Which languages are dying in Europe? I heard someone say that Dutch is a dying language. Is it true?
I'd like people's opinions and more than anything facts.
Thanks
I'd like people's opinions and more than anything facts.
Thanks
Which languages are dying in Europe?
is one which is dying...it is spoke by less than 1000 people at this moment...
You mean Dutch? I'm sure that many more people speak Dutch than that. I know the number has to be somewhere in the millions still.
Most of the dialects (if you'd like to consider them languages).
Then I guess also Romansh in Switzerland is shrinking year after year, the Sami languages in Scandinavia, etc.
Then I guess also Romansh in Switzerland is shrinking year after year, the Sami languages in Scandinavia, etc.
Why is dutch dying? Last time I checked it was the main language of the netherlands.
I don't think Dutch is duying. It is going to be a regional language in the future like other language around the world.
Dutch may not presently be dying, but it certainly is somewhere on the wrong side of middle aged...
Language policy in France is the reason of regional languages dying ( including West Flemish-a dialect of Dutch in France)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_policy_in_France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_policy_in_France
Low Saxon(Low German) and Dutch are so closely related,that they must treating as dialects (like Norwegian,Danish and Swedish or French and Waloon,or Portuguese and Galician).
If Dutch is dying, wouldn't Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Icelandic, Faroese, etc. all be in the same boat?
Dutch isn't dying.More and more French speaking people learn to speak and write fluent Dutch to get a better job in Belgium.Dutch is learning at schools in areas of Germany near border with the Netherlands. Dutch is taught as a foreign language at primary, secondary and post-secondary level in French Flanders.
As long as there is motivation a language is still active, well established national languages like Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic don't have any reason at all to die out. Their native speakers might feel very confortable at speaking English but this doesn't mean that they will wake up one day and decide to make it the official language abandoning the previous one.
And notice that even small languages like Faroese are quite well established as well, just because there's a strong will to retain it.
Why Scottish Gaelic instead is so less preserved? The Scottish have always acted proud to be different from the English people but they're not doing a lot to preserve their language (at least not the same efforts the Welsh did).
And notice that even small languages like Faroese are quite well established as well, just because there's a strong will to retain it.
Why Scottish Gaelic instead is so less preserved? The Scottish have always acted proud to be different from the English people but they're not doing a lot to preserve their language (at least not the same efforts the Welsh did).
The Scots don't see Gaelic as important to their identity. The accent is sufficient enough.