The Dutch language is bursting with loan words. You look up something on your ‘computer’, put on your ‘hood’ against the rain and dry your hair with a ‘hair dryer’. But if the municipality of Eindhoven writes ‘slow’ on the street, instead of ‘slow’, that is a bridge too far for many people. How is that possible?
Language is always in motion. We invent new things, have new habits, cultures merge with each other and the language blends in nicely. “28 percent of our vocabulary is borrowed from French and Latin, followed by English,” linguist Jos Swanenberg cites as an example. They are remnants from the French period, when the elite spoke French to each other. “But that too passed at a certain point.”
It may sound crazy, but in a way it is similar to what is going on in Eindhoven. The decision was made to write ‘slow’ on the street, instead of ‘slow’. This makes it easier for expats to read, especially if they do not speak Dutch. “But that is something local. And it could easily change again if that group were to leave there,” Swanenberg explains. Just like the French language left the Netherlands again.
“I understand that there is resistance to that.”
“I was reminded a bit of the complaints you get from Amsterdam, where you are addressed in English in a restaurant. You never experience that in other places.” So it mainly has to do with demography, more than it really has to do with language change. “It is decided from above, it is government communication. That is something completely different from young people who spontaneously shout something. So I understand that there is resistance to that.”
That does not alter the fact that young people shout a lot spontaneously. “Slay,” Swanenberg quotes his daughters, with a few more words of internet jargon after it. “That is a fashionable word, so it may well disappear soon.” Language comes and goes. And the linguist certainly thinks that in 20 years we will see some more influence of English in our language. “But I don’t really believe in the fear that Dutch is in danger of succumbing to pressure from English.”
