Except for in the Netherlands, in the Flemish part of Belgium—the Dutch spoken there is referred to as Flemish—and in a few of the former Dutch colonies, such as Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, Dutch is not generally spoken anywhere else in the world. (Dutch is also the “parent” language of a couple other languages, such as Afrikaans in South Africa.)
The population of the Netherlands is around 17 million.
Therefore, it is not surprising that English is comprehensively taught at the high school level in the Netherlands, and that most Dutch people speak English, and speak it very well.
Even back in the 50s, I was taught English for a full four years in Dutch High Schools.
Finally, English has become the global lingua franca, especially for economics, business, diplomacy, tourism, much of science and technology, etc.—it has even become the “default language” of air traffic control.
Thus, I should not have been surprised when I read an article in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad this morning titled “English takes over at Dutch universities.”
The article describes how Dutch universities are switching to English as the language of instruction, and reports on the invocation ceremonies at one university, the University of Groningen way up in the north of the Netherlands:
Hundreds of students have convened on the Academieplein square in Groningen. The band is ready to play when rector magnificus Frans Zwarts lifts a glass of champagne on the steps of the university building: “Let’s toast”, he says in English, raising his voice. “To a very successful next academic year.”
There is some hesitation before the students start to cheer. “I wish you all the best.” Earlier in the day, Zwarts had already given a speech in English during the official convocation in the Academie building, because “the number of international students at the University of Groningen approaches ten percent of the student population”.
While the extent of the use of English at the University of Groningen is not readily apparent from the article, there is no doubt about the University of Maastricht way down in the south of the Netherlands.
Of the nineteen bachelor’s programmes offered in Maastricht, nine are given in English this year, as are all 46 master’s programmes save one (Dutch law). For a few master’s – medicine for instance – one can still opt for a Dutch version.
And,
Of the general universities, Maastricht is leading the pack in changing its programmes into English, but the other universities are not far behind. At the University of Amsterdam, for instance, 105 of the 170 master’s are given in English. Dutch has been all but banished there. In Utrecht, 89 of the 196 master’s are in English. English is most commonly the language of instruction in the economic subjects and life sciences. It goes without saying that language and literature programmes still lag behind in this respect, although subjects like general literary theory are already being given in English.
I was also surprised to read that in 1990, then Dutch education minister, Jo Ritzen, had already proposed to make English the official language of instruction at Dutch universities.
But,
The intellectuals of the Netherlands were up in arms. Aside from the objection that it just won’t do to squander one’s own language, there was the fear that the quality of the education would suffer and the uniqueness of Dutch academics would be lost.
And the criticism continues.
Some say that it will be at the detriment of the quality of higher education.
Others fear that it will make Dutch a “second-class language, a cast-off.”
And, many are apprehensive that a great deal of Dutch science will be lost since Dutch scientists no longer write in Dutch. The same applies to literature and other academic and cultural areas.
Then, some claim that the quality of English spoken by lecturers leaves something to be desired—although I find that to be a far stretch.
Finally, a history of psychology professor in Groningen says that Dutch universities need to be more discriminating instead of just deciding to switch all masters to English overnight: “Let’s just agree: what makes sense in English and what doesn’t?”
What do you think?
