The Threat of Rapid Language Death. A Recently Acknowledged Global Problem.

It is an indisputable fact that the existing linguistic variety is rapidly being eroded in virtually every part of the world. But if the Netherlands wishes to remain a Dutch-speaking country, while at the same time benefiting from its situation surrounded by language communities where three major world languages are spoken, there will have to be a willingness to invest more time and money than at present in the teaching of Dutch and of the three major modern languages. We have to realise that language is an extremely important factor for the Netherlands, both internally and for our vital contacts with an international environment which will, in a sense, increasingly become a domestic environment for the Dutch.