
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 16h
Lenin statue, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Flat Whites in the Balkans was a surprise… but how about in Turkmenistan? Has Australia’s #coffee gift to the world made it there too? Of course it has! “Flet uayt” is available in cafés all throughout Turkmenistan. Kakao in Parahat 4 mikrorayon, Ashgabat, did one of the best I've ever had!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"Old" aka Soviet Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Back from Turkmenistan...
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Off to Turkmenistan!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It’s arrived! Socialist Hotels, the latest coffee table book by Fuel featuring fabulous socialist-era architecture and design. I actually stayed at the Hotel Cosmos the first time I was in Chișinău, Moldova. #socialisthotels
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
30 September is International Translation Day. This year's theme is linguistic diversity and language rights Time to say this again... Greece must officially recognise its minority languages: Aromanian, Albanian (Arvanite), Macedonian, Bulgarian (Pomak), Turkish, Romani, Ladino, Tsakonian!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'm here. Laibach, čekamo vas!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Slovenian avant-garde music group Laibach is performing in London tonight. I’ll be there! After somewhat surprisingly appearing at the AVNOJ Fest in Jajce last year, where the band apologised to Tito, now Laibach is claiming it's always been a 'pop act'.
nicknasev.com
Laibach in London!
Laibach is performing in London again and I'll be there! Who is Laibach, why the band was enemy number 1 in socialist Yugoslavia, and why the group claims now to be a 'pop act'
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The sad irony: bus manufacturer VDL Van Hool is looking for workers in the Macedonian city of Kochani... which no longer has bus services. Perhaps there will be work for the more than 60 former employees of Kochani's recently bankrupt bus company Avto Atom
radiokocani.mk
ВДЛ Ван Хоол доаѓа во Кочани – во сабота на платото кај Т-Мобиле – можности за вработување
Вработи се во ВДЛ Ван Хоол – со или без работно искуство!Дојди во сабота, 3-ти октомври, од 10 до 14 часот на нашиот штанд во Кочани кај платото кај Т-Мобиле.Ќе ти помогнеме да аплицираш и ќе имаш мож...
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Memorabilia from the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics (the best games ever in my very biased opinion 😆). A Sarajevo Olympics official guide in mint condition and a Vučko mascot doll, though I've never seen him in this brown colour before (usually he was black) #sarajevo #yugoslavia #olympics
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We know how well AI uses good writing to present and convince people what can be unfactual information to be true. But what about the opposite effect? How not using idiomatic language in translation can lose the credibility of what is being presented...
nicknasev.com
Is 'good enough' really good enough in translation?
We know how well AI uses good writing to present and convince people what can be unfactual information to be true. But what about the opposite effect? How not using idiomatic language in translation c...
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
More about it, as well as about John Coltrane and Miles Davis here...
garthcartwright.substack.com
MILES & ‘TRANE @100
REFLECTIONS ON MODERN JAZZ’S TOWERING MASTERS
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Seeing it's Sunday morning... How about an Orthodox (-ish) Christian church devoted to the worship of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane?
en.wikipedia.org
St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church - Wikipedia
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Now this is a book I want to read...
publishing.hardiegrant.com
Peter Daicos: My family's journey by Peter Daicos | Hardie Grant Publishing
Peter's two sons have followed in their father's footsteps and joined Collingwood, with Josh drafted in 2016 and Nick in 2021, both joining the club under the Father/Son rule. Both sons were in the Premiership team of 2023, and are considered stars at the Collingwood Football Club.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
And every year I say the same thing… Greece must officially recognise and support its native minority languages: Aromanian, Albanian (Arvanite), Macedonian, Bulgarian (Pomak), Balkan Turkish, Romani, Ladino
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
26 September is European Day of Languages (EDL), an initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Commission to promote linguistic diversity and multilingualism This year’s motto: Languages unite! It highlights the unique role languages play in bringing people together and building bridges.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Partisan memorial, Zrnovci, Macedonia
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Thameswater is evil. I've had two surveyors out and both stated no meter can be installed. That entitles me to a lower rate, but Thameswater has used deception and lies to avoid doing so. Going to the Consumer Council for Water has been a joke too. That means Thameswater gets away with this!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
For years now, whenever the distinctive intro to Dnevnik, the main news broadcast on Serbia's government TV station RTS, appears on my parents' TV, my mother will wryly say: the Aleksandar Vučić Show is about to begin.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
So Trump is also an ironmonger and hardware dealer… Bitola, Macedonia, September 2018
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Avto Atom, the sole bus company of the Macedonian city of Kochani, ceased operations yesterday, ending over 6 decades of bus transport to and from the city. Kochani's bus station will also close, leaving the city with hardly any public transport connections. A sad day for the region!
faktor.mk
Кочани остана без редовен автобуски превоз, Авто-Атом престана со работа
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Seriously considering a seachange, treechange or e-change... How the Shakespearean title for a popular TV series sporned the terms for a number of related migration processes in Australia.
australianenglishwithnick.substack.com
Seachange, treechange or e-change?
