In northern Europe, a backlash against English is under way
children continue to be brought up with it, but speakers use it in fewer academic contexts. In June Robbert Dijkgraaf, minister of education in the Netherlands, announced that at least two-thirds of teaching in undergraduate programmes would have to be in Dutch. University leaders took it badly.
The head of the Eindhoven University of Technology has said that “for a number of courses we can’t even find professors who can speak Dutch," citing artificial intelligence as an example. (The Dutch government subsequently fell, leaving the policy in limbo.) The worry is that a language like Dutch, if neglected in academic contexts, will eventually lack the vocabulary needed for cutting-edge topics. People discussing such subjects will have to pepper their Dutch with English words—until, that is, talking this way gets so cumbersome they switch to English entirely.
It risks leaving the impression that Dutch is somehow unworthy, feeding a vicious cycle. Language concerns have been bolstered by economic gripes. European universities are heavily or entirely state-funded.
In some countries, foreign students put pressure on scarce resources like housing. (Some 120,000 live in the Netherlands, one of Europe’s most densely populated countries.) In others, such as Denmark, they can even be given cash grants for living expenses. If students finish their programmes without ever learning the local language, they may scarper rather than staying and contributing to the economy.
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