Photo credit: Flickr/Lovelornpoets
Walking down the streets and along the canals of Amsterdam, you’re likely to hear a wide variety of foreign languages: French, Spanish, Russian, German, Polish, Italian. The sheer amount of English being spoken is definitely noteworthy.
Amsterdam is definitely an international city. People from all over the world live and work in or travel to Amsterdam. And, it seems, an overwhelming number of them speak very little or absolutely no Dutch.
Given that the Dutch are known for their gifts in language and the fact that their own language is not widely spoken outside their tiny country, getting by - particularly in a melding pot such as Amsterdam - without knowing a lick of Dutch isn’t a crime, right?
A crime? No, but, it sure does make finding work and making yourself a home in the Netherlands just that much more difficult.
In face, a whopping 70,000 to 100,000 of Amsterdammers have difficulty finding a holding a job, focusing on their studies, and participating in community activities, all due to their lack of Dutch language skills.
To this end, the College van Burgermeester en Wethouders (Amsterdam’s mayor and executive board) are placing a strong emphasis on language acquisition through the Educatie Werkt! (Education Works!) program.
Unlike other government funded Dutch language programs in the Netherlands, Educatie Werkt! Is concerned more with teaching basic language skills to those who have been living in the Netherlands for a while than prepping internationals to pass the national integration test.
At a time when the rest of the country is cutting spending the College van B&W plans to put 36 million euros into the program in 2013. That budget will be scaled back little by little to 18 million euros in 2015.
Educatie Werkt! will offer courses, online tutorials, and additional support provided by Dutch-speaking volunteers.
Perhaps, with time, the Dutch language will experience a re-birth in Holland’s capitol city.
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