English translation of this article follows
FRYSLÂN EN IT FRYSK
FRYSLÂN
Fryslân is in provinsje yn it noarden fan Nederlân. It liket faak dat it wichtichste part fan Nederlân it sintrum en it westen is. Ik tink dan benammen oan de gebieten mei de stêden Utrecht, Amsterdam, Den Haag en Rotterdam. De ûnderdrukking makket dat Friezen tinke en leauwe dat dy gebieten yndie it wichtichst binne en dat hja sels net yntelligint en modern binne. Oan de oare kant binne Friezen wakker grutsk op harsels. Harren eargefoel is sterk.
FRYSK
De taal fan de Friezen, it Frysk, hat nea ferbean west troch de oerheid. It Frysk wurdt meastentiids yn ferbân brocht mei: âlderwetsk, plattelân, achterbleaun gebiet. In protte minsken tinke en sizze dat je ‘net fier komme mei it Frysk’. Friezen moatte harren oanpasse oan Nederlanners. Dat is altyd it boadskip.
De measte Frysktaligen hawwe nea leard harren eigen taal te skriuwen of te lêzen. Ik bin berne yn 1958. Op de legere skoalle wie it net tastien Frysk te praten yn it klaslokaal, wylst dit foar elkenien de earste, de memmetaal, wie! Hjoeddedei krije bern op de legere skoalle ien of twa jier lang, ien oere yn de wike Fryske les. Frysk skriuwe leare se net.
Yn it doarp der’t ik grut wurden bin, spriek elkenien Frysk, útsein in pear minsken, lykas de dokter, de dûmny en it haad fan de legere skoalle. Dit is noch altyd it gefal yn tal fan Fryske doarpen. De persoanen dy’t Nederlânsk prate, binne dejingen mei de heechste oplieding. Faak komme se út de stêd of fan bûten Fryslân.
It kaam op my oer as wiene Friezen net tûk, net yntelligint. Wy wiene ‘gewoane’ minsken, net ‘heech’ of wichtich. Myn (diels) arbeiders eftergrûn makket dizze underdrukking grutter foar my.
Der is in grut ferskil tusken it plattelân en de stêd. Yn Ljouwert praat fiifen-tweintich prosint fan de ynwenners Frysk. Yn Littenseradiel, in plattelânsgemeente, praat njoggentich prosint Frysk. Yn stêden lykas Ljouwert, Snits, Boalsert, Harns en Frentsjer prate minsken Stedfrysk, in mjuks tusken Nederlânsk en Frysk. Yn Hylpen, in lyts fiskersstêdsje, prate de minsken in taal dy’t ik net ferstean kin. De fiskers fan eartiids hawwe in protte wurden meinaam út de Skandinavyske lannen.
Yn it Noarden fan Fryslân is in gebiet dat ‘de Bild’ neamd wurdt. Dit part wie sé en is troch arbeiders út ‘Hollân’ ynpoldere. In tal binne troud mei Fryske famkes en ha har te wenjen set yn dit gebiet. Harren taal is in grappige mjuks tusken Frysk en Nederlânsk. Yn it súden fan Fryslân, yn de gemeenten West- en EastStellingwerf, prate de measte minsken Stellingwerfsk. It is it gebiet súdlik fan de rivier de Tjonger. Dizze taal liket in protte op it Drints. De measte Nederlanners kinne de dialekten wol ferstean. Hja ha mear muoite mei it ferstean fan it Frysk. It Frysk liket net op it Nederlânsk, en hat har eigen grammatika.
Friezen dy’t Nederlânsk prate mei in Frysk aksint wurde faak de gek oanstutsen. Itselde bard mei minsken dy’t in Grinzers aksint hawwe, of minsken ut’e Achter-hoeke. Dat is ûnderdrukking fan minsken fan it plattelân. Ik tocht altyd dat net-Frysktalige freonen my aardich fine soene as ik Nederlânsk mei in Rotterdamsk aksint prate soe. Dat tocht ik om’t der in famke by my yn de klasse siet op de middelbere skoalle dy’t oarspronklik út Rotterdam kaam. Sy wie hiel populêr.
Ik wenje op it stuit yn in doarp, neamd Goutum, sa’n twa kilometer fan Ljouwert. Hjir wenje yn ferhâlding in protte ryke minsken. De measten hawwe in goede baan yn Ljouwert. Yn dit plak is sprake fan in soarte fan grins tusken de oarspronklike bewenners fan it doarp en de ‘import’. It is in klasse-probleem. De ‘âlde’ Goutumers binne faak minsken út de arbeidersklasse. De nije ynwenners prate meastentiids gjin Frysk, hja ha goede banen, keapje in djoer hûs en hâlde har net dwaande mei de sosjale activiteiten fan it doarp.
