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Neighbouring languages in the Danish-German border region
Lecturer at the Institute for border region research, Aabenraa |
Despite a traditional linguistic plurality in the Danish-German border region, only the official national languages of Danish and German are considered to be neighbouring languages. Plattdeutsch (Low German), North Friesian and Southern Jutland are not included on account of their status as dialects. Danish as a minority language in Schleswig-Holstein and German in Southern Jutland are also excluded from this category. For the two national minorities do not have the status of being neighbours to Denmark and Germany but as belonging to the countries on the other side of the border. On both sides of the border there is officially monolingualism - and signs are therefore in the national language. The only exception is a few signs in Southern Jutland and Friesian.
It is first and foremost among members of the minorities that we find a functional bilingualism of Danish and German that offers equally good opportunities for communicating in the neighbouring languages. Apart from that, far from everyone in the border region is able to communicate fluently and effortlessly in both Danish and German. There are, however, quite a few people who are proficient in Danish or German as a foreign language. In this respect, it is predominantly Southern Jutlanders who are competent within the neighbouring language German - a competence they have acquired through teaching or contact with German in the border region, i.a. German radio and TV, which can be received everywhere. This receptive proficiency via the German media seems, however, to be on the wane, as the English-speaking satellite programmes have gained supremacy.
Not so that many people in Schleswig-Holstein are proficient in Danish as a foreign language. Despite an increasing number of courses on offer, education in Danish is still limited - and the Danish media do not have all that much appeal in the neighbouring country, in spite of reception being possible quite a long way south into Germany.
This linguistic state of affairs means that the border is at present a barrier that is also cultural, economic and legal. Denmark"s membership of the EEC from January 1973 onwards does not seem to have counteracted this; nor has the Single Market, with free movement of goods, capital and labour.
If one wishes to acquire the neighbouring languages, German as a foreign language is taught in Southern Jutland in the same teaching and educational institutions, including leisure education, as elsewhere in Denmark. South of the border there are also leisure courses in Danish, and Danish is taught as a foreign language in the schools, upper secondary schools (Gymnasium) and in vocational courses of education, although the offers are by no means on a par with teaching in French. It is also possible to qualify as a Danish teacher for the "Hauptschule" and "Realschule" in Flensburg and Kiel - and at Kiel University, teacher education in Danish for the "Realschule" and "Gymnasium" is part of studies in Nordic Philology.
Equal rights for the two neighbouring languages are found in the transborder BA/MA studies that have been established between Handelshøjskole Syd and Bildungswissenschaftliche Hochschule-Universität. Teaching and examinations are in both Danish and German, with propaedeutic courses available in both languages.
The Danish "Folkeskole" and "Gymnasium" have also taken initiatives for close collaboration with German schools just south of the border. All municipal schools in the local education authorities of Sundved and Süder Brarup have introduced a class cooperation from the very first school year, with the aim of creating suitable conditions and potential for knowledge of the language and culture of the neighbouring country and foreign-language competence in Danish and German to be enhanced. A cooperation between upper secondary schools in Tønder and Niebüll has virtually identical objectives.
While German has long enjoyed high status as a neighbouring language, it has not been until now that Danish has begun to make inroads as a neighbouring language of importance. This is evident from the fact that Danish now enjoys equal rights with German in transborder courses of education and training, that more and more politicians, officials and business people wish to acquire a knowledge of Danish and that an increasing number of pupils choose Danish as a subject. These tendencies may be the expression of a greater awareness of the role of a neighbouring language and recognition of that fact. They may also result from Schleswig-Holstein as a periphery area of reunited Germany having good chances for development and economic survival in a cooperation with Scandinavia. To that end, competence in Danish is useful.
In spite of good will on both sides - and improved opportunities for teaching in Danish and German - the language barrier is far from having been removed in the border region. It resurfaces time and time again in connection with transnational cooperation. It is there during Danish-German negotiations at a municipal and county level on, for example, infrastructure and the environment - which are, of course, no respecters of national borders. It is there during cooperation on transnational EU projects. The problem is also well-known within industry, where the need for both Danish and German as foreign languages is on the increase. More and more joint Danish-German events within cultural life call for cooperation. Here too, the need for competence in the neighbouring language is making itself felt.
In order to achieve close relations and good results in transborder cooperation it is, however, necessary for people to be attuned to the cultural and linguistic background of the other partner and to acquire the neighbouring language. Formerly, many Germans have expected to be able to negotiate and cooperate with Danes in German in Southern Jutland - and that the Danes were willing and able to do so. They cannot always make that assumption today. A certain trend is manifesting itself for Danes in the neighbouring region to exploit their competence in the neighbouring language when it is to their own advantage. It is a question of understanding and speaking German in social, cultural and economic contexts when one wants to achieve something oneself. There is slightly less cooperative spirit in evidence when dealing with German from the neighbouring region when both parties have just as much to gain, or when the German party is to get the most out of something. More and more frequently, Danes are demanding an equal-rights language situation, where everybody can at least understand the neighbouring language. That means that everyone can use his or her native language and be understood. English as a lingua franca is not thought of as a satisfactory solution.
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