LL-L "Language use" 2004.06.28 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 28.JUN.2004 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language use

Dear Lowlanders,

A few things I have been hearing lately have provoked me to revisit in my
mind the issues of language survival and language spread.  Under "language
spread" I would like to include second-language learning, which, in my
opinion goes hand in hand with international attention, which strengthens
language prestige and confidence, thus increasing survival chances. I would
like to invite your input on these topics.

Let us take the example of Dutch.  Quite often we hear about people feeling
that the Dutch language is in one way or another being threatened, even
under siege.  There are those native speakers that feel there is too much
English influence on Dutch, oftentimes in the form of gratuitous adoption of
English terms where native ones are available or could easily be created.
Furthermore, the influential organization Onze Taal (Our Language) appears
to fear that official recognition of regional languages of the Netherlands
as separate from Dutch chips away at Dutch, reducing the number of native
speakers and national as well as international significance and prestige of
Dutch.  It regrets that Lowlands Saxon and Limburgish have been officially
recognized, and it may have played a role in the recent governmental refusal
to officially recognize Zeelandic.

It appears to me that the number of native speakers is not as important as
the attitude of native speakers.  As we have mentioned many times before,
Dutch speakers of the Netherlands have an international reputation for being
more than willing to use languages other than Dutch -- typically English,
German and/or French -- not only with foreigners who actually require the
help but more often than not with those that do not require or want the
help, including people who desparately try to learn Dutch.  Recently I have
bumped into a number of Americans and other nationals that have lived in the
Netherlands and now speak good or even excellent Dutch and that have a
continued interest in Dutch and Netherlands culture.  Each one told me that
it often felt like an exaspirating uphill battle, especially in Amsterdam,
because people would automatically address them in English, would sometimes
even answer in English when addressed in Dutch.

Dutch speakers in general seem to believe that they have to learn and use
"more significant" foreign languages because their own is insignificant
outside the Netherlands, Belgium and former Netherlands colonies.  This
appears to apply even to foreign residents  at home.  The impression this
gives the foreign visitor has an extreme in a snippet of conversation I
recently picked up at an airport, where an American woman told others, "Now
that the Dutch are changing over to English ..."  I had to eavesdrop to find
out if she really meant what I thought she meant, and she did!  It took all
I had to resist interfering in that conversation.

It occurred to me that rather than struggle with campaigns to halt the
influx of English and other foreign loanwords -- which may be futile,
especially among younger people with a need for rebellion -- it might be
more condusive to language survival to start a campaign urging Dutch
speakers to be helpful to foreign visitors who do not know Dutch but to
otherwise use Dutch with selfconfidence, though without chauvinism, while
expecting and helping foreign residents to learn and speak Dutch.  In my
opinion, this may well work because the Netherlands have an unusually high
percentage of foreign residents.  Going by what I see on Lowlands-L and from
applications for membership alone, there is a large number of people who
wish to learn Dutch, and many foreign residents returning home continue use
of and contacts with Dutch.  If the average Dutch speaker became really
aware of this level of intererest, perhaps this would increase their
confidence in their own language, and this would make them less uptight with
regard to granting official status to the regional languages of their
country.

What I am trying to suggest here is "Don't underestimate the power of
foreigners' interest, but take advantage of it!"

Furthermore, I wonder if the same applies to regional and minority
languages.  In the case of Lowlands Saxon (Low German) of Germany, for
example, the predominant assumption is that it is an internal, regional
affair, that no one outside the region and country would be interested in
it, that it is at best something some local German speakers want to learn
(which is why language courses are being offered mostly to adult German
speakers).  I have told some of the people on the "inside" that, judging by
the large number of email inquiries I get, there is a considerable number of
non-Germans who are interested in the language and wish to learn it but are
deterred by having to do it through the medium of German.  My argument that
there is demand for LS resources and courses in English tend to be dismissed
as based on aberrations, wishful thinking and overestimation.

Am I alone in assuming that international attention is potentially condusive
to strengthening the image and thus the survival chances of a language?

I would be interested in your thoughts on these matters.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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