Ik haw in baan yn de stêd. Myn man, Gerard, is dûmny fan de tsjerklike mienskip fan Goutum. Foardat wy ús hjir ta wenjen setten hawwe, hawwe wy acht jier yn in lyts doarp wenne, dêr’t einliks hast elkenien Frysk spriek. Gerard is hikke en tein by Rotterdam, mar praat tige goed Frysk! Us twa bern hawwe it Frysk sûnder muoite leard.
Yn Goutum praat ik faak Frysk. Ik tink dat it foar de âld-Goutumers tige stipjend is. Ik wol harren útnoegje us eigen taal net op te jaan.
Foar myn wurk haw ik gearkomsten mei fiif minsken fan ferskate middelbere skoallen. Wy prate meiinoar oer jonge minsken dy’t problemen hawwe op skoalle, en besykje foar harren in útwei te finen. Under dizze gearkomsten waard Nederlânsk praat. Ien kear hearde ik twa minsken yn it Frysk meiinoar praten. Ik haw doe it útstel dien om de gearkomsten yn it Frysk te hâlden. Wy kamen ta de ûntdekking dat eltsenien fan hûs út Frysktalich wie, mar de gearkomsten wiene yn it Nederlânsk!
DJIPFRIEZEN
Fryske minsken binne earlike minsken, sûnder pretinsje. Ik ha minsken út it súden fan Nederlân sizzen heard: Fryske minsken lykje stoef en sletten, mar as se dy kinnen leard hawwe, bist binnen. Wy dogge ús net oars foar. Wy ha tiid nedich om út te finen wa’t de oar is en wat de oar wol. As it kontakt der ien kear is, binne we loyaal. Ja is ja en nee is nee. As ik in ôfspraak mei dy meitsje, bin ik op’e tiid.
Ik tink dat it om dizze eigenskippen is, dat wurkjouwers út stêden lykas Amsterdam graach Friezen yn tsjinst hat. Hja wurkje hurd en bliuwe net thús as se in bytsje ferkâlden binne. Kinst op Friezen bouwe.
FRYSK YN DE PROVINSJALE-EN GEMEENTELIKE OERHEID
Hjoeddedei is it sa dat, as immen in baan ha wol by de provinsjale oerheid, dejinge de Fryske taal ferstean en leze moatte kin.
Sûnt twa jier is de namme fan de provinsje offisjeel ‘Fryslân’ en net mear ‘Friesland’. Der wie in soad striid en diskusje oer. Ik bin bliid dat de provinsje no har Fryske namme draacht.
FRYSKE EN NEDERLÂNSKE PLATTELÂNSMUZYK
Der binne hieltyd mear popmuzikanten dy’t yn de eigen taal of it eigen dialekt sjonge en yn de Nederlânske hit parade komme. Dit is in grutte stap foarút yn de emansipaasje fan de dialekten, it Frysk en de plattelânskultuer. In band út de Achterhoeke hat in soad sukses. De namme fan dizze band is ‘Normaal’. In soad minsken út de Achterhoeke, benammen jonge boeren, fiele harren hjirtroch stipe en werkend. Der is in nije compact disc fan in band út Drinte. De nûmers wurde yn it Drints songen. Fierder is der noch in band út Limburg (Rowwen Hèze) dy’t hiel populêr is en yn Grins wie der in sjonger dy’t yn it Grinzers song. Syn namme wie Ede Staal. Der komme in protte nije Fryske bands by. Dit jier makke in Fryske band (De Kast) it liet “In Nije Dei” dat al gau populêr waard yn Fryslân. It wie it earste Fryske liet dat ea op nûmer ien yn de Nederlânske hit parade stien hat!
Annie Hoekstra
Goutum, Fryslân
Fryslân and the Frisian Language
FRYSLÂN
Fryslân is a province in the north of The Netherlands. Most people consider the centre and west parts of The Netherlands (with cities like Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague) as the most important parts of our country. Our oppression as Frisians makes us feel that these parts of our country are indeed more important and that Frisians are not intelligent and modern. On the other side, we Frisian people are pretty proud of ourselves. Our sense of honour is strong.
FRYSK
The Frisian language, Frysk, has never been forbidden by the government, so there is no official oppression. However, Frysk is often associated with old fashioned, rural, backward. Many Frisian people think and say, ‘You don’t come far with Frysk.’ Frisians have to adapt to the Dutch. That’s always the message.
Most Frisian people didn’t learn to write or read their own language at school. I was born in 1958, and when I was in primary school we were not allowed to speak Frysk in the classroom, even though this was the first language of all of us! Nowadays, there are Frisian lessons in primary school for one hour a week, for one or two years, but the children don’t learn to write Frysk.
At home in the village where I grew up everyone spoke Frysk, except for a few persons, like the doctor, the vicar, and the head teacher of the primary school. The same situation still exists in many Frisian villages. The persons who speak Dutch are the ones who have had the most education. They often come from the city or from outside of Fryslân.
