In the 9-part podcast series Het Dialectenbureau Professor Marc van Oostendorp takes a merry journey through the Netherlands. Together with well-known ambassadors from all over the Netherlands, he puts the dialect on a pedestal. Because "dialects are in danger of disappearing," or are they? In episode 1 it's about resistance. Our researcher Liuwe Westra made a contribution regarding Frisian.

State of the dialect
In Het Dialectenbureau, Professor Marc van Oostendorp investigates the function, beauty and current state of dialect in the Netherlands. As a linguist and dialectologist, Marc is considered an absolute authority on dialect. But he does not do his research alone.

In 9 episodes he meets numerous dialect speakers from all over the country, who make a stand for their own dialect. From Jack Poels (Limburgs) to Katinka Polderman (Zeelandic) and from SMIB (Straattaal) to TikTok Tammo (Groningen); the whole of the Netherlands is covered. The listener of Het Dialectenbureau gets answers to the question of why dialect is still so deeply embedded in our souls and what that has to do with nostalgia, tradition, resistance, struggle, pride and connection.

The Dialect Bureau episode 1: resistance
The theme of the 1st episode is resistance. From the Frisians who fight for their own language and the youth in the Bijlmer who use street language to resist. From Bennie Jolink who has embraced the word 'boerenlul' (farmer's dick) as a nickname to the gap between city and countryside noted as early as 1981. But if you listen carefully, above all, you will see many similarities between these dialect speakers. Listen to episode 1 here.

Dialect speakers
The dialect speakers in the 1st episode are: singer of regional language rock band Normaal: Bennie Jolink (Lower Saxon), columnist of NRC and author of the street language dictionary Smibanese: Professort Soortkill (Straattaal), and researcher at the Fryske Akademy: Liuwe Westra (Frisian).