working on the future of the language

Working onthe future ofthe language

Portrait of the Nederlandse Taalunie(Dutch Language Union)

Contents

p. 01 A flourishing language

p. 04 Language is a tool

p. 07Education: the future of Dutch

p. 11 Dutch: a small global language

p. 15 Literature knows no frontiers

p. 16 Advice, policy, monitoring and implementation

Three countries with ashared interest: a language that can beused effectively by asmany of theirinhabitants aspossible.

[Portrait of the Nederlandse Taalunie]

[01]

One language, three countries. The Dutchlanguage is spoken in the Netherlands, BelgianFlanders and Surinam. The Netherlands andFlanders have worked together on linguisticissues, language policy, language teaching andliterature for many years. In 1980, they confirmedtheir cooperation in these areas by founding theTaalunie. Surinam has been an associate memberof the Taalunie since 2004. Three countries, eachwith its own history, but with a shared interest: alanguage that can be used effectively by as manyof their inhabitants as possible, both within andoutside their language areas.

The purpose of cooperation. Cooperating onlanguage, language teaching and literature canproduce considerable benefits. Trends in thesefields often make themselves felt in differentcountries at the same time.

Cooperating saves money and effort, boosts thestatus of Dutch and means not having to re-invent the wheel over and over again. To givejust a few examples:• introducing a uniform spelling system;• sharing the task of developing expensive

language aids, such as reference works;• pooling expertise and sharing ideas on the

teaching of Dutch;• providing in-service training for teachers of

Dutch and literary translators;• developing a language policy within the

European context.

Putting the language user at the centre. Asimportant as it is to promote a uniform grammarand spelling, it is not the task of the Taalunie totell language users what is and isn’t proper Dutch.The main duty of the Taalunie is to create thenecessary conditions for using Dutch aseffectively as possible, so that Dutch speakers canget by with it in as many different situations aspossible, even abroad. After all, the mostimportant ‘clients’ of the Taalunie are not thegovernments of the Netherlands, Flanders andSurinam, but the people who use Dutch tocommunicate.

A flourishing language. The Dutch language is healthy: the number of Dutch speakers is increasing, many new works ofDutch literature are being published and interest in the Dutchlanguage is growing abroad. A vigorous, living language, Dutchdoesn’t need much help to survive, but every now and then a fewrules and regulations are required to keep everyone workingtogether harmoniously. And that is precisely why the Taaluniewas founded.

Achievements

• A descriptive grammar of Dutch (the ANS),the official spelling dictionary (Het GroeneBoekje), a dictionary of pronunciation andvarious bilingual translating and learners’dictionaries

• The Taalunieversum website, including thelanguage advice service and the digitalmagazine Taalschrift

• An on-line library of Dutch literature (theDBNL)

• Human language technology (HLT): the HLTAgency (TST-centrale) manages and preserveskey digital archives, for example the SpokenDutch Corpus (CGN), a database ofcontemporary Dutch as spoken by adults inthe Netherlands and Flanders

• NL-Translex: a computerised translationsystem (Dutch-French, Dutch-English andvice-versa)

• Member of the European Federation ofNational Institutions for Language (EFNIL)

• Support for approximately 220 faculties ofDutch in 43 countries

• Courses for foreign students and teachers• Certificate in Dutch as a Foreign Language

(CNaVT, over 2500 course participantsannually)

• Literary and educational awards: the Prijs derNederlandse Letteren, the Inktaap, the TaalunieToneelschrijfprijs, the Scriptieprijs and theTaalunie Onderwijsprijs

• Association agreement with Surinam


[03]

The language inside-out. The Taalunierepresents the interests of language users in manydifferent ways. Just two examples are itsinvolvement in compiling dictionaries andgrammars. It develops special databases andapplications that can then be used for otherpurposes, for example to create translationsoftware. The Taalunie also works to enhance thestatus of Dutch within the European Union.Another aspect of language promotion isteaching. Although the Netherlands, Flanders andSurinam each has its own educational policy,there are many areas in which they can usefullycollaborate: continuing professionaldevelopment, in-service training, and thedevelopment of common basic principles. TheTaalunie targets not only primary and secondaryschool teaching, but also adult education and theteaching of Dutch as a second language. Outsidethe Dutch language area, the Taalunie supportsDutch language and literature programmes atuniversity level and primary and secondaryeducation in Dutch in the German border region,Northern France and in Belgium’s French-speaking community. Finally, the Taalunieencourages language-related cultural and literarycooperation, which takes many different forms.One important point of concern is the way inwhich information and documentation iscompiled and made available, often on theInternet. Another focal point of policy is theposition of reading and books in our society.Finally, the Taalunie awards a number of literaryprizes, for example the Prijs der NederlandseLetteren.

