Bearing in mind the upcoming Olympic Games in London this summer, our spirits are running high and competitive. How to distinguish between ‘natjecanje’ and ‘natječaj’ in English always seems to be a problem for many Croatian speakers. Competition is a situation in which people or organisations try to be more successful than others. For example: ‘Did you know that mobile phone price cuts are due to fierce competition among suppliers?’ Also, a competition can be an organised event in which individuals or teams compete against one another. On the other hand, a contest is a situation in which two or more people or groups compete with each other, usually rated by judges. We are all familiar with beauty contests (pageants in the US!) and talent contests that keep us glued to our TV screens. ‘It is every young girl’s dream to enter a beauty contest. They are very popular in Croatia and held every year in almost every town and city’. Sometimes such contests are fair (when everyone has the same chance of winning), but they are often unequal (when one person has a much greater chance of winning than others) and close (when someone wins by only a few points’ difference).
A bid is an offer to pay a particular price for something. For example: ‘We just put in a bid for a house.’ At an auction, an item for sale is usually bought by the person who places the highest bid. A company can make a bid to buy another company, or launch a takeover bid. Tender is a formal statement of the price you would charge for doing a job or providing goods and services (bid in American English). For example, building contracts are usually put out to tender, which means that different construction companies send in their offers with prices for doing the work. The winner is usually the one who offers the best price. And now a word or two about winning and losing. We all like winners and champions, don’t we? You usually win something, e.g. a match/game, a competition/contest or a prize. For example: ‘Spain won the 2008 UEFA Euro Championship. Who did they beat in the finals, do you remember? They beat Germany.’ You usually beat someone in a match, or beat someone at tennis. But, who do you conquer then? Alexander the Great conquered half the world before the age of 33. He gained control of many countries by force of arms, in which case he conquered them, not won or beat them.
