True enough, I have been staying with my wonderful old housemates, easily slipping back into the daily life of the city I knew nearly a year ago. Of course, some things have changed: besides no longer having my own room and a new person (to me) in the house, some friends have moved away or no longer keep in touch, and some changes in the city itself have meant new routes to familiar places. Still, other things have remained the same: going to the movies on Tuesday evenings, baking pies, saying hello to the neighbours (by which I mean the guys who work downstairs in the sex shop), speaking Dutch badly, and research.
Speaking Dutch -- badly or not -- has become a pretty central part of my project. While I have kept up in reading the language over the last several months in Canada (and I think that my comprehension has actually improved), my speaking skills have gone a bit downhill since I haven't had anyone to practice speaking with. And it is this daily practice, and voluntary organizations that help newcomers to the Dutch language through setting up speaking partnerships or social situations where they can practice speaking Dutch, that I am looking more closely at this month.
When I lived in Amsterdam, I found my own speaking partner through the Gilde Amsterdam SamenSpraak program. Speaking once a week with Dennis, a volunteer, about whatever we thought was interesting that week -- from our families, to geography and vacations, politics, food, my research, Amsterdam and so on -- really helped to give me the confidence in speaking Dutch that just doesn't come from formal lessons. Gilde Amsterdam is not the only organization that has these kinds of speaking partnerships. In fact, the Taalcoachwijzer Amsterdam site, a website that provides information on language coaching initiatives in Amsterdam, highlights four other organizations with similar projects:
- Vluchtelingenwerk Amstel tot Zaan (Refugees Amstel to Zaan)
- SamenSpraak Oost-Watergraafsmeer (Speaking Together Oost-Watergraafsmeer)
- Mixen in Mokum (Mozeshuis) (Mixing in Mokum)
- Amsterdams Buurvrouwen Contact (Amsterdam Neighbourhood Women Contact)
The folks I have been able to talk to, both volunteers and organizers, have given different reasons for the volunteers' participation. These have been things like wanting to teach, having time on their hands and wanting to keep busy, finding it nice work, being proud of their city, etc. But so far, everyone has had one thing in common: the idea that language and the ability to communicate is the most important thing for integration, but also for living in a nice city.
I think most people in Amsterdam, and possibly the Netherlands (or in Canada, or elsewhere) would agree with that sentiment. So, I am wondering and trying to figure out while I am here, a bit more about these kinds of issues:
- what might be called the 'volunteering ethic' of Amsterdam (and the Netherlands);
- language-oriented volunteering programs;
- people's ideas, experiences and reasons for volunteering;
- how volunteering might relate to particular ideas of 'civic engagement' (being actively/ positively involved in the life of the city or country);
- how language matters at the everyday level and how it relates to people's ideas about integration.
