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Petrija Vrankovic is a Sydney- sider, a second-generation mother- of- three who insists on keeping the Serbian language alive in her household.
She developed her own brand of Serbian - English flash cards as a way of introducing her children to their native Serbian. She later found demand for such a resource to be huge.
“It’s something that’s needed amongst young kids, I know there are heaps of Cyrillic books but there was something missing for Aussies struggling with Cyrillic, something to help transition them slowly into reading Cyrillic. I have bought Serbian books before but they have a lot of text. At the time, my daughter’s attention span at one or two years of age just wasn’t enough to process these books, so I made something myself.”
Petrija has since expanded this offering to include Macedonian, Greek and Croatian, and is working on a series of bilingual children’s books.
She says it’s important that parents whose first and main language is English, start slow but consistent while their children are young.
“They are so smart at two, three, four years old, they soak everything in and there just needed to be more resources for them.”
Larissa Tesanovic, who is the owner and founder of Studio Bubamara, does custom embroidery for diaspora kids.
She says there is a huge demand for names, phrases and images that relate to Serbian tradition.
“It touches down into the roots of our [Serbian] culture. Personally, I wanted to reconnect with my roots land learn how to read and write, it’s a learning process for me as well. When I started the business, I had a lot of friends who were mums who wanted to see their children’s names embroider in Cyrillic, who wanted a way of introducing their children to their language.”
Larissa says second and third generations are no longer shying away from “strong, bold Serbian names” as was once the case in Australia.
“My mother changed her Serbian name, she struggled with mispronunciation especially in the workplace,” she said.
“But it is different now, we have a mixed community in Australia and younger generations can choose names that are more deeply rooted in culture. People are more accepting and willing to learn how to pronounce these names. It is now the norm to be proud of where we have come from.”
“Every single of the kids that my children are friends with have pretty strong Serbian names, including my own kids,” says Larissa. “We chose to include the J in our daughters names, Natalija and Anastasija. We also have a lot of Lazars, we have Milica, Una, Vuk, Tadija, Teodor.”
Lepa Flaiban, founder and owner of two businesses - Burek on Wheels and Baba’s Chocolate Milk - says she’s noticed Serbian children proud of this increased representation.
“I have the honour to cater a lot of school events for cultural days. I get to see the young ones dressing up in Serbian shirts and doing the kolo [dance] with so much pride. But again, what I love about Australia and schools in Australia is the way that everyone joins in and supports other traditions. Now, when the Serbian kids are dancing kolo, you can see all the other children joining in, and vice versa. We have multiculturalism in Australia and it’s beautiful to see everyone join together. “
Lepa’s businesses grew from her own desire to maintain a connection to her Serbian heritage, and she is proud to be increasing representation for generations that come after her.
“Burek on Wheels started as a food truck in twenty twenty one selling just burek, we’ve since expanded to a whole range of Balkan dishes catering for weddings, christenings, birthdays, always cooking everything fresh on site,” says Lepa.
Her main product, Baba’s Chocolate Milk started a year and half ago, the first chocolate milk in Australia that isn’t in sold in a plastic container and it is named after Lepa’s mother - who grew up on farm in Bosnia, taking care of cows her whole childhood.
“I went back when I was twelve, to Bosnia, to Serbia, experienced the people and culture and even though I’m not born there I had a deep love for it and connection. I think our culture is very strong, in regards to religion but also in the way we treat each other. We have a special strength, unity and passion. My parents emphasised this growing up. They didn’t let go of the traditions, they pushed them even more.”
This emphasis is a top priority for Petrija as well, who says while Serbian does feel natural to her, there is a threat of it dying out amongst communities in English speaking countries.
“My relationship with Serbian is good, I feel it’s a very emotive language. It feels more deep rooted in me to speak Serbian rather than English. I’ve had three kids now I find myself mostly speaking Serbian to them, it comes naturally to me. Which is bizarre because English had been my main language over the last years.
But, I think the language is in danger in Australia, I think we are in danger of losing the language along with many other traditions. It feels right to speak Serbian, you know your ancestors spoke this language and it just feels right. It feels good being able to pass this on to your kids. It’s not about pride, it just feels natural when you hear your children naming things in Serbian, saying ‘ptica’ [bird] without prompting them. I hope they continue it. I hope it continues into other generations as well.”
