Dajana Rakar continues hobbies while overseas

Dajana Rakar practicing writing her Mandarin Chinese. In total around the world around 1.119 Billion people can speak Mandarin Chinese, but only 200 million of those people are not native speakers of the language

Dajana Rakar practicing writing her Mandarin Chinese. In total around the world around 1.119 Billion people can speak Mandarin Chinese, but only 200 million of those people are not native speakers of the language

Gryffin Mauss, Ranger Review Reporter

Dajana Rakar 11 is a foreign exchange student from Bosnia, new here to the United States. Not only is she adjusting to the school and cultural environment she is still continuing her hobbies from back home. 

 “We don’t have the option to choose subjects so we just get a set of subjects that is decided by the Ministry of Education and like we get those really specific subjects even at a young age,” Rakar said. “Like I got physics when I was 12 and chemistry when I was 13.” 

Even in this different school environment she can continue to do what she loves to do. Those being art and learning languages. Her favorite types of art are sketching and acrylics.

“I know so many languages, Serbian but I have spoken English since I was eight or so,” Rakar said. “So I have been speaking for nine years now. I had to learn German for four years then I did a year of Korean. Three years of Italian and now this is my third year of Chinese.”

Out of all of the Languages she knows or is learning, her favorite to study is Chinese. She likes Chinese because of how different it is from other languages. 

 “I like pronunciation and like their writing,” Rakar said.  “like it does not require letters literally require strokes like characters that literally drawn”

She is learning Mandarin Chinese because that is what they speak in Beijing and some of the major population centers. She chose Mandarin so she is able to communicate with the most of the people who speak Chinese 

“The most challenging part of learning Chinese would definitely have to be writing, the writing has to be memorizing the characters,” Bakar said.” Because some of them have really minor differences. And if you mess it up on some of them but it can be completely something, I can really easily memorize how to read them, but writing them isn’t that easy.” 

While she loves doing the hobbies that she brought from home, she is also enjoying making new memories and experiences here in the States. One of the most prevalent being the 5k Color Run.

“My favorite event would definitely have to be the 5k color run.  where you run and they throw color at you. That was an event organized by my church,” Rakar said. “They just wanted to get the community closer together.”