News overview

Promotion campaign for new Frisian speakers started

People who have learned Frisian later in life, so-called “nije Fryskpraters”, only use this language very sporadically, and that is partly due to the language attitude of the traditional speakers. This emerged last year from a study conducted jointly by Ruth Kircher of the Mercator English: Mercator European Research Centre and Mirjam Vellinga of Afûk. […]

PhD researcher Nika Stefan: ‘Influence Dutch on Frisian varies’

The Frisian spoken language has a lot of variation, not only in terms of the Frisian dialects, but also in terms of the influence of Dutch. The results from research by linguist Nika Stefan (Wrocław, Poland, 1985) confirm the widespread occurrence of loan words and loan constructions in spoken Frisian and the difference with the […]

Promoting minority language use to foster revitalisation: insights from new speakers of West Frisian

People who have learned Frisian at a later age only use the language “very sporadically”. It seems very likely that they are less comfortable using the language in front of natural speakers. This is one of the results of a study into new speakers of Frisian by researchers Ruth Kircher (Mercator/Fryske Akademy), Mirjam Vellinga (Afûk) […]

Succesfull WikiWomen Bootcamp in Donostia

From the 27th to the 30th of June, high school teachers and education workers from Fryslân, Ireland and the Basque country traveled to the Basque country for Wikipedia trainings and meetings for the WikiWomen project. During this week, our partners from Euskal Wikilarien Kultura Elkartea and Wikimedia Community taught the teachers and education workers all […]

Elin Haf Gruffydd-Jones new president of ELEN

ELEN member organizations from across Europe gathered in Santiago de Compostela, Galiza, over the weekend of 12-13 November for ELEN’s annual General Assembly, hosted by A Mesa pola Normalización Lingüística in the splendid surroundings of the Museo do Pobo Galego. The meeting was held using a hybrid format with many members, speakers and observers participating […]

NewsSpectrum Fellowship for minority-language media opens first call for applications

The International Press Institute (IPI) and MIDAS announced at April 12, the first call for applications for the NewsSpectrum Fellowship. The fellowship is open to journalists and other media professionals working for minority-language media in the EU (including Roma and migrant languages) and aims to encourage working partnerships between minority- and majority-language news outlets. Deadline […]

The Faroe Islands and Fryslân

This week, the Frisian publishing house Afûk and the Faroese publishing house Bókadeild Føroya Lærarafelags will publish two special books simultaneously. “De Beam” is the Frisian title of the original Faroese picture book TRÆIÐ, written and drawn by Bárður Oskarsson. “Tije – drongurin og rottumaðurin” is the Faroese title for the original Frisian reading book […]

Ground-breaking LISTEN project on language assertiveness launches new multilingual website

The Listen project on language assertiveness has launched a new multilingual website. The website gathers project information and news, as well as providing a platform for future project developments. One of the aims of the Listen project is to teach the concept of language assertiveness to speakers of co-official, endangered, indigenous, ‘regional’ and minority languages […]

Frisian artist Anne Feddema participates in Galway2020 project Óró

Writer Anne Feddema is participating in one of the projects of Galway, European Capital of Europe 2020. The play is called Óró. It’s Gaelic, but what does it mean? “It’s a cry, a kind of encouragement. It also features in a famous Irish rebel song,” Feddema explains. Wendy Kennedy spoke to Anne Feddema: “At the […]

Successful language assertiveness training held in Fryslân for the Listen Project.

The first language assertiveness training for trainers was held in Fryslân in the small village of Boksum in early July. Six participants from different backgrounds, in language teaching, communication, cultural anthropology and coaching, attended the training. They were given information about the structure of the linguistic assertiveness workshop itself and the theoretical background on what […]

Wikitongues launches new podcast: Speaking of Us

Speaking of Us explores what language teaches us about who we are and where we come from. Of the world’s 7,000 languages, only a handful are taught in schools or supported by mainstream technology, so Wikitongues helps people keep their languages alive. In this podcast, you’ll get to know people from every culture on Earth. […]

Free Frisian e-book for children about the Corona virus

‘Coronafirus, in boek foar bern’ is a free Frisian-language e-book about the coronavirus for children and their families. Medical experts, child psychologists and teachers provided information for this book. Through illustrations and situation sketches, children (age 5-10) learn what the coronavirus is, what happens to you when you catch the virus, whether there is already […]

New Language Gift when registering a birth

From this week on, parents will receive a new cheerful “Taalkado” (Language Gift) from the province of Fryslân if they register the birth of their newborn baby. Since 2008, the province of Fryslân has been issuing this gift, which was previously also referred to as “Taaltaske”. The Taalkado is full of fun and educational products […]

Insight into the psyche of the minority language speaker

From 6 to 8 February, the University of Valencia hosted training sessions about language assertiveness as part of the Erasmus + project LISTEN. The training sessions were given by prof. Ferran Suay.  The Afûk is a partner in this project and is currently preparing training sessions and workshops on this topic.

