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Vol/53 No/6 2014 DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 The Linguist 29 OPINION & COMMENT But the Netherlands Onderwijsraad (teaching council) advocates that universities should improve their policies for safeguarding the Dutch language and culture, and ensure that those using English are using it competently. The Netherlands' share of the world total of students studying abroad rose from 0.7% to 1.2% between 2000 and 2009 5 but, in 2012, 38% came from Germany. Bulgaria sends twice as many students to the Netherlands, as does India, and the only BRICS nation represented in any numbers is China, with 8% of the foreign student body. Rather than increasing the Netherlands' influence on the emerging world, the use of English means one language gaining ever greater hegemony in internal European relations, going against the EU's multilingual aim. Maastricht University is typical of this parochial internationalisation, limited to close neighbours. With 47% of its students from abroad, Maastricht boasts it is the nation's most international university, although interregional would be more accurate: 75% of its foreign students are German, and most of the rest, Belgian and British. Nine out of the 12 nationalities represented here are in the EU. All teaching is in English, apart from Dutch law and some components of the medical course. Silke, a student from Aachen, less than an hour away, has a limited interest in her host country and admitted she "took Dutch classes, but didn't keep them up". Peter Wilms van Kersbergen, who runs the Language Centre, said: "Dutch lessons are free in the first year and are very successful." But only 800 out of 7,500 foreign students take them, since they don't count towards a degree, and many students still can't even ask for a café bill by the time they graduate. They can't be getting much out of the host culture, which is supposed to be a benefit of studying abroad. According to the daily NRC Handelsblad, Dutch professors' English is acceptable, but often imprecise. It claims that Dutch- language concepts are frequently reconstructed in English using clunky components instead of correct, specific terms, and that this sort of imprecision is widespread, and leads to a fundamental lack of clarity. Communication also becomes less spontaneous, as sociologist Jaap Dronkers said: "My English isn't bad, but when I was supervising research, I didn't have the linguistic subtlety I needed to get agreements." Studies have shown that students pay more attention to literal comprehension when teaching is done in English rather than their own language, and this limits their spirit of inquiry. Limitations of 'globish' Functional English is useful for superficial interactions, but has limitations in a university, which requires much greater linguistic abilities. It's rare to have the same mastery of a second language as of a first, even in countries with a reputation for excellent English. A British observer has described the boredom of attending lectures in 'globish', even when delivered by northern Europeans. 6 Dutch may suffer too, its use degraded and debased; a Maastricht student on a communications course admitted she knew 'the rules of spelling, but because we always have to write in English at uni, they take a back seat'. Dutch may suffer a 'loss of domain', where non-English languages lose their ability to express scientific concepts; this leads to a loss of prestige, and then substance, ultimately confining the language to home, garden and kitchen. Dronkers fears diglossia, in which two languages with unequal social statuses coexist. He speaks to his assistant in Dutch, but emails her in English, so that the messages can be forwarded to others. Dutch is gradually being restricted to informal chat, like a patois. The primacy of English does not currently threaten the survival of Dutch, but it is seriously hindering the study of other languages. According to Ludo Beheydt, a professor at Louvain University, "Knowledge of languages other than English has become so limited that we can no longer ask university students to read an article in French or German." 7 According to a survey published by the European Commission, 38% of Europeans who say they can speak another language cite English. Between 2005 and 2012, the number speaking German dropped from 14% to 11%, French from 14% to 12% and Russian from 6% to 5%. Only the number citing Spanish increased, from 6% to 7%. 8 This trend is especially bizarre where languages have strong affinities. Bodil Aurstad, who teaches Norwegian in Sweden, has observed that rapid progress and geographical proximity motivate students, who "within weeks can show good written and oral comprehension". Pan-Nordic comprehension has, in the past, made possible cultural openness and discussion of common experience; but the custom of two people communicating by each speaking their own language and understanding the other is in danger of disappearing. Anglicisation makes it easier to meet the expectations of international research networks, and emphasises the feeling of belonging to a global, mobile knowledge elite. Since knowledge of classical culture has waned, mastery of English, even imperfect globish, becomes a primary criterion of cultural distinction. In 1921, Gandhi criticised the 'superstition' of Indians who regarded English as the only vector of modernity, little realising that the same struggle would go global. This article first appeared in Le Monde Diplomatique under the header 'The Triumph of English'. It was translated by George Miller. Notes 1 Héran, F, June 2013, 'L'anglais hors-la-loi?' in Populations et Sociétés, 501, INED, Paris 2 Caldwell, C, 17/2/12, 'The French are Right to Resist Global English' in Financial Times, London 3 Truchot, C, 21/11/10, 'L'enseignement supérieur en anglais véhiculaire: la qualité en question', Diploweb 4 'L'anglais a sa place à l'université française', 26/4/13 in Le Monde, Paris 5 Statistics from Nuffic, www.nuffic.nl/en 6 Kuper, S, 8/10/10, 'Why Proper English Rules OK' in Financial Times, London 7 Beheydt, L, 2012, 'L'Apprentissage des langues étrangères aux Pays-Bas et en Belgique' in Septentrion, 2, Ons Erfdeel, Rekkem 8 'Europeans and their Languages', June 2012, European Commission report, Brussels Dutch lessons are free in the first year. But only 800 out of 7,500 foreign students take them INTERNATIONAL APPROACH Maastrict University library (left) Vincent Doumayrou is a journalist and author of La fracture ferroviaire. TL