Utrecht: Multilingual hotspot
and laboratory in Europe
Utrecht is an international city with international ambitions. The city has the largest and best university in the
Netherlands, possesses an extensive European network
and wants to become the European Capital of Culture
in 2018. This also makes Utrecht a multilingual city. Increasing numbers of students follow courses in various
languages. The city attracts international companies
and, in its streets, libraries, restaurants and cinemas,
the international character of the city is expressed in
multilingualism.
www.utrecht.nl
The 2006 Eurobarometer on languages issued by the
European Commission demonstrated that the Netherlands, after countries such as Luxembourg and Malta,
was high on the list of multilingual hotspots in Europe.
Zooming in on Utrecht, preliminary research in 2006
showed that the city stands out in the Netherlands, with
77% of its population speaking 3 or more languages to
a greater or lesser extent, and a remarkable 12 % having some knowledge of at least 5 languages.
The reason for this high level of multilingualism in
Utrecht is the presence of numerous well educated
youngsters and adults. In addition, many people with
a foreign background live in the city.
Next to being a flourishing multilingual hotspot of
Europe, Utrecht would like to make further use of its
rich linguistic potential, and develop into a laboratory
for multilingualism. Therefore, the city has already
launched a study on multilingualism among its residents, as well as several additional studies on foreign
language skills in companies, schools and other institutions. By means of these studies Utrecht wants to identify the causes and the consequences of multilingualism. Based on the outcome of this research Utrecht can
design projects, events and facilities that would further
stimulate multilingualism in the city.
You can read about ‘Utrecht as a multilingual hotspot’
in this brochure. In addition, Utrecht reveals some of its
plans for becoming Europe’s first laboratory for multilingualism.
Multilingualism in the streets
Everywhere in the city - in the streets, in local communities, in the shops, the cinemas and restaurants you can hear and see that Utrecht is a multilingual hotspot. You hear various languages being spoken
as you wait in the queue to buy your train ticket, you notice signs in the Lombok quarter advertising
bread in both Arabic and Dutch, and you also have the option of being entertained by foreign performers when you visit one of our many festivals. For example: the Latin American Film Festival and the international amateur choir festival Europacantat 2009.
Multilingual hotspot:
community
Multilingual landscaping in the Dichterswijk
(district) in Utrecht
Multilingual poetry in Dichterswijk
Two years ago, the residents of the Dichterswijk ('Poets
district': the streets are named after 17-19th century
Dutch poets) started the project 'Dichter bij huis'.
With financial support from the municipal budget
for local initiatives, national cultural funds and local
sponsors, murals representing the old poets are now
bringing new life to blind walls in the district. Verses
have been translated into the mother tongues of the
local community. “Dealing with old Dutch poetry in
this way gives new meaning to stale words. The words
become interesting and new to us all. And in the process, the neighbours become more interesting too! Also,
people passing by often stop to comment on the use of
their own native language. I like my street better now.”
a resident claimed.
Meet each other via Cultural Lodging in Utrecht
Cultural Lodging is a new project. People from abroad
who have a passion for culture are partnered for three
days with someone with a similar background living in
Utrecht. The partner in Utrecht speaks the visitor’s language and is their host or hostess. The foreign visitor
gets to know about the cultural life in Utrecht through
the eyes of a real insider. Moreover, the foreign guest
has exactly the same cultural passion, hobby or profession as his or her counterpart in Utrecht. This project
could therefore involve: singers, theatre makers, designers, dancers, photographers etc. This initiative is
possible because of the enormous diversity of languages spoken by Utrecht’s residents.
2
Multilingual portrait:
meet Natalia Saklakova
Native language: Russian
International language: English
Other languages: Ukrainian, Serbo-Croat
Professional language: Dutch
"I emigrated to the Netherlands in 1992, looking for a
better life. All my relatives still live in Berdjansk, a small
seaside town on the Azov Sea in the Ukraine. At the moment I work for the Rabobank in Utrecht.
Dutch people are always trying to guess where I come
from: Belgium? Anyway, the reaction is always positive;
I receive many compliments like "You speak the language well!" My first languages are Russian and Ukrainian. Russian is what we spoke at home as that was the
normal language of communication but now, Ukrainian
is the official language.
I do not think or feel differently in other languages but
I do use them in other contexts. At home I still speak
Russian but at work it is easier to speak Dutch. Songs
and jokes are usually easier in Ukrainian. At the moment, I am using English much more again at work in
order to take part in international projects. When I had
my own company, my multilingualism was a big advantage. More and more Russians speak other languages
now but when I first came to the Netherlands that was
not so often the case. I would still like to set up a new
outsourcing company in which I can exploit my knowledge of two cultures and languages."
