My grandparents came to the US in the early 1900s and I have recently discovered that I still have relatives near Zagreb, so I am attempting to learn the language to prepare for a visit someday. I am starting with the Pimsleur Croatian course and I have both of Ronelle's Alexander's BCS books and have been all over the internet looking for learning materials. Out of everything that I have found, I can't find the answer to two questions and was hoping someone could help.
Vowels have long and short sounds, but every prononunciation guide I've found only gives one sound for each letter. I've been trying to determine what the long and short vowels sound like. The only one I've found that's obvious is the difference in the i sound in the words ili and molim, and I am assuming that ili uses the long vowel sound. I haven't found any words where I was able to distinguish the difference between the long and short versions of the other vowels.
The second thing that I can't seem to find anywhere is how to recite the alphabet and spell words.
These two things seem like they should be the most basic of instruction before you even start to learn any language so it seems odd that they're not included in my books or in any of the online beginner Croatian courses. My books actually mark the long vowels but never explain the difference between long and short. It's very confusing.
Thanks for your help in advance.