Spreading the word. Also flyers

I am afraid that the topic of this entry will be kind of peripheral to the main themes of this blog, but it’s a good story anyway, and it’s all about spreading good vibes, and love, and all the other stuff we like to pass around. So here we go. Good vibes. Almost as good as ice cream, and you don’t get less of it for yourself, when you share it with others. In that respect, even better, I guess. Moreover, it’s not bad for your teeth either… I’m digressing already. Let’s get on with it.

When I’m not blogging about being a volunteer at Taldansk, or actually volunteering, I spend some of my time recruiting new volunteers who would like to be part of the Taldansk family, and help someone practice the tongue twisting Danish language. Mathias (the dude on the right in the picture below) is my partner in crime, when we are recruiting volunteers, and a couple of weeks ago he had a great idea. There was this demo in Copenhagen and he suggested that we went to hand out some flyers and try to recruit some new faces. Although we are pretty apolitical in Taldansk, we simply could not let this chance pass us by.

The slogan of the demo was “refugees are welcome”, and we thought that we might be able to meet a lot of people who would be sympathetic towards the Taldansk Online project. We were spot on.

For some reason we look a bit stoned in this picture, I assure you that we are not.

We met up at the location of the demo, armed to the teeth with flyers and sales pitches, and within an hour we were completely disarmed in every way. Almost all the flyers were gone and exchanged for almost just as many curious questions, compliments and pats on the back appreciating the project and thanking us for our effort.

And that is pretty much why I wanted to share this story. It was a great feeling and quite surprising that so many people were genuinely interested and thought that Taldansk Online was a great initiative, and I thought to myself that I would try to pass that feeling on, if I could. So there you go. On behalf of all the people Mathias and I talked to at the demo, we would like to say, that you are doing a great job all of you. The ones of you who are volunteering at Taldansk Online are doing a great job helping people to a better, and, hopefully, a little easier start in Denmark, and the ones of you who are supplementing your language courses with online small talk are doing a great job acquiring the language skills necessary for getting by in a new country. Great job all of us! Pat yourself on the back.

I would like to have finished off this entry by telling about the host of new volunteers our flyers had secured us, but I would be lying if I did. We are making progress though, and all the goodwill we received that day almost made it worth the effort. And that’s the important part. Remember to let people know when you appreciate what they are doing. Compliments never get old.

Stefan

Dogs and Barbie dolls speak Danish

When playing with their Barbie dolls, my two little girls switch between Danish and Dutch every two minutes. The oldest one can be a bit bossy sometimes, but her little sister recently learned to stand up for herself, so now they spend more time discussing their play. Their arguments are always in Dutch, but as soon as the dolls start talking, they switch to Danish. It’s hilarious and also quite impressive to listen to. I guess one must be equally strong in both languages to be able to do this. I would certainly not be able to do it myself! My brain would go berserk! I need time to adjust when I switch between languages. It’s like my brain needs a warming up, before it is able switch to a new set of sounds and rules.

Once I am used to speaking a certain language with a certain person, I prefer to stick to it, probably because I have an older, less flexible brain. Also, as an adult, I am conscious of the things I say and very aware of the language I use. Last week a Swedish friend asked me to say something in Danish, out of the blue and just for fun, because he wanted to hear if he could understand what I was saying. I am not used to speaking Danish with him and I felt very uncomfortable. Another example: I have a German friend, with whom I either speak Danish or English. A while ago his mother visited him from Germany. I had to dig deep to find the right words, but I managed to speak German to her, which felt pretty good. Then my friend joined our conversation, and that felt weird because we spoke in a language we had never used together before.

As a family we always speak Dutch at home, although we sometimes throw in Danish words if we can’t find the Dutch equivalent quickly enough. These are often words related to school, like flyverdragt or lektieklub, or food, like kammerjunkere or æbleskiver. But it also happens at other occasions. Last week our son went on a hyttetur with his spejder friends, and when our car breaks down we call the vejhjælp. But apart from specific words like these, we stick to speaking Dutch at home. Speaking any other language than Dutch to my children feels strange and artificial. On top of that I firmly believe in the importance of always speaking my mother tongue with my children. That’s how I can express myself best.

When we are among Danes however, it suddenly feels awkward and impolite to stick to this firm belief. I am very conscious of the fact that I speak a language most Danes don’t understand. I  definitely don’t want to make other people uncomfortable or give them the feeling that I am deliberately excluding them. That’s why I usually switch to Danish as soon as there are Danes around. My two little girls on the other hand couldn’t care less. Countless times have I picked them up from børnehave, where I found them chatting in Dutch together in the sandbox, not bothered by the fact that they were surrounded by a bunch of Danish-speaking kids that didn’t understand a word of what they were saying. When we take one of their friends home, I usually ask my girls to speak Danish to me and to each other, but somehow they don’t really see the need for it. They can talk to a friend in Danish and ask me for a cookie in Dutch in one sentence – in one breath almost – not noticing that the friend misses out on half of the sentence. On the other hand, they did seem to see the need for speaking Danish to a little dog we met last week. It was obvious to them that a dog living in Denmark only understands Danish, not Dutch.

I must admit I am secretly proud of my two little girls and their ability to switch between their two languages. I am thankful that after almost four years in Denmark they still speak Dutch so well. And I don’t just say that because it comes in handy when one of them comments on a fat lady while standing in line at the supermarket. Although, during moments like that, I feel almost relieved that they speak Dutch, as it saves both me and the fat lady in question a lot of embarrassment! But I am mainly thankful because Dutch is my language and it is important to me that my children speak and understand my language. I guess this is the challenge of every parent with a bilingual kid: how do you make sure they don’t lose their mother tongue, while you at the same time help them adapt to their new language and culture.

Nicole