Spider in the language web. The Taalunie is arelatively small organisation. It must thereforedepend on other parties – universities, interestgroups, councils and committees – to help itprepare and implement its policy. The Taaluniehas also set up various committees and platformsthat include experts working in the field; theseensure that it can continue to function as a spiderin the language web.

All Dutch speakers, no matter where theycome from, need their language in orderto survive on a day-to-day basis.


[04]

Instrumental approach to language policy.

The Taalunie develops practical tools that helpDutch speakers use their language effectively in asmany situations as possible. Those tools rangefrom dictionaries and grammars to certificates inDutch as a foreign language and Internet resour-ces, for example a digital library of Dutch literaryworks. In the abstract sense, such tools mayconsist of rules and regulations that allow Dutchspeakers to read decisions and laws produced bythe European Union in their own language.

Philosophy. The philosophy of the Taalunie isexpressed in its instrumental approach to policy.Our purpose is to help language users, and ourpolicy is guided by what such users want andneed. That's why the Taalunie pays close attentionto the social function of language and languagepolicy. The extent to which people are able tofunction in society and participate in thecommunity is often determined by theirlanguage, how they use it and their languageproficiency.

Going digital. Language is increasingly goingdigital. Digital tools are becoming more important.We use them to look up things on the Internet,translate between languages, consult voice-controlled information services, carry out researchand development and share ideas. The Taaluniemanages a vast number of digital databases; a fewexamples are its on-line language advice service(Taaladvies), its list of geographical place names,and various terminology databases. Because thedatabases are digital, they can be linked to oneanother and combined to produce strikingsynergies.

Access. Digital resources can only be used totheir best advantage when they are accessible foruniversities, companies, the government andindividuals. It’s also vital to update, expand andmanage the databases properly. That’s why theTaalunie is involved in setting up a consortiumfor human language technologies, the HLTAgency (TST-centrale), which will pool variousresources and forms of expertise.

Language is a tool. By itself it serves no purpose; it is there tobe used. Dutch speakers must be able to use their language aseffectively as possible. All Dutch speakers, no matter where they come from, need their language in order to survive on a day-to-day basis, whether at home or at work, in school or out.

“As a researcher in human languagetechnologies, I welcome the arrival of the HLTAgency (TST-centrale). Our knowledge andresearch tools used to be very fragmented.Thanks to the HLT Agency, those days are gonefor good. The HLT Agency is the key resourcefor everyone interested in human languagetechnologies, from researchers to publicservants and business people. I also think thatthe Nederlandse Taalunie has had a positiveimpact on the development of humanlanguage technologies. It coordinates matterson an international scale, so that scientistsknow what research has already been carriedout in the Netherlands and Flanders and whatareas are still unexplored. That way we canavoid a lot of duplication.”

Walter Daelemans, professor of Computational Linguistics at theUniversity of Antwerp, on the HLT Agency.


[06]

Babylon in Brussels? One of the challenges of aunited Europe is how to deal withmultilingualism. Is Europe merely a tower ofBabylon? What is the price tag attached tomultilingualism and can we control the costs ifthe EU continues to expand? How many workinglanguages will the EU designate and when willthey be used? And what is the position oflanguages like Dutch, with a medium-sizedpopulation of speakers? These are all questionsthat the Taalunie is exploring, and its efforts haveproduced results. For example, the Taalunie hasdeveloped four modules for computerisedtranslation as part of the NL-Translex project.Translation services use the modules to translatetexts in and out of Dutch quickly. The Taalunie isalso working with other national organisations todevelop a Europe-wide policy on language, aimedat supporting the official European languages andpromoting multilingualism. One product of thiscooperation is the founding of a EuropeanFederation of National Institutions for Language(EFNIL), in which the Taalunie plays a key role.

Spelling and grammar. The official spellingrules were last amended in 1995. Since then,everyone has got used to the changes that wereintroduced. Although the new spelling systemhas shown itself to be effective, someimprovements are still possible at word level. In2005, a revised edition of the official spellingdictionary – popularly known as Het Groene Boekje(The Little Green Book) – will be publishedincorporating those improvements. The spellingrules themselves will remain unchanged. Inaddition to Het Groene Boekje, the Taalunie alsomanages other basic reference works, for examplethe Spoken Dutch Corpus (CGN) and bilingualtranslating dictionaries. These products will beupdated as required in the coming years and bemade available to a broad readership, specificallyin digital form.

