To speak Dutch, or not to%. That is the question and dilemma for many of the TU’s foreign students and staff, who are caught between three languages – Dutch, English, and their native languages.
br />
Valentina Morra is exceptional: the Italian PhD student is one of the few TU foreigners who speaks Dutch fluently. For her to achieve fluency at the English-friendly TU required a resolve as strong as the steel she’s studying for her PhD in Material Sciences. Now in her third-year, Morra insisted from the start that her faculty colleagues speak only Dutch to her. “I really had to push it, but I’m glad I did,” she recalls. “Speaking Dutch is a practical tool and is much better for my social life.”
Morra’s colleague, Lie Zhao, is the flip-side of the Dutch-English coin, representing the language quandary most TU foreigners face. Zhao, a post-doc researcher from China, has lived in Holland for ten years and – despite taking many Dutch lessons – he still speaks broken Dutch.
“I don’t use what I learned in Dutch class,” Zhao says. “During my TU working day I use little or no Dutch.” Zhao’s research is in English, he interacts with his TU colleagues in English, and, like many TU foreigners, whose partners are also foreigners, at home he speaks Chinese with his wife.
“Sure I’d like to speak better Dutch, but there’s no time for it at work,” he says. “What takes ten seconds to say in English, takes five minutes to say in Dutch. I’m expected to produce research results as quickly as possible, and struggling with language just slows the whole process down.”
Dr. Amarante Böttger, Morra’s PhD supervisor, compliments Morra’s Dutch fluency but says speaking Dutch is neither necessary nor expected in their department: “Ideally, learning Dutch is something people would do in their own time.” A sentiment that’s echoed by Fulvio Scarano, an Italian lecturer at the Aerospace Engineering faculty.
Scarano took the Delft Method’s beginner course, but stopped there. “I simply don’t have the time nor the enthusiasm to stop working and devote another month solely to learning Dutch,” he says, adding that he’s able to perform all his job requirements in English.
Maxima-effect
With language, as with most skills, practice makes perfect. But once TU foreigners complete their Dutch courses and begin working and studying in English, their Dutch skills often deteriorate. This problem is compounded by the Dutchman’s general willingness to speak English. If a foreigner addresses a Dutchman in Dutch, the Dutchman usually replies in English. Only the tenacious few, like Morra, have the will to overcome this problem: “If a Dutchman replies in English, I say, in Dutch, ‘Sorry, I don’t speak English’, and we continue in Dutch.”
While there’s no clear solution yet to the TU’s Dutch-English dilemma, the one point all foreigners agree on is the wider social necessity of a least comprehending some Dutch, because once off the TU campus, Dutch is definitely the word. Socially and culturally, it’s a very small country indeed als je geen woord Nederlands begrijpt.
The highest profile Dutch-speaking foreigner is Maxima Zorrieguita, who, ahead of her marriage to Dutch Crown Prince William-Alexander on February 2, took a crash-course in Dutch. Initially, the Dutch people didn’t like the idea of having an Argentinean Catholic with a morally bankrupt father as their future Queen, but once Maxima addressed the nation in near-fluent Dutch, the masses immediately warmed to her.
The Dutch do appreciate foreigners who try to speak their language, and they positively expect it from anyone residing here long-term. She Shuai, a Chinese MSC student in Technical Informatics, believes in the Maxima-effect and is currently learning Dutch via the Delft Method. Although MScer’s aren’t required to learn Dutch % the MSc program’s working language is English % Shuai is convinced that “if you speak Dutch, the Dutch people will like you more than if you don’t.”
No regrets
Generally, foreigners are attracted to the TU because they can study and work in English here, thus improving their English-language skills. Once they arrive in Delft, however, the reality is actually a nether world, neither wholly English nor Dutch, and some foreigners say this has negative consequences for their proficiency in English, the language of academia and international business.
Lautaro Fernandez-Goedkoop is a case in point. A native-Spanish speaker currently following the Delft Method before enrolling in the TU’s BSc Architecture program, he’d rather be improving his English than learning Dutch.Caught between Spanish, Dutch and English, his speech is mostly an incoherent jumble of English and Dutch words, or, as some call it, ‘Dunglish’, and, consequently, he’ll probably never achieve fluency in either language. As most of Fernandez-Goedkoop’s architecture courses will be in English, he wonders why he must learn Dutch. “My English was better when I lived in Spain,” he says, “I’d prefer to study English, because English is more important for my future, as I hope to work internationally.”
Morra also admits that her English skills are deteriorating. As her Dutch improves, her English worsens, and although she’s writing her PHd thesis in English, she thinks in Italian and Dutch, and then translates her thoughts into English. Hardly an optimal method, but she has no regrets. “The Dutch speak English quite well, but they’re not native-English speakers, so I don’t think I’d improve my English very much by learning from them,” she says.
Although the TU has no official language policy for PhDs, Professor Ted Young, of the Applied Physics department, has been contemplating a policy change for his group. Most TU PHd students are foreigners, so why should they communicate in Dunglish, when, academically and professionally, English is a key to success? Young: “Previously, our group paid for our foreign students to take a Dutch course, but now we’re suggesting they take an English course.”
