Norway:Language under assault

[Harold Schiffman]

Language under assault

Culture Minister Trond Giske worries that the ever-expanding use of
English in Norway is threatening the very existence of the Norwegian
language. He's preparing an official government declaration aimed at
nothing less than ensuring its survival.
Government minister Trond Giske feels a need to protect the Norwegian
language from too much English interference.

PHOTO: TOR G STENERSEN


Giske plans to put forth what's known as a stortingsmelding, or "white
paper," on the Norwegian language at the end of next month. It won't
merely be concerned with comma rules or grammatical matters. Rather,
it's the survival of the language itself that will be the subject of
the declaration. Giske is seriously worried that Norwegian is being
too heavily influenced by English, not least because of the Internet
and the emergence of English as the common language of the globe.
"Languages around the world are simply disappearing, not being used
anymore," Giske told news bureau NTB. "Norwegian is under entirely new
pressure than it was just a few years ago, especially because of the
development of the Internet and the media."

Giske, who hails from the left wing of the Labour Party, wants to make
sure that a full Norwegian vocabulary is upheld within business and
academia. Those are two areas that he feels are particularly subject
to too much influence from English. It's not unusual., for example,
for business journals and people active in the business world to use
the word "cash" instead of the Norwegian "kontant." Some companies in
Norway already use English as a working language, and the use of
English terminology is widespread. At the same time, some classes at
Norwegian colleges and universities are taught in English, not
Norwegian. Students can be required to submit papers in both Norwegian
and English, or simply English.

Giske himself was an education minister when the decision was made to
allow classroom teaching in English, and he still feels that was
unavoidable. "We have many more foreign students and teachers," he
said. But that doesn't mean Norwegian should be overlooked. He
criticizes companies like airline SAS, for example, which stresses
English on its website even though it's part-owned by the Norwegian
government.  Sylfest Lomheim of the state language council known as
Språkrådet says a government declaration on Norwegian will be the most
important on the language in the past 40 years.

"It will represent an attempt to create a new language policy that we
haven't had in the country before," he said. "In the 1900s, a
declaration on language involved issues of how it was written. Now it
involves how the language shall survive."

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2326641.ece?service=print

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