Close enough. – Dovoljno blizu.

Part of the ongoing Croatian/hrvatski saga. My ever-patient friend & teacher Weeb asked me to translate a sentence....

2023/04/04

Kel walks along, minding his own business, when abruptly Aubrey yells at Basil. Basil screams, with question marks, in response.
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Aubrey: Ajmo, Basil— nisi glupan!!!

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Aubrey: Let’s go, Basil— you’re not [a] stupid guy!!!

With thanks to r/Croatia for pointing me towards the “let’s go.” Ajmo is shortened, but like “let us go” to “let’s go,” no one uses the long version.

“Put your whole brain into it!!!” Aubrey yells at a megaphone; Basil is crouched on the ground, reaching at puzzle pieces, screaming. Kel runs over, exclaiming “What the—?”
Kel: “What are you tormenting ‘Bass-eel’ about /this/ time?” Aubrey nudges him back, grumbling Croatian. Kel clears his throat. He is clueless. (Basil mutters Croatian in the background.)
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Aubrey: Začepi. On neće učit[i]—

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Aubrey: Shut up. He will not learn—

With thanks, again, to r/Croatian. Kel’s “bass-eel” references how “Basil” might sound with an accent; the Croatian letter “i” sounds like “ee,” and there’s no equivalent of the English “ay”-as-in-“may” sound. Don’t make fun of people’s accents, kids.

Basil puts pieces together. Meanwhile, a talk: Aubrey: “I’m not ‘torturing’ him,” (Kel: “Tormenting.” Aubrey: “/Whatever/”) “I gave him /one/ sentence to translate… an /hour/ ago.” Kel: “You /sure/ that’s not torture—” Aubrey: “He /knows/ the pieces, he’s just gotta…” Then Basil mutters something.
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Basil: Da… ‘brata… Sunnya….’

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Basil: Yes… ‘brother… Sunny….’

Kel: “What kind of sentence—?” but Aubrey shushes him. Basil mutters something (translation below), involving the names ‘Mari’ and ‘Sunny.’ Kel: “Did it /have/ to involve them…?” Aubrey: “[Yes]. Absolutely.”
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Basil: Mari… Mari sluša… Mari je sluša… [unintelligible]… brata Sunnya....

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Basil: Mari… Mari listens… Mari is listen[ing]… [unintelligible]… brother Sunny....

Aubrey’s Š is something of a pun; in Croatian, that’s a letter that sounds like “sh.”

Basil stands, muttering. As he translates, he does an epic anime power-up pose.
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Basil: Mari… Mari je sluša…

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Basil: Mari… Mari is listen[ing]…

Basil continues translating and being anime. Kel, perturbed: “the /heck/ have you been doing to our friend”; Aubrey, not listening, mutters a correction.
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Basil: violina… igranje… njezina…

Aubrey: Njezinog....

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Basil: violin… playing… her…

Aubrey: [Of] her....

Both njezina and njezinog roughly translate to “her”; the ending difference is a grammar thing.

Basil floats, his epic powers blasting everything in the surroundings.
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Basil: brata… Sunnya[AAAAA]

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Basil: brother… Sunny [AAAAA]

Basil’s yell trails off; he has just been standing there, hands raised in a double fistpump. Then he anticlimactically drops into a ball.
Basil is wiped, and asks a feeble question in Croatian. Aubrey replies in turn; Kel, offering Basil drink: “Oh, come on—”; Aubrey, patting Basil on the back: “Close enough.” Basil: “y..yaayyyy....”
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Basil: je… je točno…?
Aubrey: Eh… pokušao si.

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Basil: Is… is correct…?
Aubrey: Eh… you tried.

Je točno? is technically incorrect, in standard Croatian, but I’ve left it as-is both because 1) it’s coincidentally fine in a different dialect and 2) it fits the ongoing (and now very much intentional) trend of Basil having B-grade hrvatski.

The sentence was Mari is listening to the violin playing of her brother Sunny.

  • Translation I landed on, as dramatic-anime-yelled by Basil above:
    Mari je sluša violina igranje njezina brata Sunnya.
  • Translation from Weeb, an actual native speaker:
    Mari sluša igranje violine njezinog brata Sunnyja.

Google Translate parses my attempt well enough, though obviously I still missed a few pieces. It did legitimately take an hour!!

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