Being in the Netherlands, the main language is, of course, Dutch. I hear it every day, and have even picked up sufficient words to be able to respond correctly to supermarket cashiers. But the Province of Limburg also has a language, Limburgish, which the Netherlands has actually recognized as a minority language. Not being able to speak Dutch, I actually don't really know with what regularity I hear individuals speaking Limburgish, although from my understanding of the language (and based on what people from other parts of the country have told me) I'm guessing I hear it a lot. The most visible presence of Limburgish is on street signs, which, in the older parts of the city, are bilingual Dutch/Limburgish.
Given the number of students, it should be no surprise that Dutch isn't the only language which one regularly hears. English is the lingua franca used between most people in the area who don't share a mother tongue, and as a result its use is widespread (I've so far encountered at most one or two people who can't speak English). Of course, Dutch being the official language, signs, products, advertisements, etc. are generally not written in English (though products sometimes may have German or French-more on that later), and so us exchange students do tend to pick up a few words here and there. I find it interesting that, much more so than with Cantonese in Hong Kong, people will encourage you to learn Dutch.
Interestingly, customer services don't necessarily go out of their way to provide other languages either: I was shocked, for example, that the bank I deal with here, ING, explicitly does not offer the option to access my account in English at ATM's (which do have menus accessible in four different languages if you use a foreign card, so clearly the translations have been done) or online. This is in stark contrast to Canada, where a growing number of banks are making services available in multiple languages, even to holders of accounts at that bank. Similarly, although the website for NS, the national train company, can be accessed in English, the page offering deals is only available in Dutch (and purchases require a Dutch bank account). Paradoxically, Maastricht University is also the only university I've ever been to, or heard of (with the possible exception of other Dutch unis) where taking a language class is considered something over and above one's regular courses, requiring extra fees. The end result, therefore, of a relatively high number of English speakers, and restricted access to learning the language at the University, is that we depend, quite frequently, on google translate to muddle through the handful of things not offered in English, rather than being in a position to quickly pick up the language.
What's really interesting about Maastricht, however, is that it sits squarely on the border with several languages. If you head directly West (and, depending what part of the city you're in, also sometimes North), you reach Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. But if you head directly South, you'll be in the Walloon region, the French speaking part of that same country. And if you head East, you're in Germany. Now, not only does this place us on the border of multiple languages, but in fact on the edge of two language families, with French being a Romance language (belonging to a family stretching all the way West to the end of the continent), and German and Dutch being Germanic languages. It's not unusual to hear any of these languages spoken in the streets, or to see them present on products (especially French, as many products are jointly marketed in Belgium and the Netherlands with one bilingual packaging), and some customer service personnel may be able to speak either (or both, as I've also seen).
Multilingualism is, of course, familiar to Europe. The EU has 24 official languages, and actively encourages all citizens to become trilingual. Nowhere did I see this more to be evident than in Luxembourg. A tiny country squeezed between Belgium, Germany, and France, Luxembourigsh, the local language, is most peoples' mother tongue. However, 61% of individuals are able to speak four-that's right, four-languages in total. French, German, and English are widely spoken, and which one is found on which signs varies (McDonald's, for example, advertises in German, while most street signs are in French).
No comments:
Post a Comment