Nina and I – Vedad – met while studying in Singapore. She is German, and I am a Bosnian who was living in Denmark. A long-distance relationship, then moving in together, then marriage and then, in Denmark, two children.
And right then, the first real question: what language will our kids speak?
Danish was a given. Nina wanted German. I wanted Bosnian. We decided: all three. We relied on the One Parent, One Language (OPOL) method. Nina speaks German, I speak Bosnian, and they will learn Danish in kindergarten.
In theory – perfect. In practice – life had other plans.
When we moved to Germany, Danish naturally dropped out. German began to dominate — in kindergarten, on the street, with friends, with mom, everywhere.
Bosnian was left to me alone. But I couldn’t be everywhere all the time. The language remained at the level of everyday phrases, while everything else grew in German.
When our daughter started school, it became clear that we had to do something.
We looked for a Bosnian school and found one 20 km away. Classes at 1 PM, working hours until 5 PM, three kids with different schedules. Logistically impossible. Online options? They didn’t exist. At least not with a structure and curriculum.
There is one moment that hit me harder than I expected.
I noticed my daughter was starting to avoid conversation. Not because she didn’t want to talk to me — but because it was easier for her to talk to her mom. In German. Without effort, without searching for words, without that moment of discomfort.
Bosnian was becoming a language of effort for her. And conversation with me, something to be avoided.
There was no drama. It was a silent, gradual drift — and that’s precisely what made it so painful.
At that moment, it became crystal clear to me: if I don’t change anything, I will lose something that can never be brought back. Not just a language, but a part of the connection with my own children.
You can buy your child a Bosnian jersey*. You can teach them to eat ćevapi. You can tell them they are Bosnian. But without the language — it’s just a story told in someone else's words. (*of course we have Džeko jerseys at home.😉)
Only through language can you understand the humor, the literature, the soul of a people. Not as an observer, but as a part of it.
A child who speaks Bosnian can talk to their nanas and grandmas and nannas, grandpas and papas, relatives, and even with you about things that cannot be translated.
A child who knows their roots — and can feel them through language — builds a more grounded and resilient identity in a multicultural world.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country that is difficult to describe in a single sentence. A country of contrasts, a heavy history, and extraordinary people. We believe in the Bosnia that possesses a special energy, warmth, and humor that cannot be found anywhere else – and we believe that it is precisely her sons and daughters in the diaspora who can help that Bosnia triumph.
The great wave that left during the war in the nineties — that is already nearly 35 years ago. The second generation, born in the diaspora, now has children of their own. The third generation is already in school. Without the language, each generation is quietly and irreversibly one step further from Bosnia.
I live in Germany and every day I meet people whose last names are clearly Polish — but their connection to Poland? Long broken. The fourth, fifth generation. It is not a tragedy for them, but it is a loss for everyone. And the exact same path awaits us, if we do nothing.
You can eat sushi your whole life, but that doesn’t make you Japanese. The only thing that truly preserves the connection to the culture, to relatives, to oneself — is language.
The year 2020. Corona forces everything online. We created a questionnaire and sent it to acquaintances and friends. The response was surprisingly large and clear: yes, this is needed, this is what many have been looking for for years.
We didn’t want to create something unprofessional. We hired an expert in educational design according to the latest standards, developed our own curriculum with clear goals by levels and age, and created all the teaching materials from scratch — tailored for children in the diaspora, not for children in Bosnia.
Because that is the key difference. For a child living in Germany, Bosnian is a second or third language. They need a different approach.
Nina and Vedad on the morning show "Uzbuđenje" — our story, our fears, and our intentions.
The year 2020. Corona forces everything online. We created a questionnaire and sent it to acquaintances and friends. The response was surprisingly large and clear: yes, this is needed, this is what many have been looking for for years.
We didn’t want to create something unprofessional. We hired an expert in educational design according to the latest standards, developed our own curriculum with clear goals by levels and age, and created all the teaching materials from scratch — tailored for children in the diaspora, not for children in Bosnia.
Because that is the key difference. For a child living in Germany, Bosnian is a second or third language. They need a different approach.
Not startup founders who found a "market niche." Parents who lived this problem — and decided to solve it.
Raised in Bosnia, studied in the UK and Singapore, worked in China, lived in Denmark and Germany. A father of three who wanted to preserve the Bosnian language for them — and couldn't find a way how.
A German who learned Bosnian out of love for family and culture. Her approach to Bosnian as a "foreign" language — embraced with care and a clear system — is embedded in the very core of the Tako Lako method.
Give your child a gift they will carry for a lifetime. The trial lesson is free — no obligations, no risk.
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