LL-L "Language politics" 2008.06.24 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 24 June 2008 - Volume 02
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From: Helge Tietz <helgetietz at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2008.06.23 (05) [E]

Dear Roger,

I am very aware of the complex situation in and around Brussels and I fully
comprehend the Flemsih point of view because as Low Saxon speakers with a
Danish backround my family went through the same historical discrimination
at the hands of the standart German language as the Flemish experienced at
the hands of the French speakers. I have read articles in e.g. English
newspapers portraying the Flemish municipalities around Brussels as
Flemsish-chauvinist because of the language restrictions (agreed by both
Flemings and Wallons) but I wonder what they would say if more and more
French speakers would move to Dover and surroundings who refuse to learn any
English and setting up their own communities apart from the rest. Then
suddenly the same newspapers will cry "foul"....

At the weekend I had a consultative meeting with one of the representatives
of the Danish and Frisian party in Sleswick-Holsten (to use the previous
English name for that very state here which resembles also much more the Low
Saxon and Frisian version of the state name then the German name often
copied by English texts these days) discussing plans over a Light Rail
network and we held the whole meeting in Low Saxon although we could have
chosen Danish or German, too. But it seemed more natural to us to use one of
our Regional languages and certainly not German. However, later I thought
once again we proofed that there is no such thing as educated and peasant
languages, we discussed complex scientific issues and we never had the
feeling we where lacking expressions, if no native word existed for an
expression we simply imported the Danish, German, Latin or English one but
that never altered the character of our language. People who describe any
language as uneducated simply discriminate on a big scale, also often
against their own forefathers who probably spoke one of those peasant
languages themselves at one point....

Groeten vun

Helge

•

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