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for as long as i've been in university, i've heard debate and controversy about English-taught courses in Dutch universities. right now, as the parliamentary elections are rolling along, there is talk of requiring universities to offer a certain amount of Dutch-taught programmes. the arguments i've heard in favour of this are generally along the lines of protecting the status of Dutch against the encroach of English.
here is my own opinion on the matter:
i don't care about Dutch-taught programmes. admittedly this is coming from someone who personally hasn't taken any Dutch-taught courses and, if given the choice, would prefer English over Dutch any time (i just feel more comfortable with English). however, the "protection" argument doesn't convince me either. i don't think there is any need for concern over the status or vitality of standard Dutch: there are over 20 million Dutch speakers, and standard Dutch enjoys full institutional support in the Netherlands as well as Flanders, Brussels, and Suriname. the language is being transmitted to children as a first language, and those children continue to use Dutch all their lives. there does not seem to be any reason to believe the chain of transmission is at risk of being broken, or the number of native speakers significantly decreased.
if one must be concerned with the status and vitality of languages in the Netherlands, i think there are plenty of languages more in need of attention than Dutch. West Frisian is the first that comes to mind, of course, and what about Romani, Sranan Tongo, Uyghur, Berber...? or Moroccan Arabic and Polish, for that matter.
i have also heard the argument that not all Dutch people are good at English, stereotypes notwithstanding. this sounds more like an access-to-education issue, which i am more sympathetic to. if the solution to this lies in the availability if Dutch-taught programmes, i feel like this path leads to forcing universities to offer every degree programme in Dutch, which i'm not sure is ideal either. also, why not improve quality of high school education? there's plenty of improvement needed there.
as a final note, i care very much about the preservation of English-taught degree programmes in the Netherlands because i wish non-Dutch speakers to have access to our education system too. Dutch language courses offered by my university's language centre have long waiting lists and are not at all sufficient for gaining a sufficient level of proficiency to follow higher education.
here is my own opinion on the matter:
i don't care about Dutch-taught programmes. admittedly this is coming from someone who personally hasn't taken any Dutch-taught courses and, if given the choice, would prefer English over Dutch any time (i just feel more comfortable with English). however, the "protection" argument doesn't convince me either. i don't think there is any need for concern over the status or vitality of standard Dutch: there are over 20 million Dutch speakers, and standard Dutch enjoys full institutional support in the Netherlands as well as Flanders, Brussels, and Suriname. the language is being transmitted to children as a first language, and those children continue to use Dutch all their lives. there does not seem to be any reason to believe the chain of transmission is at risk of being broken, or the number of native speakers significantly decreased.
if one must be concerned with the status and vitality of languages in the Netherlands, i think there are plenty of languages more in need of attention than Dutch. West Frisian is the first that comes to mind, of course, and what about Romani, Sranan Tongo, Uyghur, Berber...? or Moroccan Arabic and Polish, for that matter.
i have also heard the argument that not all Dutch people are good at English, stereotypes notwithstanding. this sounds more like an access-to-education issue, which i am more sympathetic to. if the solution to this lies in the availability if Dutch-taught programmes, i feel like this path leads to forcing universities to offer every degree programme in Dutch, which i'm not sure is ideal either. also, why not improve quality of high school education? there's plenty of improvement needed there.
as a final note, i care very much about the preservation of English-taught degree programmes in the Netherlands because i wish non-Dutch speakers to have access to our education system too. Dutch language courses offered by my university's language centre have long waiting lists and are not at all sufficient for gaining a sufficient level of proficiency to follow higher education.
