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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 12 December 2008 - Volume 06<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Luc Hellinckx</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:luc.hellinckx@gmail.com">luc.hellinckx@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Language politics"</span><br>
<br>
Beste Ron, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><span style="word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">I was saying that I advocate representation of </span><i style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">all</i><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> languages
recognized within a given locale. Of course, this presumes that all regional
language be indeed recognized.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Quite
logical...on paper, that is. In a static, local situation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Here in Belgium, where
traffic is dense and quite often transit, drivers can easily get confused. One
second, you're heading for Lille (big city in
Northern France), the next moment nothing but "Rijsel" on every
signpost...then Lille
again. Or you think you're really driving to Aachen
(in Germany),
but all of a sudden it seems you're wrong 'cause all you can see is
"Aix-la-Chappelle".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Now, on a
highway, this isn't sooo bad, 'cause you usually have enough time to figure out
what's going on. If you're on ring road around a big city, it's much more
difficult (and dangerous!) to put too much information on a signpost. Bear in
mind that in Belgium,
on a ring road, the distance between two exits is usually very small. If you
then overload every signpost with redundant information, this will only confuse
a foreign driver. Moreover, the ring road of Brussels (R0) is partly Flemish,
partly Walloonian and partly Brussels
territory. So if we want to be good students, we'd have to label everything in
Dutch, French and even Brussels
dialect. Maybe even in German, as it is also an official language in Belgium. But
not in English, I guess. Come on, we'd end up with signposts twice as high as
those for Mac Donalds *s*.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">I advocate
a different (European) rule for international traffic (that does not take local
sensitivities into account). Once, you're off the highway, it's a totally
different matter.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Kind
greetings,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">Luc
Hellinckx</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>