![[Translate to English:] Wike fan de Utwikseling](/fileadmin/_processed_/1/2/csm_dag_uitwisseling_7fc59eac6d.jpg "[Translate to English:] Wike fan de Utwikseling")
[Translate to English:] Wike fan de Utwikseling, f.l.n.r. (steand) Richtsje Stornebrink, Lolke Heida, Wilma van der Woude, Inge Heslinga (Fryske Akademy); (sittend) Jildou Postma, Rigt Kalsbeek.
Sharing knowledge at Exchange Week
Every year Werken in Friesland organizes the Week of Exchange. During this week (governmental) organizations and (commercial) companies in the Northern Netherlands open their doors and people, regardless of the position someone holds, can spend a day at another company. The Fryske Akademy, of which the Mercator Knowledge Center for Multilingualism is a part, also participates annually.
This year we got the chance to show our research work to employees of the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân, Aegon / ASR, University of Groningen, municipality of Heerenveen and province of Fryslân. In our eighteenth-century Coulon House, our guests were introduced to our colleagues and to the many (international) projects we carry out.
Our colleague Jantine van der West, employee Citizen Science and Knowledge Utilization, talked about the working relationships of the Fryske Akademy and how important citizen science can be. Lexicographer Johan van der Zwaag showed old dictionary cards, then showed the possibilities of Frysker.nl, with its online dictionaries and translator.
Han Nijdam talked about his work as an Old Frisian and historical anthropologist and showed examples of medieval legal texts. Ydwine Scarse is a researcher at the Mercator Knowledge Center and asked us in a quiz how many recognized minority languages there are in the Netherlands (answer: 7) and how many recognized national minorities (answer: 1: the Frisians).
Would you also like to spend a half-day at the Fryske Akademy? Welcome! Next year in June there will be another Exchange Week, keep an eye on the Working in Friesland website!