Taal voor Nederlander niet zo belangrijk?
Abstract
Article on Australian Prof Michael Clyne and Dr Jo Daan, who tried to explain questions regarding Dutch assimilation abroad and language at an Amsterdam symposium. The article explains that Dutch people in Australia attach little importance to their Dutch language and why, according to Clyne and Daan, they don't care much for their own language. The article also discusses how the process of language loss works and why ageing Dutch migrants return to the Dutch language.
Translation
Language not so important for Dutch people? AMSTERDAM — Why do Dutch people abroad attach so little importance to their language, and how exactly does the process of language loss work? Australian Prof. Michael Clyne and Dr Jo Daan recently tried to answer these questions at a symposium of the P. J. Meertens Institute for Dialectology, Folklore and Onomastics in Amsterdam.
In the US, there is 'Yankee-Dutch', the Dutch-English mixed language spoken by emigrants in the United States, but the ex-Dutch people who live there now prefer not to be reminded of it. 'You speak English, or you speak Dutch', they say. But speaking Dutch usually does not happen a lot.
'For a long time, the Dutch were the ideal Australian migrants. They came off the boat, and within three years, they spoke English to their children,' said Prof. Clyne at the symposium. 'No national character can be assimilated in Australia more easily than the Dutch. It is much more usual if, like German parents, they speak German to their children, and they are allowed to answer in English. And Greek children talk Greek with their parents and English with each other.
The population statistics report that 65,000 of the 98,000 Dutch people use their own language 'regularly'. A recent plan by the federal government to appoint teachers in minority languages said nothing about Dutch: there is apparently no pressure from that population group. And even though since the sixties, with their social changes and the withdrawal of the English from politics east of the Suez Canal, a language other than English has been considered an 'asset' by the Australians.
In that respect, the Dutch are actually model immigrants. According to Clyne, an important cause is the 'Self-image' of the Dutch. 'Their economic situation is the same as that of the migrant workers in the Netherlands, although they would not like to admit it.
'The Dutch feel closer to the dominant English culture than to the German one, let alone to the Greek or Turkish culture. 'And so they will not care about maintaining a multicultural society with those population groups,' says Clyne. The language is also not really important for the Dutch to express what they still want to retain in terms of individuality: 'What are the Dutch people about? Gezelligheid (Cosiness). Just because you don't have a proper English word for it doesn't mean you can't experience it in an English-speaking environment! Another example is the Church; the Reformed Church is alive and well, a pure Calvinist church. But not only has it broken the ties with the Dutch Reformed Churches, which are considered too liberal, but Dutch itself is also no longer used there; it has completely de-ethnitised itself,' according to Clyne.
This phenomenon appears to return with increasing age in emigrants who were assimilated entirely. There are twenty belote clubs in Melbourne, which, according to Prof. Clyne, mainly provide an opportunity to speak Dutch. This has as much to do with nostalgia as with slipping the acquired English. The ageing migrant becomes Dutch again in many ways: 'They live in old people's homes of their own old pillar and speak Dutch or the pidgin English they spoke when they first came ashore.'
In the US, there is 'Yankee-Dutch', the Dutch-English mixed language spoken by emigrants in the United States, but the ex-Dutch people who live there now prefer not to be reminded of it. 'You speak English, or you speak Dutch', they say. But speaking Dutch usually does not happen a lot.
'For a long time, the Dutch were the ideal Australian migrants. They came off the boat, and within three years, they spoke English to their children,' said Prof. Clyne at the symposium. 'No national character can be assimilated in Australia more easily than the Dutch. It is much more usual if, like German parents, they speak German to their children, and they are allowed to answer in English. And Greek children talk Greek with their parents and English with each other.
The population statistics report that 65,000 of the 98,000 Dutch people use their own language 'regularly'. A recent plan by the federal government to appoint teachers in minority languages said nothing about Dutch: there is apparently no pressure from that population group. And even though since the sixties, with their social changes and the withdrawal of the English from politics east of the Suez Canal, a language other than English has been considered an 'asset' by the Australians.
In that respect, the Dutch are actually model immigrants. According to Clyne, an important cause is the 'Self-image' of the Dutch. 'Their economic situation is the same as that of the migrant workers in the Netherlands, although they would not like to admit it.
'The Dutch feel closer to the dominant English culture than to the German one, let alone to the Greek or Turkish culture. 'And so they will not care about maintaining a multicultural society with those population groups,' says Clyne. The language is also not really important for the Dutch to express what they still want to retain in terms of individuality: 'What are the Dutch people about? Gezelligheid (Cosiness). Just because you don't have a proper English word for it doesn't mean you can't experience it in an English-speaking environment! Another example is the Church; the Reformed Church is alive and well, a pure Calvinist church. But not only has it broken the ties with the Dutch Reformed Churches, which are considered too liberal, but Dutch itself is also no longer used there; it has completely de-ethnitised itself,' according to Clyne.