To speak Dutch, or not to%. That is the question and dilemma for many of the TU’s foreign students and staff, who are caught between three languages – Dutch, English, and their native languages.
Valentina Morra is exceptional: the Italian PhD student is one of the few TU foreigners who speaks Dutch fluently. For her to achieve fluency at the English-friendly TU required a resolve as strong as the steel she’s studying for her PhD in Material Sciences. Now in her third-year, Morra insisted from the start that her faculty colleagues speak only Dutch to her. “I really had to push it, but I’m glad I did,” she recalls. “Speaking Dutch is a practical tool and is much better for my social life.”
Morra’s colleague, Lie Zhao, is the flip-side of the Dutch-English coin, representing the language quandary most TU foreigners face. Zhao, a post-doc researcher from China, has lived in Holland for ten years and – despite taking many Dutch lessons – he still speaks broken Dutch.
“I don’t use what I learned in Dutch class,” Zhao says. “During my TU working day I use little or no Dutch.” Zhao’s research is in English, he interacts with his TU colleagues in English, and, like many TU foreigners, whose partners are also foreigners, at home he speaks Chinese with his wife.
“Sure I’d like to speak better Dutch, but there’s no time for it at work,” he says. “What takes ten seconds to say in English, takes five minutes to say in Dutch. I’m expected to produce research results as quickly as possible, and struggling with language just slows the whole process down.”
Dr. Amarante Böttger, Morra’s PhD supervisor, compliments Morra’s Dutch fluency but says speaking Dutch is neither necessary nor expected in their department: “Ideally, learning Dutch is something people would do in their own time.” A sentiment that’s echoed by Fulvio Scarano, an Italian lecturer at the Aerospace Engineering faculty.
Scarano took the Delft Method’s beginner course, but stopped there. “I simply don’t have the time nor the enthusiasm to stop working and devote another month solely to learning Dutch,” he says, adding that he’s able to perform all his job requirements in English.
Maxima-effect
With language, as with most skills, practice makes perfect. But once TU foreigners complete their Dutch courses and begin working and studying in English, their Dutch skills often deteriorate. This problem is compounded by the Dutchman’s general willingness to speak English. If a foreigner addresses a Dutchman in Dutch, the Dutchman usually replies in English. Only the tenacious few, like Morra, have the will to overcome this problem: “If a Dutchman replies in English, I say, in Dutch, ‘Sorry, I don’t speak English’, and we continue in Dutch.”
While there’s no clear solution yet to the TU’s Dutch-English dilemma, the one point all foreigners agree on is the wider social necessity of a least comprehending some Dutch, because once off the TU campus, Dutch is definitely the word. Socially and culturally, it’s a very small country indeed als je geen woord Nederlands begrijpt.
The highest profile Dutch-speaking foreigner is Maxima Zorrieguita, who, ahead of her marriage to Dutch Crown Prince William-Alexander on February 2, took a crash-course in Dutch. Initially, the Dutch people didn’t like the idea of having an Argentinean Catholic with a morally bankrupt father as their future Queen, but once Maxima addressed the nation in near-fluent Dutch, the masses immediately warmed to her.
The Dutch do appreciate foreigners who try to speak their language, and they positively expect it from anyone residing here long-term. She Shuai, a Chinese MSC student in Technical Informatics, believes in the Maxima-effect and is currently learning Dutch via the Delft Method. Although MScer’s aren’t required to learn Dutch % the MSc program’s working language is English % Shuai is convinced that “if you speak Dutch, the Dutch people will like you more than if you don’t.”
No regrets
Generally, foreigners are attracted to the TU because they can study and work in English here, thus improving their English-language skills. Once they arrive in Delft, however, the reality is actually a nether world, neither wholly English nor Dutch, and some foreigners say this has negative consequences for their proficiency in English, the language of academia and international business.
Lautaro Fernandez-Goedkoop is a case in point. A native-Spanish speaker currently following the Delft Method before enrolling in the TU’s BSc Architecture program, he’d rather be improving his English than learning Dutch.Caught between Spanish, Dutch and English, his speech is mostly an incoherent jumble of English and Dutch words, or, as some call it, ‘Dunglish’, and, consequently, he’ll probably never achieve fluency in either language. As most of Fernandez-Goedkoop’s architecture courses will be in English, he wonders why he must learn Dutch. “My English was better when I lived in Spain,” he says, “I’d prefer to study English, because English is more important for my future, as I hope to work internationally.”
Morra also admits that her English skills are deteriorating. As her Dutch improves, her English worsens, and although she’s writing her PHd thesis in English, she thinks in Italian and Dutch, and then translates her thoughts into English. Hardly an optimal method, but she has no regrets. “The Dutch speak English quite well, but they’re not native-English speakers, so I don’t think I’d improve my English very much by learning from them,” she says.
Although the TU has no official language policy for PhDs, Professor Ted Young, of the Applied Physics department, has been contemplating a policy change for his group. Most TU PHd students are foreigners, so why should they communicate in Dunglish, when, academically and professionally, English is a key to success? Young: “Previously, our group paid for our foreign students to take a Dutch course, but now we’re suggesting they take an English course.”
Comments are closed.