There is an interesting report in today’s Guardian of moves against the “Englishing” of degrees in the Netherlands
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/20/netherlands-seeks-curbs-on-english-language-university-courses?CMP=Share_iOSApp_OtherIt is revealing that the government want international students to learn “basic” Dutch so that they will be more likely to stay and add to the dynamism of the Dutch economy - quite a contrast to the xenophobic attitude of the current UK government. In fact, the learning of Dutch should also help the students to integrate and have a better experience even if their studies are through the medium of English.
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Thank you for your comment on my blog, Patrick: very useful.
I was particularly interested in your posting about the desire of Dutch universities for English-speaking students to learn Dutch. Dutch was my subsidiary subject as Bedford College, London (a very long time ago). My wife and I visit Amsterdam regularly and last Christmas (for the first time since Covid intervened) we saw that a kick-back had taken place in the commercial world. There used a be a large chain of cheese shops with the unadventurous title "The Dutch Cheese Shop". English was spoken exclusively inside, possibly because many of the staff were not native Dutch speakers. Although it was filled with hundreds of wheels of cheese, the atmosphere and product range were akin to a type of "Hollywood" / "theme park" Dutchness. They had all disappeared by Christmas 2022.
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Thanks for the comment, Michael
It is interesting that you have this knowledge. I have only been to the Netherlands once and that was in the late 1990s. It seemed the use of English was assumed. I was greeted in English.
I have recently been in Germany and Austria and found people would often let me struggle in my very basic German until I reach a limit and then they would start speaking in very good English.