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I'm not sure it's necessary in the Netherlands, learning the basic language is pretty easy and not uncommon (it's not strange and weird like Finnish), and addit

I'm not sure it's necessary in the Netherlands, learning the basic language is pretty easy and not uncommon (it's not strange and weird like Finnish), and additionally it's similarly unnecessary. Getting by in English is very easy, it's rare that I encounter someone without functional English and more and more interactions with government (local and national) can be done in English also. All this said, it could be a useful marketing thing, though I wouldn't be surprised to see pushback from a portion of the public. There's already a bit of a "our language is dying!" talk going on from things like a lot of universities offering some programs only in English.

tjansen 5y ago
> it's rare that I encounter someone without functional English and more and more interactions with government I don't worry so much about the interactions, but I think that top-down communication is difficult if you don't speak Dutch or German. Especially letters, as you can't easily use an online translator. Just basic stuff, like enrolling your kid to school. You get a ton of letters, but none of them in English. Also, you say Dutch is easy to learn, but what about people who stay only for a week or a few months? Or, even if they stay longer, the first few months when people don't speak the local language at all, but have to do a lot of paperwork? > All this said, it could be a useful marketing thing, though I wouldn't be surprised to see pushback from a portion of the public. Certainly, especially in Germany. But my argument is that German is already on the path to obsolescence, and if you don't want the same for German culture, it needs to transition to English.
- soco 5y ago
  German is already on the path to obsolescence? Mind to expand on this?
  - tjansen 5y ago
    There was a time when there was world-famous literature written in German, important scientific papers were written in German, German movies and music were successful internationally. That’s almost completely over. Today the German language is a problem for the relevancy of German culture. Outside the German speaking countries, There is little demand for works produced in German or translated to English, because something always gets lost in translation. Most Germans do not speak English well enough to produce relevant work in English. So we’re just wasting whole generations’ potential. They are doomed to create internationally irrelevant works.
- gpvos 5y ago
  Many Dutch gov't letters have a blurb at the end that you can find the English version on their website. (Or maybe that's mostly the Amsterdam council. Hmm.)

tjansen 5y ago

> it's rare that I encounter someone without functional English and more and more interactions with government I don't worry so much about the interactions, but I think that top-down communication is difficult if you don't speak Dutch or German. Especially letters, as you can't easily use an online translator. Just basic stuff, like enrolling your kid to school. You get a ton of letters, but none of them in English. Also, you say Dutch is easy to learn, but what about people who stay only for a week or a few months? Or, even if they stay longer, the first few months when people don't speak the local language at all, but have to do a lot of paperwork? > All this said, it could be a useful marketing thing, though I wouldn't be surprised to see pushback from a portion of the public. Certainly, especially in Germany. But my argument is that German is already on the path to obsolescence, and if you don't want the same for German culture, it needs to transition to English.

soco 5y ago
German is already on the path to obsolescence? Mind to expand on this?
- tjansen 5y ago
  There was a time when there was world-famous literature written in German, important scientific papers were written in German, German movies and music were successful internationally. That’s almost completely over. Today the German language is a problem for the relevancy of German culture. Outside the German speaking countries, There is little demand for works produced in German or translated to English, because something always gets lost in translation. Most Germans do not speak English well enough to produce relevant work in English. So we’re just wasting whole generations’ potential. They are doomed to create internationally irrelevant works.
gpvos 5y ago
Many Dutch gov't letters have a blurb at the end that you can find the English version on their website. (Or maybe that's mostly the Amsterdam council. Hmm.)