Discursive Analysis of Dutch Language Policy - Or the Absence of it - In a Multicultural Society

This paper presents the results of a discursive policy analysis concerning language policy in the Netherlands. As observed previously concerning Dutch policy with citizenship, also formal language policy seems to ignore - or dismiss - the muticultural country that the Netherlands has become. It may be one reason as to why the interest for languages, the studies of language and foreign language teaching has diminished severely during the last two or three decades while the country show an increased level of multilingualism. Just in the city of the Hague some 52 languages are being spoken. While there is no explicit language policy - all foreigners need to learn Dutch before coming to the Netherlands or soon after arrival - there is also an implicit bias. Bilingualism of Dutch and English is considered a positive phenomenon while Dutch and other non-western languages such as Arab, Turkish, or Berber have a negative connotation. This paper points out this problem in more detail and suggests a series of reasons why we should return to giving language a center role in the policies and educational systems of western multicultural societies such as the Netherlands and how this desired central position for language, fed with a general critial language awareness, will be essential to start resolving the wicked questions of today, the solution of which is ultimately moral in character: climate change, inequality, environmental design and the need to somehow live in harmony in a world with decreasing resources.