This phenomenon appears to return with increasing age in emigrants who were assimilated entirely. There are twenty belote clubs in Melbourne, which, according to Prof. Clyne, mainly provide an opportunity to speak Dutch. This has as much to do with nostalgia as with slipping the acquired English. The ageing migrant becomes Dutch again in many ways: 'They live in old people's homes of their own old pillar and speak Dutch or the pidgin English they spoke when they first came ashore.'
| Subject | Dutch language |
|---|---|
| Emigration and immigration | |
| Cultural assimilation | |
| Category | 5. Cold War (including Decolonisation) |
| Publisher | Windmill Publishers |
| Place Of Publication | Sydney, NSW |
| Creator | Dutch Australian Weekly |
| Current Holder | National Library of Australia |
| Date | 1984-09-07 |
| Access Rights | Digitised |
| Country Of Origin | Australia |
| Language | Dutch |
| Physical Format | Newspapers |
| Transcription | Taal voor Nederlander niet zo belangrijk? AMSTERDAM — Waarom hechten Nederlanders in den vreemde zo weinig aan hun taal en hoe gaat het proces van taalverlies precies in zijn werk? Deze vragen probeerden de Australische prof. dr Michael Clyne en dr Jo Daan kortgeleden op een symposium van het P. J. Meertens Instituut voor dialectologie, volkskunde en naamkunde in Amsterdam te beantwoorden.
In Amerika bestaat het 'Yankee-Dutch', de Nederlands-Engelse mengtaal, die door emigranten in de Verenigde Staten werd gesproken maar waaraan de ex-Nederlanders, die er nu wonen het liefst niet herinnerd willen worden. 'Je praat Engels of je praat Nederlands', vinden zij. Maar van dat Nederlands spreken komt meestal niet veel.
'Voor Australië waren de Nederlanders lange tijd de ideale immigranten. Zij kwamen van de boot af en drie jaar later spraken zij Engels met hun kinderen,' aldus prof. Clyne tijdens het symposium. 'Geen landsaard laat zich in Australië zo gemakkelijk assimileren als de Nederlandse. Veel normaler is als je, zoals Duitse ouders Duits tegen je kinderen praat en die Engels mogen antwoorden. En Griekse kinderen praten Grieks met hun ouders en Engels onder elkaar'.
De bevolkingsstatistieken melden, dat 65.000 van de 98.000 Nederlanders hun taal 'regelmatig gebruiken'. Een recent plan van de federale regering om leraren in de minderheidstalen aan te stellen meldde niets over het Nederlands: er is kennelijk geen druk vanuit die bevolkingsgroep. En dat terwijl sinds de zestiger jaren, met hun sociale veranderingen en met het zich terugtrekken van de Engelsen uit de politiek ten Oosten van Suez een andere taal dan het Engels volgens het Australische, beleid juist een 'asset' is.
Wat dat betreft zijn de Nederlanders dus eigenlijk model-immigranten af. Een belangrijke oorzaak is volgens Clyne het 'Zelfbeeld' van de Nederlanders. 'Hun economische situatie is dezelfde als die van de gastarbeiders in Nederland, al zullen zij dat zelf niet graag toegeven.
'De Nederlanders voelen zich meer verwant aan de dominante Engelse cultuur dan aan de Duitse, laat staan aan de Griekse of Turkse. 'En dus zullen zij er geen boodschap aan hebben om met die bevolkingsgroepen een multiculturele samenleving in stand te houden', zo meent Clyne. De taal is voor de Nederlanders ook niet echt belangrijk om wat ze nog aan eigenheid willen behouden uit te drukken: 'Waar gaat het Nederlanders om? Gezelligheid. Dat je daar geen goed Engels woord voor hebt betekent nog niet dat je dat niet in een Engelstalige omgeving kunt beleven! Een ander voorbeeld is de Kerk; de Reformed Church is springlevend, een pure calvinistische kerk. Maar niet alleen heeft die de banden met de al te vrijzinnig bevonden Nederlandse Gereformeerde Kerken verbroken, het Nederlands zelf wordt er niet meer gebruikt, ze is zelf helemaal de-ethnitized,' aldus Clyne.
Bij landverhuizers die wel helemaal geassimileerd waren blijkt dat verschijnsel met het klimmen der jaren terug te komen. In Melbourne bestaan twintig klaverjasclubs, die volgens prof. Clyne vooral een gelegenheid vormen om Nederlands te praten. Dat heeft evenveel te maken met nostalgie als met het verglijden van het aangeleerde Engels. De ouder wordende emigrant wordt in allerlei opzichten weer Nederlander: 'Ze zitten in old people's homes van hun eigen oude zuil, en praten Nederlands of het pidgin-Engels dat ze spraken toen ze aan land kwamen.' |
| Related Resources | https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/DUSS28RZ/ |
| https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/QF2D4UAD/ | |
| https://www.zotero.org/groups/4688363/oama/items/7EZK6GHL/ | |
| Date Accessed | 2022-11-24 |
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