U.S. English Foundation Research
GERMANY
Language Research
5. Costs: What does it cost in terms of money, time and government resources to police the country's language restrictions?
Updated (March 2004)
THREE MINORITY LANGUAGES THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has recommended strengthening education in the North Frisian, Saterland Frisian and Lower Sorbian languages as they are especially threatened with extinction.
Germany has six recognized regional or minority languages: Danish, Higher and Lower Sorbian, Northern Frisian, Saterland Frisian, Romany and Lower German. The Saterland Frisian is in the worst situation, since it has the smallest number of speakers.
The Commissioner for Minorities of the federal German government, Jochen Welt, has suggested to all the above-mentioned minorities, which have not had a special contact committee with the federal government yet, to participate in one. Currently only the Danes and the Sorbians have such committees.
Except being threatened by the bad economic situation, the Sorbian minority in eastern Germany also has to cope with another problem. Young people leave the region in their search for employment, thus weakening the language. In this context Jochen Welt has suggested that the Federal Agency for Employment should recognize Sorbian as a special qualification for public sector employment in the region.
THE REPORT CRITICIZED
The second German report being a part of the implementation process of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages was criticized by the Danish as well as the Sorbian minority. According to the East German daily, "Neues Deutschland", Sorbian representatives got angry and complained about the cutbacks in funding for Sorbians at both the federal and provincial level.
The Danish minority complained about Mr. Welt's statement how good the situation was in the Danish-German border region, praising especially minority schools. The Danish newspaper, "Flensborg Avis", sharply criticized Welt for not mentioning that the majority of this funding for both the Danish minority in Germany and the German minority in Denmark was paid for by the state of Denmark.
Jochen Welt rejected this accusation and he explained that the funding from the German side had come from several different sources.
The leader of the Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Heide Simonis, had earlier expressed her regrets about an imbalance in funding for the border region minorities. She put the imbalance down to the difficult economic situation in the northern German province. So far (this year) the Danish minority has not experienced major cutbacks, unlike previous years.
In Germany the Danish and Frisian minorities enjoy not only anti-discrimination but also special protection through the Constitution of the Province of Schleswig-Holstein. But, according to Mr. Welt, similar positive protection for minorities is not possible at the European level.
Source: Eurolang New, Copenhagen, March 8, 2004, by Brigitte Alfter, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4453
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Updated (June 2005)
A NEW SCHOOL FOR THE DANISH MINORITY IN GERMANY
The Danish foundation, A.P.Møller-Fond, donated a new school to the Danish-speaking minority in Südschleswig, northern Germany. The Danish state also considers a contribution to the running costs with an extra annual grant of 15 million krones (around 2 million euro).
According to the President of the Danish School Association for South Schleswig (Dansk Skoleforening for Sydslesvig1), Lone Schuldt, this donation would speed up the establishment of a new comprehensive school in Schleswig with an integrated grammar school. It would solve the problem with the shortage of space at the Duborg School in Flensburg, which has been the only existing Danish grammar school in Germany with the capacity of 650 pupils.
In academic year 2004/2005, 1,030 pupils attend the school; however, demand is steadily increasing. According to the Danish School Association, the new school will be able to accommodate up to 500 pupils.
The donation comes just on time when the whole Danish school system in South Schleswig is in the middle of extensive restructuring. A tripartite school system, with geographically separate secondary school types (Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium), will be replaced by a comprehensive school where these three traditional German school types will be integrated into one school with different levels for grades 7 to 10.
Dansk Skoleforening for Sydslesvig is a private organization funded by the Land of Schleswig-Holstein and the state of Denmark. It runs a total of 49 Danish schools with about 5,700 pupils in South Schleswig.
Source: Eurolang News, Göttingen, May 24, 2005, Simone Klinge, http://www.eurolang.net/
- Dansk Skoleforening for Sydslesvig is a private organization funded by the Land of Schleswig-Holstein and the State of Denmark. It runs a total of 49 Danish schools with about 5,700 pupils in South Schleswig.
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Updated (August 2006)
GERMAN-ONLY SCHOOL WINS NATIONAL PRIZE
The Herbert Hoover secondary school in the immigrant-dominated district of Wedding in Berlin, which hit the headlines earlier this year for banning Turkish and other languages and making students speak only German on its premises, has been awarded a national prize (75,000 Euro). The prize was awarded by the National German Foundation, which has as its aims the promotion of a discussion on the pressing questions facing Germany today and in the future.
After the establishment of a new rule in the school's code of conduct, which was agreed upon by parents' representatives and school authorities, students are not allowed to use their native languages at school. School authorities claim that this rule has improved the students' command of German markedly over the past few months. Concerning this issue, Jutta Steinkamp, school director, said that they had introduced this ban to enable their students to take part in German society through speaking and understanding the language properly. She added that knowledge of the language is a precondition for successful integration and that they have been making good progress in the past few months with regard to their students' language skills.
Similarly, Richard Schröder, head of the National Foundation, said in a radio interview that the voluntary agreement by parents, teachers and students of the school was an important step towards securing a positive future and way of life for the students, ninety percent of whom have a mother tongue other than German.
On the other hand, the ban on languages such as Turkish, Arabic, Urdu and others had unleashed a heated public debate about foreigner integration in German society with some politicians arguing the move was counterproductive and discriminatory toward foreigners. "I think this is an inappropriate means because it says that foreign languages are not welcome at this school," said Özcan Mutlu (of Turkish origin), the Green's spokesman for education. He continued that it is unbelievable that parents who want to register their children at this school have to sign papers which actually ban their children from speaking their own languge. "The goal behind it may be correct but the way towards achieving it is not," he added.
In spite of the criticism, the school's model enjoys nationwide support of other school authorities as they think that it might help fight rising unemployment and poverty among immigrant groups.
According to a recent survey, the risk of immigrant pupils leaving school without a diploma is three times higher than for native German pupils. The prime reason, the report says: a lack of basic language skills.
Source: Deutsche Welle, News, June 26, 2006 by Uwe Hessler http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1870215,00.html
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Updated (March 2008)
SORBS CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE SOLUTION TO THEIR PROBLEM
The Sorbian minority calls for the right to “survive”. In a recently released document entitled “Memorandum on the survival of the Sorbian people”, they protest over the constant decline of public funds for their foundation “Domowina”, set up by the Federal and regional governments to regenerate their language and culture.
According to the Foundation itself, the background to the situation is a progressive under-funding of the Foundation for the Sorbian minority as a result of a reduction in financial support by the Federal Government. An unresolved argument between central government and the states of Saxony and Brandenburg, which has gone on for years, is undermining German policy towards the Sorbians. It has so far prevented agreement being reached on a new financing arrangement, which was supposed to come into force in January 2008.
In their Memorandum, they call on the Federal Government and the German Parliament, the state governments and parliaments in Saxony and Brandenburg to clarify who is responsible for the protection and financial support of the Sorbs in Germany. The authors call for an immediate solution to the conflict to be found.
Source: Eurolang News, March 30, 2008 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3040&Itemid=1&lang=en |