It used to seem to me that Frisian-speaking people were not intelligent. We were just ‘normal’ people, we were never ‘high’ or important. My (partly) working-class background made the Frisian oppression stronger on me.
In Fryslân there is a big difference between the cities and the rural country. In Leeuwarden, a city, twenty-five percent of the people speak Frysk. In Littenseradiel, a rural region, ninety percent speak Frysk. In cities like Leeuwarden, Bolsward, Sneek, Harlingen, and Franeker, the language is ‘City-Frysk,’ a mixture of Frysk and Dutch. In Hindeloopen, a little fishermen’s city, people speak a language I cannot understand. The fishermen who went fishing in Scandinavian waters took a lot of Scandinavian words back home.
In the north of Fryslân there is a region called ‘de Bild,’ which used to be sea. Working people came from ‘Holland’ to make the place dry. They built dikes. Many of them married Frisian girls and stayed in this part of Fryslân. The language in de Bild is an interesting mix of Dutch and Frysk. In the southern part of Fryslân is West- and East-stellingwerf. Most people there speak ‘Stellingwerfs.’ It sounds more like Drents (spoken in Drenthe, which is also a province). Drents is one of many dialects in The Netherlands. Most Dutch people can, with some difficulty, understand these dialects. They have more trouble understanding Frysk. Frysk is different from Dutch and has its own grammar.
Frisian people who speak Dutch with a Frisian accent are often laughed at. The same happens to people with a Gronings accent, or people from the Achterhoek. It’s the oppression of rural people. I used to think that my non-Frysk-speaking friends would like me if I spoke Dutch with a Rotterdam accent. This was because there was a girl in my class in high school who originally came from Rotterdam and she was very popular.
I now live in a village called Goutum, two kilometers from Leeuwarden. Many people who live here are pretty rich. A lot of them have good jobs in Leeuwarden. In this village there is a kind of division between the original village people and the people who come from other places, often outside of Fryslân. It is a class problem. The old ‘Goutumers’ are average working-class people. The new people are often Dutch-speaking people who have good jobs, buy big houses, and don’t bother with social activities in the village.
I’ve got a job in the city. Gerard, my husband, is the minister of the church of Goutum. Before moving here, we lived in a little village for eight years where almost everyone spoke Frysk. Gerard grew up near Rotterdam, but he speaks Frysk very well. Our two children learned to speak Frysk without difficulty.
I often speak Frysk in Goutum. I think it is supportive for the old Goutumer inhabitants. I want to invite them to not give up our language.
For my job I meet with a group of six people from different high schools. We talk about young people who have problems at school and try to find ways to help them. Everybody in this group was speaking Dutch. Once I heard two of them say something in Frysk so I suggested we could speak Frysk in the group. We discovered at that moment that everybody was Frysk-speaking at home, but the meetings had been in Dutch!
REAL FRISAN PEOPLE
Frisians are honest people without pretense. I have heard people from the south of The Netherlands say, ‘Frisian people seem to be stiff and closed, but when they know you, you’re in.’ We don’t pretend. First we need time to find out who you are and what you really want. When the contact is made, we are loyal.
Yes is yes and no is no. When we make appointments with you, we’ll be there on time. I think this is why employers from cities like Amsterdam are keen on having Frisian working people. Frisians work hard. We do not stay at home when we’re coughing a little bit. You can rely on us.
FRYSK IN PROVINCIAL AND RURAL GOVERNMENT
It’s now a rule in the province of Fryslân that if you want a job in the provincial government you must be able to understand the spoken Frisian language and be able to read it.
Since two years ago, the name of our province is not ‘Friesland’ anymore, but ‘Fryslân.’ There was a lot of struggle and discussion over it. I am glad the Frisian province wears her Frisian name now!
FRISIAN AND RURAL DUTCH MUSIC
There are more and more pop musicians writing songs in their own dialects and reaching the Dutch hit parade! This is a big step forward for the emancipation of the dialects, Frysk, and the rural country! A pop band from the Achterhoek has had a lot of success. The name of the band is ‘Normaal,’ which means ‘normal.’ Many people from the Achterhoek, in particular young farmers, feel supported and recognized by this. There is a new compact disc from a band from Drenthe. The songs are sung in Drents. There is also a band from Limburg (Rowwen Hèze) which is popular at the moment, and in Groningen there was a singer who sang songs in Gronings. His name was Ede Staal. There are many new pop bands in Fryslân. This year a Frisian pop band (De Kast) made the song ‘In Nije Dei’ (Een Nieuwe Dag, A New Day), which quickly became popular in Fryslân and went on to become the first Frisian song ever to be number-one in the Dutch hit parade!
Annie Hoekstra
Goutum, Fryslân