How the Shakespearean title for a popular TV series sporned the terms for a number of related internal migration processes in Australia.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2019. While I was there, I met a Bulgarian woman working as an architect. I asked her why is she in Tanzania. Her answer – to get as far away from the Balkans as possible
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Today's my 25th Londoniversary! Never did I think 25 years ago I'd still be in London, but here we are.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Because of Kosovo 1999, Albanians value their relationship with the US, particularly its military, very highly. US flags are seen everywhere. Enver Hoxha is turning in his grave
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Observation made 12 years ago on my first full day ever in Tirana, Albania Women in hijab – none; car accidents – three; halal pizzerias – one; museums and galleries – none (all closed for renovations); official cavalcade – one; full cafes – too many to count (does anyone work in this city?)
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Absolutely adore all of Svetlana Alexievich's works
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
No tourists here! 7 years ago in New Zanzibar, built by the East Germans and Chinese as part of the revolutionary government's (ultimately unsuccessful) plan to make Zanzibar a 'new socialist city' with housing for all. A bit of the Eastern bloc in the tropics.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I konsalting. Fensi!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Had to capture a glimpse of the abandoned GDR-era SEZ recreation complex with in Berlin before it gets knocked down for apartments
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Still in shock about the mysterious death of Giorgos Mazonakis, one of the biggest pop stars in Greece in the 1990s
youtu.be
Γιώργος Μαζωνάκης - Παλιόπαιδο Θα Γίνω - Official Video Clip
YouTube video by Cobalt Music
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Happens too with Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian where plural adjectives are gendered in the nominative and accusative. Adds to the fun! 😁
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts on Friday evening. I'm with my Jewish in-laws and we're eating! To everyone celebrating this holiday, wishing you a Shana Tova Umetuka! 🍯 שנה טובה ומתוקה
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
No doubt the book also covers the tragic story of the Al-Kuwaity brothers, who were renowned musicians and composers in Iraq and the wider Arab world, who ended up in obscurity after moving to Israel en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleh_a...
en.wikipedia.org
Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity - Wikipedia
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is brilliant! Knowing a number of Jewish people of Iraqi origin, the sentiments expressed in this reading certainly ring true.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Berlin is in election mode. I wonder if Steffen Krach knows what his surname means in Russian or Bulgarian? OK, I'll let you know... It means: collapse, ruin, crash, failure
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Just in the building of our accommodation in Berlin: there are two other residents with Bulgarian surnames, I heard one DHL delivery shout he'll be back at 4 pm in Bosnian, and a car parked outside has Tetovo, Macedonia car plates.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
In Berlin for Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) with the inlaws. I was wondering why so many men in leather are on the flight – of course, they were on their way to Europe's biggest gay leather event also happening this weekend. Pure coincidence.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
😄
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Israeli elections on 27 October AND Serbian elections now announced for 25 October! That's far too much for our household to deal with!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
35 years of Macedonian independence today. The Macedonian independence movement had its own song… written on the other side of the world where you’d least suspect it. Goes to show big things can happen anywhere and unnoticed. This is like a virtual London-style blue plaque…
nicknasev.substack.com
“The Pearl of the Balkans”: How Big Things Can Come From The Most Mundane of Places
How the anthem for an independence movement has humble origins from a suburban kitchen on the other side of the world, unknown to those who live there
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Absolutely!!!
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Just saw someone post that "if people travelled more, there'd be less wars as it's easier to attack something you don't know" I firmly disagree! Most wars, murders, violence, etc. are done at people well known to the attackers. And travel doesn't automatically make people more open-minded.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Australia, New Zealand... same thing, right? Say that and Aussies and Kiwis go mad! But if you look at how similar our flags are, you'd think otherwise. Do the flags get mixed up? Well, as what happened last week at Australian Flag Day (there is such a day?), they do! #Australia #NewZealand
rnz.co.nz
Australia marks Flag Day by flying New Zealand's flag
It's not uncommon to see the New Zealand and Australian flags mixed up at events in other countries, but it seems Aussies can have trouble telling them apart too.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
So by chance I found out that some of my blogposts are being referenced on Reddit. I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried about that.
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The same in Bulgaria, where they've transformed "dzhender" into a derogatory term equivalent to what "queer" in English once was (and for some still is).
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Nick Nasev @nicknasev.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I cheekily asked if the feminine of pich was with a -ka ending, which is the Southern Slavic form of the Czech with an -a ending. That got us all laughing, but no, "pich" is apparently for males and females
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