Project about European Charter Classroom Activities

The European Charter Classroom Activities (ECCA) is a NPLD-granted project led by the Comun General de Fascia (Province of Trento), which goal is to spread the knowledge about the European Charter or Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) through the production of different didactic tools. Thanks to the activities, teachers and students from different European regions […]

Successful kick-off meeting Listen project in Valencia

The first meeting of the Listen project was held in Valencia 22-23 of October. The partners:  Universitat de Valencia, ELEN, Conradh na Gaeilge, Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, IAITH: Welsh centre for language planning, Universitatae Sapientia Din Municipiul Clujnapoca met for the first time. During this first meeting a lot of administrative things were discussed and […]

Ljouwert is Unesco City of Literature

Ljouwert-Fryslân has become UNESCO City of Literature.  With that title, Ljouwert is officially part of a worldwide network of literary cities. “The title is a recognition for our language, literature and multilingualism,” says business manager Ernst Bruinsma. The programme of City of Literature  will start from January 2020. Projects and collaborations will be set up […]

‘Leer je hond Fries’, Frisian version of ‘Teach your dog Welsh’ available

The Frisian version of the book ‘Teach your dog Welsh’ by Anne Cakebread is available now. Afûk contacted Anne Cakebread and her Welsh publisher Y Lolfa about the possibilities of a Frisian version 5 months ago. ‘We liked the idea of learning basic Frisian by practising on your dog’, says Mirjam Vellinga project leader of […]

Boekekast, a new podcast presenting Frisian novels and stories

The book promotion agency Boeken fan Fryslân (part of Afûk) and Frisian broadcasting company Omrop Fryslân have developed a new podcast series called Boekekast. The podcast presents a wide range of novels and stories by 16 Frisian authors. All with the aim of highlighting Frisian literature in a different way. Starting from Sunday September 29 […]

Frisian documentary about Bertsolaritza presented in the Basque Country with Basque subtitles

The Frisian documentary about the Basque bertsolaritza phenomenon which had its premier last year in Fryslân, has been presented in the Basque Country last evening. The documentary is now subtitled in Basque.

Ljouwert Candidate City of Literature

Leeuwarden-Fryslân is putting itself forward, with total conviction, as a candidate to become a UNESCO City of Literature! We would like to join the 28 cities which already have this title, and so become a permanent member of this creative network.

Microsoft Office offers Frisian spell checker

Since Friday, Frisian users of Microsoft Office can use a Frisian spell checker. The Frisian language is now available in the standard spell checker in the Office programs Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. The new language help was presented at the provincial government office in Leeuwarden last week.

General Assembly NPLD in Toulouse

At the General Assembly meeting of the NPLD in Toulouse the Afûk was officially appointed as a member of the NPLD. The meeting was full of interesting proposals and exchanges among the members. Moreover, we have learned about the efforts to keep Occitan language alive among the new generations at Calandreta de Garoneta; how relevant […]

RIXT Frisian Poets Pack online

The Frisian Poetry Collective RIXT has posted its English website online. A large part of the 45 poets who are affiliated with RIXT have submitted translations of their own poems for the website. In addition, the RIXT poets also have an English poet’s profile.

Afûk is a member of the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD)

The Afûk has this week been accepted as a member of the NPLD. Through this membership de Afûk is now connected with 41 other organisations that are active in the area of language promotion, language policy and language learning. Some of the members include Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Basque Country, Friuli, Finland, Catalonia, Sardinia, Macedonia and […]

Collaboration Afûk, UNESCO and Wikitongues

In view of the disappearance of more and more minority languages, the United Nations have declared 2019 The International Year of Indigenous Languages (#IYIL2019). Today, 28th January 2019, the official start of the #IYIL2019 campaign takes place in Paris. Throughout the year the main focus will be on minority languages.

Tsead Bruinja, Poet Laureate of The Netherlands

Afûk author Tsead Bruinja (1974), who used to live in Rinsumageast and now lives in Amsterdam, is the new Poet Laureate of The Netherlands. During the next two years he will write poems to accompany current affairs and act as poetry ambassador. Bruinja will follow up Naomi Perquin as Poet Laureate of The Netherlands. He […]

Four Frisian poets touring through Denmark

The Frisian poets Cornelis van der Wal, Elmar Kuiper, Syds Wiersma and Geart Tigchelaar will be visiting the Danish place Aarhus in the week of 11-17 March. They will perform and translate, but mainly focus on producing new work. Together with Danish poets they want to create a bilingual collection of poetry that will be […]