Pride in the Dutch language waning among speakers at home

THE HAGUE - A survey among one thousand Dutch speaking people in the Netherlands, Flanders and Surinam has revealed that Dutch speakers prefer to use the language of their host country when abroad during their holidays. A full 50 percent prefers to hear as little Dutch as possible, according to the annually published issue of Taalpeil. The survey was conducted on behalf of Taalunie, a Dutch/Flemish organization that aims to promote and foster the Dutch language. Twenty percent of those surveyed prefer to also hear the Dutch language during tours of, for example, a museum. A totally different subject is the language of the street. Three out of four of those surveyed agree that the level of the language used on the street by youths would threaten quality education if used in the classroom. The survey also revealed that the number of people who are proud of the Dutch language is waning. That percentage is now at 88, in 1995 it was still 92 percent. Surinam Dutch speakers are now more proud of the Dutch language, while the percentage among the Flemish has not changed.