HLT Agency (TST-centrale). The Taalunie isworking to set up the HLT Agency: a consortiumfor human language technologies. The HLTAgency is a collection of digital language facilitiesthat are managed from a single location. Thecollection includes Dutch language corpora,lexica and vast pronunciation databases,terminology databases and bilingual electronicdictionaries. These are extremely importantresources for science and the business world. Theycan be used to develop voice-controlledinformation services, for example travelinformation. The HLT Agency ensures that allstakeholders have quick access to these resourcesand can make use of them under transparentterms and conditions.


[07]

Harmonising and sharing. The Netherlands andFlanders have both acquired a great deal ofexpertise in recent years in teaching pupils whosenative language is not Dutch. Schools andteachers within the Dutch language area wouldbenefit from being able to access each other’sknowledge and encourage each other to developsound policy measures in this area. It used to bemuch more difficult for the Netherlands andBelgium to share their expertise with each other,because they applied different attainment aims,basic competencies and evaluation tools. Toensure greater harmonisation, the Taalunie draftscommon policy principles, for example onintegration, early second-language acquisitionand language competencies for teachers. Oncethe basic principles have been agreed, it is mucheasier for the two countries to work together ondeveloping good teaching practices.

The language passport. Language competencycan make the difference between integration andisolation, between acceptance and rejection,between success and failure. The social aspects oflanguage are therefore high on the list of prioritiesof the Taalunie. It is concerned about people whohave not mastered the Dutch languagesufficiently well, and its policy is intended to helpthis group function more effectively in thecommunity. The main tool that the Taalunie usesis education in Dutch as a second language. Forimmigrants living in the Netherlands andFlanders, language competency is a passport to abetter future. Language can be a problem formany Dutch and Flemish people as well, however,especially those who are illiterate or who havetrouble with reading and writing. This is anotherarea in which the Taalunie is trying to achievecloser cooperation.

Education: the future of Dutch. Proper education in Dutch ensuresthat the language will remain an effective communication tool fornew generations of users. Although the Netherlands, Flanders andSurinam each has its own policy on education, they have manythings in common and share many interests.

“Cooperation between Flanders and theNetherlands in the field of language educationand first and second language acquisition is thebiggest achievement of the NederlandseTaalunie, in my opinion. The Dutch and theFlemish may speak the same language, but thatdoesn't mean that they tackle things in thesame way. They differ in the way they approachintegration, education, even radio and TV. TheTaalunie has made it possible for the twolanguage areas to share their thoughts andexperiences on such subjects. That leads tonew insights and ideas on both sides. Both theNetherlands and Flanders benefit.”

Simon Verhallen, Institute for development and research on Dutch as a second language (ITTA)

Language competencycan make the differencebetween integrationand isolation, betweenacceptance andrejection, betweensuccess and failure.


[09]

Sharing resources and information on the

Internet. The new media, and in particular theInternet, are helping to disseminate new insightsand ideas about the Dutch language. The Internetis a powerful tool for teachers and other personsinvolved in education, offering a lot of informa-tion at very little cost. The Taalunie has made ICTone of the focal points of its policy. Its website,www.taalunieversum.org, already offers anabundance of information and that will onlyincrease in the future. For example, teachers andresearchers can consult an entirely digital list ofresearch projects and programmes carried out inthe past decades that have focused on Dutch as aschool subject. Another useful tool is the notifi-cation service with which the Taalunie refersinterested parties to articles in professionaljournals on teaching Dutch.

Out of the drawer. Lots of good things arehappening at schools these days. Many creativeteachers are coming up with exceptionallyeffective projects related to learning Dutch. Theproblem is that such projects often stay firmlywithin the four walls of the relevant school. TheTaalunie wants to take such projects out of thedrawer and into the classroom. One way that itdoes this is by awarding the Taalunie Onderwijsprijs.This prize is presented every two years to aprimary school and a secondary school. Anothereducational prize is the Scriptieprijs, which theTaalunie awards for the best thesis written inDutch on a topic related to Dutch languageand literature.

Digital treasury: the Taalunieversum.

The Taalunieversum is a gateway to the Dutchlanguage. Behind the digital doorwaywww.taalunieversum.org lies Ali Baba’s cave,full of wonders for researchers, teachers, textwriters and anyone with an interest in Dutch. Itcontains everything from children’s stories toliterary translation, from geographical placenames to literacy courses: in short, a treasure-trove of articles, teaching materials, researchresults, visual images, references and links.Teachers of Dutch and other people working ineducation will find research summaries,professional journals and educationalterminology. One of the most popular sectionsof the site is the language advice service(Taaladvies), where anyone with a questionabout correct grammar or usage can consultover 1200 FAQs.

