Do you speak a language other than Dutch at home and do you want to participate in creating a new language for Leeuwarden? Join us by signing up now!
With Pidgin Leeuwarden, Ahilan creates a new language that reflects the diversity of the city of Leeuwarden. From this perspective he would like to have conversations with people from many different language groups of Leeuwarden. Ahilan is curious about the connection people feel with the language they speak at home. What happens if you have to use a different language than your mother tongue to express yourself in everyday life? Which words from your own language do you miss when you speak Dutch?
Ahilan is an Australian of Sri Lankan descent who came to Europe to work on his football career. When that did not work out as planned, he decided to transform his experiences into theater performances. Besides football, Ahilan has a great fascination for language learning; how do people learn a new language and what effect does this have on them as human beings?
Who can participate?
- We are mainly looking for participants (16 years and older) who have learned Dutch as a second language and who use Dutch on a daily basis.
- Native languages or dialects are all welcome. Whether this is Sranan Tongo, Frysk, Tigrinya, Liwwadders or Spanish, we are looking for all of them!
- You find it interesting to think about and share what it is like to use the Dutch language instead of your mother tongue. Are there any words or phrases you are missing?
What is required of you?
- After your registration, we schedule an introductory meeting via Zoom or telephone in January.
- This conversation is about the words you miss from your native language.
- After the first introductory meeting, you can choose or be asked to co-found the new language Pidgin Leeuwarden.
- This project takes about 10 hours in total, spread over a number of months, and results in a dictionary and a performance.
Do you have any questions first? Please send us an email
Pidgin Leeuwarden is a project by production house Explore the North, the Afûk, Leeuwarden City of Literature and artist Ahilan Ratnamohan (part of Brussels artist collective ROBIN) and is supported by We the North as a part of the Proeftuin Meertaligheid.
Picture: Ahilan Ratnamohan by Jonas Lampens
