After my post seven days ago, about the importance of appreciating one's own language, I came to the conclusion that there should be something like The Dutch Language Union (Dutch: Taalunie), but for Suriname's lingua franca Sranan Tongo. Well, this morning I got a nice surprise, because I read a news article, that a lot of organizations who are working towards preserving and developing their native tongues, have bonded together to form Associatie Surinaamse Taalgemeenschappen (Association Suriname's Language communities).
This is of course great news, because now organizations won't be working sporadically and/or past each other and will hopefully bring structure in the spoken languages, by doing the research first of "What do we already have? Is there already an official spelling; what material do we already have, etc.?" They also want to plan other activities to stimulate people learning each other's (native) languages. The native languages which are being represented are Sranan, Hindi, Javanese, Saamaka (language of one of the Marroon groups), languages of the first native groups in Suriname, Aucaans (language of another Marroon group) and even the formal Dutch language.
To give you a little preview of some of the languages that are being spoken here, I'll share some songs in those languages with you:
- Here's the Suripop (Suriname's biggest songfestival) song Aku Cinta Padamu (from Javanese translated to I love You) with three languages interwoven, which are Sranan, Dutch and Javanese. I was still in elementary school, when this song came out and I remember everyone singing to this song. It's a love song about how the man and woman are everything to each other (Sranan: you na mie alla sani / Dutch: jij bent alles voor mij)
- Another Suripop song Acha to Ham Tjale by Stacy Gemin ft. Ruben Jitan, who sing in Sarnami (evolved version of Hindi in Suriname), Sranan and Dutch. This is also another love song about their love being each other's strength and source of happiness.