Bolzano September 29th 2006:

Bilingualism in The Netherlands

Jacomine NortierUtrecht Institute of Linguistics

j.nortier@let.uu.nl

Topics in this paper

• The Netherlands – demography• Political developments• Linguistic practices of Turks and

Moroccans in NL• Mother tongue/Community

language teaching: rise and fall

The Netherlands

• North-South: 300 km• East-West: 150 km• 16 million inhabitants• Capital: Amsterdam, almost 1

million• (Rotterdam: 600,000; Den Haag

400,000;Utrecht: 275,000)

The Netherlands (cont.):

1.7 million non-Western320,000 Moroccan (= 2%)365,000 Turkish (= 2.28%)330,000 Surinamese (=2.06%)130,000 Antillean392,000 Indonesian

Major cities: more than 50% of school population is non-native Dutch

Reason for migration:

• Surinamese, Antillean, Indonesian: post-colonial. Antillean: most recent.

• Turks, Moroccans: came as guest workers in the sixties, chain migration

Important recent history:• May 6th 2002: Pim Fortuyn killed: he was the

voice of the white Dutch ‘anti-immigrants-movement’. Became a hero after his death. 2 weeks later: elections.

• Nov 2nd, 2004: Theo van Gogh killed by Moroccan muslim fundamentalist Mohammed B. Discussion about ‘freedom of speech’.

• Mohammed B: member of ‘Hofstadgroep’: Moroccan fundamentalists who planned assaults.

• At the same time: problems with Moroccans, mainly teenage boys. Marginalization. Increasing fundamentalism.

• Consequences for society: strong polarisation; immigrant = muslim = dangerous.

Politics in 2006

• The “Rotterdam-code”: Pim Fortuyn-city• One of the new rules: Dutch is our

common language in public• Minister Verdonk (integration) in

January 2006: whole country protest. • Last week: wish everyone would speak

Dutch everywhere (cauliflower in stead of chickpeas)

• She is the most popular minister

Linguistic practices of two groups:

• Turkish: strong vitality, high status. In-group orientation. 2nd generation: Turkish and D/T CS is unmarked in-group language.

• Moroccans: L1s (Berber and Moroccan Arabic) have low status. Main shared value: islam. 2nd generation: Dutch is unmarked. Mix with others.

Linguistic practices of two groups (cont.):

• Newspapers: Turks read Turkish papers

• Moroccans don’t read Moroccan papers. Not available

• Both: Internet and satellite-tv

Websites (‘Ethno-Portalen’)

(Androutsopoulos)

Turkish:• Lokum. nl• Turskestudent.nl

Moroccan:• Maroc.nl• Maghreb.nl• Amazigh.nl

Turkish websites:

• Serious• Turkish and Dutch • All possible topics• Culture: not specific islam

Moroccan websites:

• Islam plays a role in many topics• Culture = Islam• Main language: Dutch. Arabic

mostly in formulaic expressions. • Berber: identity construction• Fun and jokes; play with language:

gataarlijk (gataar = dangerous Ar.; gevaarlijk = dangerous Nl)

Typical on a Moroccan website:

• Je bent nog mooier dan onze remra7 gezien vanuit onze sta7 bij het krieken van de sba7.

• (You are even prettier than our court yard seen from our roof at the dawn of morning)

Community Language Teaching

• OET(C): Onderwijs Eigen Taal (en Cultuur) ‘Education Own Language (and Culture)’

• Since late sixties• Government took over

responsibility• 1974: official

Original goals of OET(C)

• Maintenance of contact with original country and language

• Remigration: easier to (re-)enter school

• Help newly arrived L1 speakers to integrate in Dutch school system

How was it organized?

• Large groups: 2.5 during school hours and 2.5 hours outside

• Small groups: 5 hours outside school hours

• Voluntary basis• Poor material; from country of

origin

Late seventies:

• Stay in NL turned out to be permanent• Later: OETC not a goal in itself anymore, but a

means to achieve other goals, such as    - a- avoid identity problems of ‘foreign’

children;- b- integration into Dutch society - c- bridge gap between home/school- d- increase selfrespect to get better results

Difference with early years:

• In the early years, OETC was in the interest of the minority group.

• Later: integration in minority group was considered undesirable; development of individual children; Dutch society

• From 1991: OETC OET; support learning of DSL

2004: the end

• Position of OET-teachers: bad• Schools wished to pay more

attention to DSL• Sociopolitical climate: don’t give

‘them’ a chance to segregate

2006: Moroccans have gone back to the mosques to learn Arabic. Opposite of what the gvt. did in the seventies.

And further?

• Small initiatives. Turks: language classes

• Some municipalities: language schools; not only for children who learn their group’s L1, also adults. Other Ls as well.

• Political interest and will is lacking, most political parties have other priorities. Not ‘hip’

Conclusion:

Bilingualism in The Netherlands …

we love it!

But only when one language is Dutch and the

other English…