Multilingualism in education
Utrecht's multilingualism is stimulated by the educational establishments in the city. A few examples: pupils
at the Lukas School, a primary school, receive language lessons in their native language; students at the Gregorius College, a secondary school, are offered bilingual education; and the Bachelor's and Master’s courses
given in English at the University attract many international students. Multilingualism is also to be found in
the many language institutes in the city; here people can learn a language, for whatever reason, in their free
time.
Multilingual hotspot:
education
Education:
Utrecht from hotspot to laboratory
Multilingualism among children
Naturally, the focus in Utrecht's primary schools is on
Dutch. The effects of multilingualism in young children are
not yet fully understood, but young children certainly seem
to find it easier to learn another language. Some primary
schools already encourage children to learn a foreign language; for example, the Lukas School. Here the majority of
the pupils have a Moroccan background, so lessons are given in their mother tongue as well as in Dutch. The mother
tongue is used to support the learning of Dutch.
Other initiatives on multilingualism in education are:
•
The municipality, together with the Province and the
Chamber of Commerce, is looking at the possibility of
establishing an international primary school in which
children would be taught in English. Such an international primary school in Utrecht would be important
for encouraging knowledge workers from abroad to
come and work in Utrecht.
•
The Volksuniversiteit (for adult education), the James
Boswell Institute, Instituto Cervantes: these are just a
few of the many language schools Utrecht can boast.
But why do people learn another language? What do
they need it for? And how does it change their lives?
In order to obtain answers to these questions, the municipality has initiated a survey of language students at
the Volksuniversiteit.
•
In addition to the well-known language schools, there
are also individual initiatives to teach children their
native language, for example Turkish or Chinese. The
municipality is drawing up a list of all those offering
language courses.
Multilingualism among students
Utrecht is a city of knowledge: it has the largest university
in the Netherlands and various higher education institutes.
Students make up twenty-five percent of the city’s population.
Utrecht University (UU) is becoming increasingly international. The numbers of foreign students and academic staff
are growing. The UU is number 47 in the Shanghai Ranking
and this serves to increase its international profile. The
Bachelor’s/Master’s system has been introduced into the
University, and many courses are now offered in English.
There are 90 English-language Master’s courses attracting
students from all over the world. The UU also has an international Honours College in Liberal Arts and Sciences University College Utrecht. This University College scores
well on multilingualism because, in addition to courses in
English, a foreign language is a compulsory component of
the study programme.
Multilingualism in companies
Utrecht continues to attract international companies, being one of the most competitive cities in Europe.
The city is centrally located in the country and can offer a very favourable climate for establishing businesses,
so it is a premium location for both national and international companies. Utrecht’s multilingualism offers extra opportunities and is therefore even more interesting for international companies. In order to exploit these
opportunities, we are investigating to what extent the companies in Utrecht are multilingual.
Multilingual hotspot:
companies
Companies:
Utrecht from hotspot to laboratory
With Utrecht being a European hotspot, we would like to
investigate how multilingualism is developing in the business sector in this region, as more and more companies
are choosing to use English as their language of communication. Employees who speak more than one language
increase their chances in the employment market, but
they also make it easier for their companies to win orders
abroad. This is why companies increasingly look for employees with an ability to speak various languages in order
to do business within and outside the EU. The multilingual
population in the city also helps to ensure there is a good
climate for establishing businesses here.
Given the economic benefits of multilingualism, it’s important to get more insight into how much the business sector
relies on foreign language skills of its employees and to
what extent multilingualism within companies is valued
and stimulated by employers. Therefore the municipality
of Utrecht is carrying out a survey of language skills in
companies located in the city, along the lines of that of the
European Commission. The questions in the survey focus
on gaining insight in the use of foreign languages on the
work floor with colleagues, clients and suppliers and what
the perceived benefits are, but also if companies have
lost business contract due to a lack of language skills.
It’s expected that the investigation will lead to the following results:
European study:
benefits of multilingualism for companies
A European Commission study in 2006 (ELAN) has already
demonstrated that multilingualism within companies is
economically advantageous. The study showed that insufficient language skills in the business sector can affect the
whole economy of the European Union. Of all the small and
middle-sized enterprises in the European Union that export
products, 11% fail to win business because of language
barriers. Insufficient knowledge of English during the negotiation stage is one of the most important reasons for
failing to win a business contract. Many companies plan to
increase their exports and will therefore probably be doing more business with new foreign markets in future. The
study concludes that companies who employ staff with foreign language skills export more than companies without
these skills.
