Workshop "Revitalising North Frisian: We don’t always have to reinvent the wheel"

With an estimated 4,000-5,000 speakers, North Frisian is categorised as a severely endangered minority language – and without additional revitalisation efforts, it is likely that speaker numbers and active language use will continue to decline. Seeking inspiration from other minority language contexts, the ECMI recently hosted a workshop at which eminent experts presented innovative revitalisation initiatives that they instigated. These initiatives focus on three levels that are crucial for minority language revitalisation: society, community, and family.

Focusing on the societal level, Goiatz Urkijo (who is part of the Taupa, the Basque Language Associations Network) discussed Euskaraldia, a bi-annual event that takes place throughout the Basque Country and encourages the active use of Basque amongst all Basque speakers, regardless of their proficiency level. Focusing on the community level, Nicole Dołowy-Rybinska (who is a Professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences) presented the ZARI project, an ongoing effort to promote language learning and use with regard to Sorbian in Upper Lusatia that employs language motivators to ascertain and meet the needs of individual language communities. Finally, focusing on the family level, Mirjam Vellinga (who heads the language promotion division at Afûk, the General Frisian Education Commission in Fryslân) presented the Pake & Beppe campaign, which encourages grandparents to play an active role in the intergenerational transmission of West Frisian to their grandchildren – which is particularly important in families where, for whatever reason, the parents are unable to raise the next generation with the minority language.

These presentations were followed by a round-table discussion about how these initiatives could be ‘translated’ into the North Frisian context. The discussion highlighted the importance of research to underpin revitalisation efforts to ensure they actually meet the speakers’ needs, as well as the immense benefits of inter-organisational collaboration to ensure the effectiveness of such efforts. Presenters and audience members engaged in lively debates, and all three presenters kindly shared materials from the initiatives they presented.

Organised by ECMI Senior Researcher Ruth Kircher together with her colleagues Maddi Dorronsoro Olamusu, Pavlína Heinzová, and Katharina Jürgensen, the workshop was attended by select stakeholders, practitioners, and academics from key organisations in the region – including the Frasche Rädj, Friisk Foriining, Nordfriisk Instituut, Ferring Stiftung, Öömrang Ferian, Europa-Universität Flensburg, Minderheiten Kompetenznetzwerk, and Staatskanzlei Schleswig-Holstein. Representatives from all North Frisian islands as well as the mainland were in attendance.

Showing that we don’t always have to reinvent the wheel, the workshop certainly provided inspiration for potential future endeavours to aid in the revitalisation of North Frisian.