LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 05.APR.2001 (01) [D/E]

Thu Apr 5 14:20:23 UTC 2001

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L O W L A N D S - L * 05.APR.2001 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Roger Thijs [roger.thijs at euro-support.be]
Subject: LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 04.APR.2001 (07) [D]

> From: Roger Thijs [roger.thijs at euro-support.be]
> Subject: Language politics
>
> Op teletekst van de VRT gezien

Geplukt van een andere lijst:
de juiste tekst van de TELETEXT bladzijde:

117    tt-TV1    117 do 05 apr 00:08:01
       binnenland   

     DEWAEL BOOS OP NEDERLANDSE AMBASSADEUR

     Vlaams minister-president Dewael roept
     de Nederlandse ambassadeur in ons land
     op het matje. Dewael heeft naar alle
     ambassades een brief geschreven om het
     Nederlands zoveel mogelijk te gebruiken
     in hun contacten met de buitenwereld.

     De Nederlandse ambassadeur voelde zich
     door de brief van Dewael "bezeerd". In
     een brief noemt hij het gebruik van
     Nederlands een intern Belgisch of
     Vlaams probleem. Hij kiest voor het
     Engels, Frans of Duits.

     Dewael is daar erg boos om. Hij vindt
     de houding van de Nederlandse
     ambassadeur onhoffelijk. Na de paas-
     vakantie ontbiedt Dewael de ambassadeur
     voor een persoonlijk gesprek.

Groetjes,

Roger

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From: Pepijn Hendriks [pepijnh at bigfoot.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 04.APR.2001 (02) [D/E]

Henry Pijffers [henry.pijffers at saxnot.com] wrote:

>I don't really consider myself part of a "Low Saxon nation", but
>neither do I feel like I'm 100% part of the Dutch either (you did know
>Low-Saxon is used not only in Germany I presume). I feel like a
>Tukker, a person from Twente, which just happens to be in the
>Netherlands, instead of in Germany or anywhere else.

Let me add my two cent's worth to this.

Last Friday our Prince consort, German by birth, said that he, when
asked about being Dutch, always answered that he had different
loyalties. He was cosmopolitan, European, and somewhere there
was being Dutch too. I think there's much to say for this.

When speaking to an American friend, I feel European. When he was
in the United States I asked him when he would come over and visit
*us*, meaning a group of Germans and me, over here in Europe.

I was born and raised in Breda and its environs. This city is as much
Dutch as other medium-sized cities as Groningen, Dordrecht,
Nijmegen, Deventer, Leiden, or others you may think of, despite its
close proximity to the Belgian border.*

Most of the times, I feel just Dutch. Fact is that I read the same
newspapers (provided that they're national) as people anywhere
else in the country, watch the same television channels, went
through the same school system etc. These experiences make for
the fact that, living in a house with people from all over the
country, I share a lot with the people I now live with. More, I might
add, than I share with people living just on the other side of the
border, regrettable as that may be.

Within a Dutch context, I quickly feel different. But even this is not
something solid. One time I feel 'from Brabant', other times I feel
'from the South' (together with people from Limburg), other times I
may group together with people from Limburg and Flanders.
Occasions like this include references to the 'zachte g', Catholicism
(although I'm not a Catholic myself), and other areas where the
'cultural dominance (or even arrogance)' of the Randstad prevails in
a discussion, on television, etcetera.

Other people who are originally from the South, may have this less
than I have. I know people who haven't even a hint of an accent,
even though they're from the southern parts of Limburg. Sometimes
I'm under the impression that living in Leiden on the one hand, and
retaining this southern accent on the other (as part of a general
attitude), has made it possible to remain an 'outsider', in a position
to observe and judge things from a certain distance.

But still, all this does not diminish my Dutchness. When abroad and
asked where I'm from, I'm from the Netherlands. The Netherlands
are the country I was born in, that I feel at home in and that I even
feel proud of. This was so when I lived near Breda, this is so now
that I live in Leiden, and I hope it will stay so when I go on and live
somewhere else in the future.

* Something completely as an aside. The great number of cities
that are relatively close to the border in the Netherlands has struck
me. Cities that come to mind are Breda, Venlo, Sittard, Heerlen,
Kerkrade, Maastricht, Nijmegen and Enschede. This is more than I
can think of for the countries surrounding us. For Belgium, there are
Antwerp and perhaps Hasselt, which both are farther from the
border than any of the Dutch cities mentioned. For Germany there
would be Aachen. This can perhaps be explained historically, but it
still strikes me.

Regards,

-Pepijn

--
 pepijnh at gmx.net -- http://www.bigfoot.com/~pepijnh -- ICQ - 6033220

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