•
larger companies will be more multilingual than
smaller ones.
•
companies exporting goods and services are more
likely to be multilingual.
•
companies with expats and immigrants on their staff
will tend to be more multilingual.
There are around 1.200 international companies in the
region, the majority belonging to the service sector. Both
national and international companies of all sizes are being asked about the use of foreign languages within their
organization.
Multilingualism according to Brussels
The European Commission aims to exploit the language capacity of its citizens to the fullest. To that
end, the Commission has appointed a Eurocommissioner to be responsible for stimulating multilingualism. The most important European measures regarding multilingualism are:
•
encouraging citizens in the EU member states to learn foreign languages (mother tongue plus two).
•
making citizens, companies and the service sector aware of the assets and challenges offered by
multilingualism in Europe.
•
making EU member states aware of all existing European initiatives involving education, the media,
research, social inclusion and competitive capacity.
There are 23 official languages in the European Union
with, in addition, many regional and minority languages
such as the Basque language, Celtic languages or Friesian. The European Union’s motto is therefore ‘Unity in
diversity’. The European Union has always considered
its many languages as an asset and not a burden. Languages serve as bridges between other people; they
open up the way to other countries and cultures; they
promote mutual understanding, increase opportunities
in the employment market and strengthen social cohesion.
The European Union first made a real statement about
multilingualism in 2002. At a meeting in Barcelona, the
Council of Ministers set the ambitious target ‘Mother
tongue plus two foreign languages for every citizen’.
This in turn led to an active policy of promoting the
learning and teaching of languages, through the various European education and training programmes. According to the EU these programmes also have a vital
role to play in the EU’s overall economic development
goals as defined in the Lisbon Strategy. An example
of a European education and training programme is
Erasmus. This is an exchange programme for students
who wish to study at a university in another European
country for a short period. The Erasmus programme
comprises intensive language lessons to prepare the
students for studying abroad.
Furthermore, the European Commission has called for
multilingualism to be promoted and to be integrated
into various policy areas such as employment, social integration, competitive capacity, culture, youth, research
and the media. This means that the multilingual policy
has become broader than just 'mother tongue plus two'.
Utrecht: European hotspot and laboratory
for Multilingualism
Although the European Commission is mainly interested in multilingualism at member state level, it would
also like to see measures being taken to involve citizens more closely. In the Netherlands, the municipalities represent the form of government nearest to the
people. Utrecht is the very first city in the Netherlands
to take up the challenge of increasing multilingualism
at municipal level. Following the European policy on
multilingualism, Utrecht wants to stimulate proficiency
in three languages: a public language (Dutch), a mother
tongue and English. For whom Dutch is at the same
time their mother tongue should learn a third language
based on their interests, profession, etc.
Utrecht laboratory for multilingualism
The municipality intends to do its very best to strengthen multilingualism in Utrecht – for residents, companies and institutes, including those involved in culture. The function of the laboratory is to strengthen the
hotspot. This means looking for links, knowledge and experience as well as stimulating and supporting small
projects. This is why we intend to work on the following in 2009 and 2010:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A large-scale quantitative survey on multilingualism
among the city’s population. This research could potentially be extended to include collaboration with
other European multilingual hotspots.
For more information:
Various qualitative and quantitative investigations
into the role of multilingualism, for example in international companies and among students at language
institutes.
Links and sources:
Stimulating and initiating multilingual projects in the
city together with various local institutions. We intend
to hold expert meetings, but also increase mutual
knowledge and build up a city-wide network.
Publication July 2009
Illustrating the multilingual landscape of the city,
for example by means of the website:
http://multilengua.blogspot.com.
City of Utrecht, Dept. Public, Internal, Subsidy Affairs
Christa Stoop and Sanne van den Broek
Office: tel. (0031)30 286 1628, email: [email protected]
http://multilengua.blogspot.com.
http://www.culturallodgingutrecht.com
http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages
City of Utrecht, Dept. Public, Internal, Subsidy Affairs
Contributors
Hans Sakkers, Marloes Egmond, Christa Stoop
Sanne van den Broek, Borja Martinovic
Translation
Taalcentrum-VU, Amsterdam
5.
6.
Stimulating the collaboration between the University
and the city in relation to European research requests
regarding multilingualism and other related topics.
As part of the Treaty of Utrecht celebrations, the University, municipality and province authority are working together on a number of ‘Utrecht Principles’, to be
presented in 2013. Multilingualism will be one of the
highlights of this programme.
Photos
Bert Spiertz, Willem Mes, Merijn van der Vliet,
European Union, City of Utrecht
Layout
VAK18, Utrecht