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Bolzano September 29 th 2006: Bilingualism in The Netherlands

Bolzano September 29 th 2006: Bilingualism in The Netherlands. Jacomine Nortier Utrecht 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

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Bolzano September 29 th 2006: Bilingualism in The Netherlands

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  1. Bolzano September 29th 2006: Bilingualism in The Netherlands Jacomine Nortier Utrecht Institute of Linguistics j.nortier@let.uu.nl

  2. 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

  3. 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)

  4. 1.7 million non-Western 320,000 Moroccan (= 2%) 365,000 Turkish (= 2.28%) 330,000 Surinamese (=2.06%) 130,000 Antillean 392,000 Indonesian The Netherlands (cont.):

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

  6. Reason for migration: • Surinamese, Antillean, Indonesian: post-colonial. Antillean: most recent. • Turks, Moroccans: came as guest workers in the sixties, chain migration

  7. 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.

  8. 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

  9. 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.

  10. Linguistic practices of two groups (cont.): • Newspapers: Turks read Turkish papers • Moroccans don’t read Moroccan papers. Not available • Both: Internet and satellite-tv

  11. Turkish: Lokum. nl Turskestudent.nl Moroccan: Maroc.nl Maghreb.nl Amazigh.nl Websites (‘Ethno-Portalen’)(Androutsopoulos)

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

  13. 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)

  14. 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)

  15. Community Language Teaching • OET(C): Onderwijs Eigen Taal (en Cultuur) ‘Education Own Language (and Culture)’ • Since late sixties • Government took over responsibility • 1974: official

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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

  20. 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

  21. 2006: Moroccans have gone back to the mosques to learn Arabic. Opposite of what the gvt. did in the seventies.

  22. 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’

  23. Conclusion: Bilingualism in The Netherlands …

  24. we love it!

  25. But only when one language is Dutch and the other English…

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