Dutch is offered as amain subject andsecondary subject atmore than twohundred and twentyuniversities in overforty countries.


[11]

Dutch: a small global language. It sounds crazy, but you can studyDutch in Kiev, and in fact the Dutch programme is quite popularthere. Dutch is offered as a main subject or secondary subject atmore than two hundred universities in over forty countries. Thestudents enrol because they are interested in the Dutch languageand literature, but also because they see that studying Dutch offersthem opportunities. For them, Dutch opens up a window on adifferent world, and sometimes leads to a bright future.

Dutch language and literature abroad. TheTaalunie supports the teaching of Dutch abroadby providing grants, for example to start up acourse, to purchase books, magazines and acomputer, or to bring in guest teachers. It is alsoconcerned about the quality of Dutch languageand literature courses abroad. To promotequality, the Taalunie provides different forms ofassistance, for example an expertise centre(Steunpunt Nederlands als Vreemde Taal) to whichforeign teachers of Dutch as a second languagecan turn for advice on teaching methods andteaching materials. It also offers a range oftraining courses for both teachers and students.

Summer courses. Every student of Dutch shouldspend some time in Amsterdam or Antwerp andvisit the Rijksmuseum or the Rubenshuis at somepoint during their programme. The Taalunie givesmany of them the opportunity to do so. Everyyear, it organises summer courses in DutchLanguage and Culture in the Netherlands andFlanders. Over three hundred students head forthe North Sea every year to immerse themselvesin Dutch and everything associated with it forthree weeks. The Taalunie also regularly organisesin-service training courses for teachers, allowingthem to continue working on their professionaldevelopment.

In the ‘Europe of theRegions’, a widevariety of differentlanguages livecomfortably side-by-side.


[12]

Language boundaries are blurring. Most of theborder controls in the European Union havedisappeared, and it almost seems as if thelanguage boundaries are going the same way. Inthe ‘Europe of the Regions’, a wide variety ofdifferent languages live comfortably side-by-side.The border areas of the Netherlands and Flandersare a good example: Dutch is spoken in manyparts of Belgium’s French-speaking community,in northern France and in the German borderregion, and it is also offered as a subject at primaryand secondary schools and in adult education.The Taalunie supports such classes in cooperationwith the local authorities.

Key facilities. In addition to the specific supportoffered to each border region, teachers in suchareas often benefit from exchanges programmesand from receiving assistance as a group. TheTaalunie offers them a number of key facilities,such as information, advice and documentation.It is involved in developing digital and otherteaching tools for the entire group, and organisesin-service and retraining courses and seminars toaid the professional development of teachers whoare native speakers of French or German.

Indonesia: old ties. People can sometimes useDutch to get by in unexpected places. One ofthose places is Indonesia. Some older Indonesiansstill speak Dutch, but even the younger generationis interested in the language. University students,for example law students, are often required tostudy Dutch texts. Many universities in Indonesiatherefore offer courses in Dutch as a source oroccupational language. Students and otherinterested parties can enrol in general Dutchcourses at various educational centres, the mostimportant of which is the Erasmus LanguageCentre (ETC) in Jakarta. Each year, some 1500 to2000 students take Dutch courses there.

South Africa: a testing ground formultilingualism. South Africa is another countrythat has special ties with the Taalunie, which doesmore than support university programmes inDutch language and literature there. In particular,the Taalunie works with South Africa onmultilingualism projects. South Africa is veryinterested in the expertise of the Taalunie in thisfield, and the Taalunie in turn benefits from itscooperation with South Africa. The twocountries are currently concentrating on humanlanguage technologies and on testing andcertification.

“The Nederlandse Taalunie makes animportant contribution to the teaching ofDutch in the Czech Republic. The Dutchfaculties in Prague, Olomouc and Brno areregularly given grants for in-service training,student courses and projects. The Universityof Palacky, for example, received a grant tostart up a programme in Business Dutch. Iwas awarded a scholarship to write my thesison the reception of Dutch literature in theCzech Republic. In September 2003 I alsotook an in-service course for teachers givenby the Taalunie. I still get a lot out of what Ilearned then.”

Lucie Fruhwirtova, teacher of Dutch at the University of Palacky,Czech Republic

“The bigger languages are becoming moredominant within the European Union. Toprevent a medium-sized language like Dutchfrom being overwhelmed, we need to defendand enhance the position of our language and,by association, our culture, for example byseeing to it that Dutch literature is translatedinto other languages. The problem, however, isthat there are very few really good literarytranslators. That’s mainly because there are sofew proper programmes in literary translation.The Taalunie has therefore set up a number ofcourses in literary translation itself. I’ve taughta few of these courses, and I can say that they are really very good. They certainly produce results.”

