All hands on deck in the sinking raft of the Dutch language! Young people have a terrible hatred of words. Wait, a what? A tomb hate? Yes, and if you don't understand that word, you are probably a young person with a hatred of books, plummeting reading skills, a permanent aversion to writing, and you are probably one of a third of all 15-year-olds in the Netherlands who are at risk to leave education with low literacy.
Or, just one crazy out of the box idea, Perhaps it is the people who continue to short-sightedly tinker with the Dutch language like a pacifier. And perhaps we should no longer expect young people to use the word Graftakkenhekel, but an English variant.
A tomb hate have to do with the dead literature of Multatuli, a ill will have for writing in full rhyme, or animosity feel for woolly medieval unraveling animal epics – this is how you speak Gen Z'ian, give or take.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Dutch language. Where French sentences flow from your throat like oil with a little bit of jeu, we have to chew on and struggle, knead, struggle and strangle with our clumsy language. And I personally find that a wonderful activity.
Harry, Willem and Gerard
But I only developed this taste for Dutch after high school, when I discovered that reading can also be fun. At my school there were few students who enjoyed reading a book for Dutch. When students were finally enthusiastic about a book, it was usually a book by a well-known international writer whose (often autobiographical) work had been translated into Dutch. But God forbid that these authors and their honorable translators (!) introduced heaven to the sacred works of Harry, Willem and Gerard.
I have three points to improve our approach to how young people juggle Dutch and English. First, allow translated works on the reading list. Allowing students to read only original Dutch books is something that seems to arise from a kind of vanity for 'our' language and culture, as if it is a knightly duty to protect it. And you also protect the Dutch language itself with works that have been translated into Dutch – translating books is as good a profession as the original writing itself.
What about our culture then? Unfortunately, it is not as static as our alphabet. The 'Dutch culture' that Tobi Lakmaker in The history of my sexuality (2021) is fundamentally different from that from The attack (1982) by Harry Mulisch. So if you want to guarantee a culture in a reading list of twelve books, do you put the weight on a limited, quintessentially Dutch, misogynistic, binary, pre-digital, unrecognizable culture? Or does a dynamic culture that has countless and indomitable influences from the limitless worldwide web and is recognizable to young people carry more weight? An international culture, in which cross-pollination across national borders is inevitable.
BookTokkers
Speaking of the world wide web: TikTok has a phenomenon called BookTok. Something fantastic is happening there that all digitally challenged people should stay away from. BookTokkers – influencers who influence with fun books instead of fun junk that you don't need – encourage young people there with passion and enthusiasm to read books. These BookTokkers are often English, but killing the enthusiasm that young people feel to read a book because the book does not guarantee the Dutch language and culture can only be answered with a 'ok boomer'. Especially if you go all out with all the bells and whistles because young people don't read enough; That's not necessary at all if you just let them pull a book of their choice off the shelf. Just think of this the next time you think you see a young person scrolling away their future on that anti-social cell phone.
At last and to conclusion: We should certainly see more potential in the use of English words in our language. When I previously wrote in this column “what about” used, it may have made you growl with difficulty. But I used English words because it was convenient. Otherwise I would have very uncharitably used “and” for the second time at the beginning of a sentence. Eewww! English and Dutch can complement each other beautifully and together form a playground that reminds me of the way Van Kooten & De Bie played with language. But also great poems like Heppie by Joke van Leeuwen (I feel oh so happy / so happy this day / and if you ask: how happy / if I may ask. The rest you just have to look up when you need a smile). So why limit ourselves to one language when playing?
I challenge you, boomer, to play games with the language of the future!
Also read
The fact that young people read less is not only bad for their sense of language, dereading would also lead to a loss of empathy. Is that correct?
#Opinion #ill #language #Gen