At Eye for Image, the English language is our bread and butter. So the recent debate on the use of Danish versus English in the Danish business community and educational institutions hasn’t gone unnoticed.
To those of you who haven’t been following the debate, here’s a quick recap. In spring 2007, the Minister of Culture, Brian Mikkelsen, appointed a language committee or “Sprogudvalg” to study the Danish language and evaluate if there was a need for a Danish language law.
Last month the committee published their findings in a report, “Sprog til tiden”. The committee found that the Danish language is thriving better in some areas than others, but that there’s no need for a Danish language law.
One of the committee’s conclusions was that the Danish business community needs to strengthen their use of the Danish language. And what’s more, the business community has a responsibility to ensure that English doesn’t automatically become the language of corporate Denmark.
But the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv), who represents 20,000 member companies, doesn’t agree. According to Christian Tanggaard Ingemann, Market Director at Dansk Erhverv, the Danish language isn’t under attack, and that increased use of English as the working language in education, research and business won’t marginalise the Danish language.
Dansk Erhverv believes that the way forward is to secure the use of English in educational institutions, while maintaining the use of Danish in trades and educations where the job market requires it.
Whatever way you look at it, English is here to stay. With so many Danish companies operating in niche areas, they have to take their products and services abroad. And as Ingemann points out, English isn’t only “nice to know”, but “needed to know”.
So, yes, English is necessary if Denmark is to remain competitive and communicate with the world around us. And personally, I don’t believe that the increased use of English in the Danish business community and at universities will spell the death of the Danish language. It will continue to evolve of course, like all languages do, but that’s “nice” isn’t it?
May 15th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I couldn’t agree with Kathryn more.
It’s not surprising that a government commitee in a left-of-center nation comes to an inward-looking conclusion quite different from that of the business community, who faces the reality of global competition.
To me, Danish seems to me to be alive and well. And living means evolving.
May 25th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Another aspect of this debate is the standard of Danish spoken by foreigners or “new Danes” - something that we at Eye for Image are keenly aware of. We know all about the struggles of learning Danish.
Since I’ve been in Denmark, there have been three royal weddings involving non-Danish speaking nationals. Each time, there’s been a discussion about how quickly the new princess has learned to speak Danish. And then there are the inevitable comparisons about who has learned quickest and who speaks the best.
On the occasion of the most recent wedding, between Prince Joachim and Marie Cavallier, Danmarks Radio has taken the competition a step further. Now people can listen to each of the princesses’ first speeches and vote as to who is best at speaking Danish! Welcome to Denmark, Marie!
http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Kultur/2008/05/22/160751.htm?rss=true®ional