Frisian language games

How do you help children cross the language barrier?

Together with Province of Fryslân and SFBO we are researching – through gaming and prototyping – ways to stimulate the use of Frisian among young children. Children sometimes encounter obstacles when speaking Frisian, which creates a language barrier. They do not yet have a large vocabulary, or are used to speaking Frisian only with family and adults. It is sometimes difficult to cross that threshold, but in a creative and interactive form Frisian becomes fun and low-threshold.

The strength of this collaboration

Approach

For the game ‘Fryske Bern’, we tested a first prototype with children (aged 4-5) from the Koningin Julianaschool in Kollum, commissioned by SFBO. In the prototype, the children are introduced to the character Tsjonge, a Frisian-speaking young lion on a desert island. Tsjonge only understands Frisian, so to communicate with him it is important to speak Frisian!

The children help Tsjonge bake pancakes by finding the right Frisian words to go with the different pictures and ingredients. Tsjonge is interpreted by a Frisian volunteer, who interacts live with the children via a digital connection. This way, the children can talk and ask questions directly to Tsjonge at their own pace. Don’t know the right Frisian word for a moment? Classmates and the teacher (game supervisor) are only too happy to help in this search. So both Frisian- and Dutch-speaking children can participate!