Since the inception of the Language Parties format, we have been curious about the interests and experiences of audiences. After all, storytellers need storylisteners.

We have come to appreciate the qualities of storylisteners that can support storytellers to embody the vulnerability required to reveal parts of themselves seldom seen in public.

What motivates storylisteners to come along to a Language Party and what does the experience evoke in them? We spoke to two storylisteners from the 2019 Darwin Language Party held at the Melaleuca Refugee Centre to find out more.

Carine tells a story in Lingala to an attentive and receptive audience at this Language Party hosted by Melaleuca Refugee Centre.

Our first storylistener explained how Language Parties create space for representation and visibility of stories that are often unseen:

“My language background is English spoken at home, and I learnt French in high school, which I’ve then continued through to my adulthood.

The Language Party sounded like a really interesting night and something that I’ve never done before. I really enjoy languages and thinking about languages and I also didn’t know much about Darwin’s international community. It was a nice opportunity to learn about things that I haven’t thought about before.

With many different languages and potential for misunderstandings amongst people it was really helpful to have a guiding structure to the Language Party. It was a reason for people to get together and spin yarns in their own language and reminisce. It was formal which made it feel really valid.

I liked seeing people light up when they were speaking in their language and telling a story in their own language. It’s a great opportunity to just listen to the language and how it sounds and also picking up little bits of Yolngu from my work was really nice.

I think that there’s a lot to be said to just listen to a language and listen to the phonetics and what it sounds like and how it might come out of someone’s mouth physically. That in itself is a really nice thing.

The storytellers were essentially speaking to everyone and no one at the same time. I think there’s a lot to be said for just listening and watching. Listening to languages is really fascinating.

Being an English speaker we’re privileged to speak the universal language and not really know what it’s like to be blocked or limited from some sort of discussion.

It made me appreciate the feeling of being a bit lost at sea trying to forge meaning. I think it’s good for us Balandas [non-Indigenous] to get a taste of what it’s like to be left out and not always feel like we’re the centre of the universe essentially.”

Our second storylistener described the unique experience of hearing stories from people of diverse cultural backgrounds:

“I am a native English speaker and speaker of Indonesian and French through formal education systems. I was interested in the Language Party as an event that showcases languages and linguistic backgrounds. It was a comfortable and casual atmosphere, and a family friendly environment, where everyone was comfortable with each other and exchanging ideas to learn about each other.

When we arrived there was free time and opportunity for everyone who was attending the event to have something to eat, get comfortable, start chatting and meeting each other a little bit. To try different food and for the kids to run around. Followed by the storytelling part of the evening.

The length of the stories was right to maintain interest. From the get-go we could see that some communication and cross-cultural communication had already occurred between the storytellers who were performing for us. There was movement going on and props in some cases with the stories which helped to maintain interest and carry the story along.

There were Indigenous Australians and refugees at the Language Party. There are a lot of interesting stories among people in Darwin. People who have come for work purposes, interesting stories amongst the East Timorese community and there’s a lot of Nepalese students studying here now and working in hospitality and driving taxis.

I find that the multiculturalism of the city doesn’t get spoken about much. There are a lot of interesting stories in Darwin amongst those groups and it was great to hear some of these stories at the Language Party.”

Prasanthi shared a story in Sinhala from Sri Lanka. She reflects on how storylisteners helped make her feel comfortable: “The audience was trying to understand me. They wanted to hear my story, that’s why they were listening. They made me comfortable by doing that. I got more comfortable when I saw people leaning in to listen.”

Language Parties create solidarity, confidence and a sense of community amongst storytellers: “We’re happy to be around different people from different cultural backgrounds, and different languages and customs. We are comfortable with other native people, that we can sit with them and talk. If we step out from our world into this world, together, it would be something different. I would like to see white people respect the First People of Australia and the people coming from a hard life overseas. And to be able to interact with us.” –Yinin (Yolŋu)

Storylisteners play an important role in actively and intentionally entering into a new state of engagement through being receptive to sitting with the discomfort of not understanding the words and speech of the stories. Storylistening can be a way of showing solidarity through recognising and respecting the sovereignty of local Indigenous storytellers and the diversity of storytellers who share their languages from other places. Through Language Parties, we can create more unity and cohesion in our communities.

Storytellers describe the attention and interest from storylisteners as an important part of standing in front of a room of strangers and delivering a story in its original language. We believe that storylistening is a powerful act of accepting others for who they are and celebrating the cultural and linguistic diversities present in the places where we live.

—Nicole Curtin

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