Language policy in Belgium and the Netherlands
What is it about?
The multilingual society is a fact, both in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Minority languages like Arab, Turkish or Hindi have a strong position, even though they are not officially supported. English and the major European languages, on the other hand, have a protected status in education. The European modern languages are being promoted by the official European language policy. The minority languages, however, do not have an official status in education in Flanders and the Netherlands. The academic world asks for more official recognition of the minority languages and resists the idea that all efforts should go into majority standard language education. The official policy, on the other hand, gives absolute priority to the learning of the majority Dutch standard language, as a means to integration of minority groups. Officially, multilingualism is fostered only in so far as the modern European languages are concerned. In Belgium the multilingual language policy is hampered by the existence of a series of language laws that complicate multilingual education.
Why is it important?
It shows the strange duality in the policy concerning foreign langauges in the Dutch speaking area