Mazen Ba-baeer: the importance lies in the connections
Short bio
My name is Mazen, I’m 35 years old, and I’m from Yemen. I work as a project officer at Het Begint met Taal.
I still remember my father taking me to school for the first time – I was excited, but also really nervous. Until a teacher taught me that learning isn’t scary at all, and that it’s okay to make mistakes. That teacher had a big impact on me and made learning fun.
My story
After secondary school, I wanted to study something prestigious, like medicine or engineering. I did well in school, so that was also what other people expected of me. But then I met a classmate on the bus who told me he was going to study English literature, and he was really motivated. Why? Because he loved English. And I realised I felt the same way. I was already taking an English course at the time, and I liked the language.
So I decided to study something I enjoyed instead of worrying about other people’s expectations.
After studying English literature, I worked as an interpreter and translator for the British embassy and other clients. After the war broke out in Yemen, I fled to Saudi Arabia in 2016. My wife joined me two years later. I found a job there and got a residence permit. In 2020, we decided to visit Europe – a decision that unexpectedly turned our lives upside down when the pandemic started and the continent went into lockdown. Suddenly, we were no longer able to return to Saudi Arabia.
If you’re able to speak the language of people, you have deeper conversations.
I’m currently working as a language coaching project officer at Het Begint met Taal. One of the projects I’m involved in is Kletsmaatjes, or Chat Buddies. Kletsmaatjes pairs up Dutch volunteers with non-Dutch-speaking newcomers. Every week for six months, you and your buddy have an hour-long chat. The conversations are all online, so people can have them wherever and whenever they want.
As a newcomer myself in 2021, I was also paired up with a volunteer from Kletsmaatjes. I was living at the asylum seekers’ centre in Zutphen, waiting for my residence permit. I was highly motivated to learn Dutch because I wanted to communicate with people. You can get by fine with English, but if you’re able to speak Dutch you have deeper conversations – real conversations.
I spent three to four hours a day learning Dutch, through YouTube videos, books, newspapers, TV, audiobooks and podcasts, and by interacting with people in Dutch. For example, I would talk to someone on the street and do my best to ask them for directions to the supermarket in Dutch, even though I knew where it was. Purely just to practise. I was constantly looking for ways to expand my vocabulary and find out more about how people actually use the language in everyday conversations.
On the website of my asylum seekers’ centre, I found a link to Kletsmaatjes. That’s how I came into contact with language volunteer Lilian, who I ended up having a chat with every week for six months. We got along great! So great, in fact, that she even came to visit us once, and we still have regular video calls to catch up, even though I’ve completed the Kletsmaatjes programme. We became friends.
It takes time to learn a language
After completing the Kletsmaatjes programme, I was able to help the foundation myself – first as a volunteer coordinator and now as a staff member. My work allows me to help other people learn Dutch. The importance of Kletsmaatjes lies in the connections it creates as people get to know each other. Language practice is important, but it’s the people that make this such a great programme. Seeing people and getting to know them.
As a language coach or teacher, you can explain things about the language you’re teaching, but the other person has to be motivated and work hard to become fluent. It takes time to learn a language. You can’t learn a language by going to a one-hour class once a week or by talking to a language coach. You have to do it yourself.
