Speaking the Brabant dialect is nice, cozy and homely. This is what Henri Bouwmans, chairman of the dialect festival that will be held in Lieshout this weekend, says. At the same time, the chairman and passionate advocate of the dialect also sees that in our province there is less and less spoken language. “There is work to be done.”
Despite the fact that less and less dialect is being spoken, there is still hope. The dialect writing competition, the results of which will be announced on Saturday evening in Lieshout, has never had so many entries. Sixty people put a story, poem or song lyrics on paper in dialect. The participants also include young people, so that also offers hope for the future.
On Sunday, thousands of people are expected at the Brabants Dialectenfestival in Lieshout, which will be opened by Commissioner of the King Ida Adema. There are also young people at those performances, says Bouwmans. The chairman of the festival is committed to preserving the Brabant dialect and hopes that we will all embrace it.
At the same time, he also sees that it is a tough battle. For example, in cities such as Eindhoven and Den Bosch there is significantly less talk than in the Brabant countryside. This is partly due to the aging population in the villages, Bouwmans thinks. He is also a wedding official and in that position he also uses dialect. “‘Verstade generously me’, I ask. Young people often like it when Brabant is spoken,” he notes.
On the other hand, children in Brabant also learn to speak General Civilized Dutch at school. “When we have the grandchildren here, we speak Brabants, but at school they have to speak Dutch again.” Bouwmans argues for both and he thinks that is going well. “My daughters both have good jobs, where they speak Dutch, but at home they have a nice chat in Brabant.”
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