Cultural Policy
The Dutch Language Union
In the Netherlands and Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) Dutch is the official language. Together they make up a language area of over 20 million people. This makes Dutch the third most important Germanic language in the world, after English and German.
In 1980 the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium signed a treaty which officially recognised that Dutch was the common language of the Dutch and the Flemish. This treaty also provided for the founding of a body to develop the unity of the language, the Dutch Language Union (Nederlandse Taalunie).
The Dutch Language Union is a unique instrument. Nowhere else have two sovereign states entrusted their common concern with a language and with the literature in that language to a joint body by a formal treaty. In the field of language and literature Belgium (Flanders) and the Netherlands have voluntarily limited their sovereignty for the sake of greater unity, so that together they are responsible for the Dutch language. The treaty also ensures that in future decisions to do with language and literature will not be taken unilaterally by one country without other speakers of the language on the other side of the border being consulted.
The Language Union consists of four bodies. Policy is outlined by the Committee of Ministers. This is made up of the Dutch and Belgian ministers of education and of culture. It lays down a common policy for the whole language area and could be called the Language Union's government. The second body is the Interparliamentary Commission, which consists of members of parliament from the Netherlands and Flanders. They can ask the Committee of Ministers to explain the policy followed. The advisory body of the Language Union is the Council for Dutch Language and Literature. It consists of people who have to do with language through their profession or position. They may be linguists or writers or people in publishing, education, the media, libraries, etc. The members are appointed for a limited period by the Committee of Ministers. Lastly, there is the General Secretariat, which prepares and implements policy. This is located in The Hague. The Dutch Language Union gets two thirds of its funds from the Netherlands and one third from Belgium.
The third article of the treaty lists the aims of the Language Union:
| a. | the joint development of the Dutch language; |
| b. | the joint promotion of knowledge of and correct use of the Dutch language; |
| c. | the joint promotion of Dutch literature; |
| d. | the joint promotion of the study and dissemination of the Dutch language and Dutch literature in other countries. |
This is a very wide field, including among other things the joint determination of the official spelling and grammar of the Dutch language, dictionary policy, terminology, and policy as regards the language and Dutch literature in an international context. The Language Union must also promote education and research in the fields of the Dutch language and Dutch literature, and ensure that the language is used correctly in education, the civil service, the mass media and so on. Another important task is that of promoting or organising the teaching of Dutch language, literature and cultural history in other countries and of encouraging the dissemination of Dutch literature, whether in translation or in the original.
Since it was founded, more than ten years ago, the Language Union has published a series of reports, carried out various studies, organised many conferences, produced surveys and provided subsidies, etc. So it has not been idle during this period. Opinions differ as to the results achieved. People who have been working for years in the field of language and literature claim that the Language Union suffers from a very cumbrous administration and that the ministers concerned have shown a lack of political will during its first decade. Those now responsible for policy are aware of this and want to give a new élan to the work of the Language Union, since there is no doubt that it remains an important