Literary translator Frans Denissen on the status of Dutch


[15]

Promoting reading proficiency. To ensure thatDutch literature continues to flourish, peoplemust read and keep on reading. Some people reada lot, others never open a book. Why is that, andis it a problem? The Taalunie believes thatanswering these questions is vital to promotingreading proficiency, something that requires a lotof research and involves developing newmaterials. The Taalunie also focuses on moreconcrete projects, however; one of these is theInktaap, a literary prize presented by schoolchildren. Secondary school pupils read the booksnominated for three important prizes and choosetheir personal favourite. That book receives theInktaap prize.

Literature on the Internet. The new media, andthe Internet in particular, can play a tremendousrole in disseminating the culture of a language.There is enough information about writers,books and literary organisations on the Internetalready, without the input of the Taalunie. Whatthe Taalunie prefers to do is to cluster thisinformation. It investigates what information isneeded and how to make it easily accessible, andit consults potential users in policy-making,education, the sciences and the media.

Digital library. A book doesn’t need to be madeof paper anymore. A growing number of literarytexts lead a second life on the Internet, where theycan be easily accessed by researchers and readers.

The Digital Library of Dutch Literature,www.dbnl.org, is an important portal for themand it is supported by the Taalunie. The site notonly contains novels, plays and poems, but alsoarticles, reference works, reviews, biographies,portraits, and audio and video clips. The digitallibrary also provides access to texts that are nolonger in print.

Results. Dutch-Flemish cooperation in the fieldof literature has produced excellent results inother areas. The following are just a fewexamples: • Under the auspices of the Taalunie, nine

authors are working on a detailed history ofDutch literature in seven volumes. The firstvolume will be published in 2005.

• The Support Network for Training of LiteraryTranslators (Steunpunt Literair Vertalen) organisessummer courses and introductory courses fortranslators translating from Dutch into anotherlanguage. It also runs courses for translatorswho translate literary works from anotherlanguage into Dutch.

• Every three years, the Taalunie awards the Prijsder Nederlandse letteren to a Dutch-languageauthor for his or her entire oeuvre. It is themost prestigious prize of the Taalunie and theonly literary prize presented by thegovernments of the Netherlands and Flanders.

• The Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs is awarded everyyear to the author of an original play in Dutch.

Literature knows no frontiers. Dutch literature is not an island. A growing number of Flemish and Dutch authors are beingtranslated into other languages. The Taalunie encourages thatby assisting the Support Network for Training of LiteraryTranslators. The Taalunie also encourages transfrontierdiscussions about literature and reading.


[16]

Advice, policy, monitoring and implementation. The Taaluniehas four bodies: the Committee of Ministers, the Inter-parliamentary Committee, the Dutch Language and Literature Council and the Secretariat General.

Bodies and working methods. The Committeeof Ministers sets the policy of the NederlandseTaalunie. The Committee consists of the Flemishand Dutch ministers for education and culture.The Interparliamentary Committee, made up oftwenty-two Dutch and Flemish members ofparliament, monitors this policy. The advisorybody of the Taalunie is the Dutch Language andLiterature Council, which has twelve members.The Secretariat General is responsible forpreparing and implementing policy. TheSecretariat employs approximately twenty-fivestaff and is headed by a Secretary General.Surinam is involved in all four bodies.

Finances. The Nederlandse Taalunie is financedby the Dutch, Flemish and Surinam governments.Each country’s contribution is proportionate tothe number of Dutch speakers. In 2004, theTaalunie had a budget of approximately ninemillion euros.

Dutch Language and LiteratureCouncil

CommitteeofMinisters

FlemishGovernment

DutchGovernment

FlemishParliament

StatesGeneral

InterparliamentaryCommittee

SecretariatGeneral

Partnerships and Working Parties

Published by the Nederlandse TaalunieMarch 2004

TextHendrikx Van der Spek

DesignStudio Dumbar

PhotographyMartijn Oostra

Printingrooduijn, bureau voor communicatie en design

For more informationabout the Taalunie, please visit www.taalunieversum.org.

You can also order thepublications of theTaalunie on its website.

addressLange Voorhout 19PO Box 105952501 HN The HagueThe Netherlands

telephone + 31 70 346 95 48

fax + 31 70 365 98 18

[email protected]

working on the future of the language

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