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Danish in Germany
xx-xx-xxxx http://www.uoc.es/euromosaic/web/document/danes/an/i1/i1.html Research Centre of Multilingualism |
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| Danish in Germany | |
1. Introduction
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2. The language in the country
2.1. General information on the language community
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2.2. Geographical and language background
The Danish language ("Dansk") is spoken
in Germany by a Danish minority estimated to number between 15 and 40,000
people in South Schleswig (Dan. "Sydslesvig", Germ. "Suedschleswig"),
an area reaching from the German-Danish border south to the river Eider
in the State of Schleswig-Holstein. The total population of the area is
575,000. The main variety used is Standard Danish ("Rigsdansk"),
the major regional dialect South Jutish ("Sonderjysk"). The majority
languages in the area are (Standard) High German and its Low German dialect;
Frisian is also spoken in this area. Danish is officially recognized as
a minority language in Germany. It is the medium of instruction in over
50 Danish schools and kindergardens and has its own newspaper "Flensborg
Avis", published in the German border city of Flensburg (Dan. Flensborg),
where the Danish speaking population is concentrated. There are daily newscasts
by the major German radio station in the state. Other radio and television
programs are easily received from Danish stations across the border.
2.3. General history and history of the language
80% of the population live in semi-urban areas, 15% in cities, 10% in small towns and 5% in rural areas. It is estimated that about 10,000 speakers have acquired Danish as their first language. The dominant economic activity in the area is the service trade. There is relatively little industry, some tourism and agriculture. The decrease in industrial activity in the past has caused speakers of Danish to leave the area. The status of the Danish minority, though not covered by the German constitution, is protected by a 1955 international treaty between Germany and Denmark.
After WW II the Danish minority experienced a decade of increasing membership and activity, peaking in the mid-fifties when their political party governed a number of german border communities. Their present visibility is still strong. The Danish minority's political party, the "Suedschleswigscher Waehlerverband" (South Schleswig's Voters' Union) is strong enough to maintain one elected state government representative. Their membership is concentrated in the urban and semi-urban working class. Their main official support comes from Denmark, with significant German contributions. Their minority association, the "Sydslesvigsk Forening" has a membership of 17,000; a Danish educational association, religious organizations, libraries and museums bear evidence of the strong community support for their language and culture. Greater financial support has also contributed to increased linguistic and cultural activity.
2.4. Legal status and official policies
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3. The use of the language in various fields
3.1. Education
The Danish schools in Germany belong to the private sector and are carried by the Danish School Association for South Schleswig ("Dansk Skoleforening for Sydslesvig"), funded by the Land of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) and the State of Denmark. In most German public schools of the area Danish is offered as a subject. 5,349 children are enrolled in Danish schools, 2,133 in Danish kindergardens. There are plenty of teaching materials available for all subjects. Over 800 students are enrolled in the Danish high school ("Gymnasium") in Flensburg. There are no Danish institutions for vocational, technical or higher education in Germany, and Danish is not used in German public institutions of higher education. Teacher training for Danish and Danish study programs are available at German teachers colleges in the area (Flensburg, Kiel) and at the University of Kiel. Special training is, of course, available at all Danish colleges and Univeristies. Danish as a second or foreign language is available in adult and continuing education programmes. German public schools include some instruction in Danish language and culture as part of the regional history.
3.2. Judicial authorities
Danish has no legal status in the area. If a plaintiff or defendant is unable to use German an interpreter is supplied at no cost to them. Documents can be drawn up in Danish, if necessary with the help of translations and interpreters. Such cases, however, are rare.
3.3. Public authorities and services
Danish is not used in official communication with the German central administration. Official documents and statements have to be translated into German. In interactions at the regional and local level it is used infrequently, only if an official happens to know Danish. The language of offical notices, public signs and directions is German..
3.4. Mass media and information technology
The use of Danish in the media is officially permitted. A predominantly (70%) Danish newspaper, the "Flensborg Avis", has a daily circulation of 6000. Radio Schleswig-Holstein, one of the major stations in the state, broadcasts about 30 mins. per week in Danish (newscasts). Members of the community can receive broadcasts and telecasts from neighbouring national Danish stations throughout the area. Special Danish vowel symbols are not featured on German keyboards, but are included in most printer fonts. Danish computer software is available from Denmark.
3.5. The Arts
Literary publicatons and musical productions are imported into South Schleswig from Denmark. The minority maintains a theater group, "Det Lille Teater", in Flensburg and an amateur group, "Ae Amatorer", in Leck. Both are very popular.Community members meet annually at the "Arsmader" festival, whose popularity has been growing.
Other cultural activities include lectures, movies and slide shows, city tours and visit to museums as, e.g., the historical minority museum near the "Danewerk". Such activities are supported by local and regional offices.
3.6. The business world
Knowledge of Danish is not required for employment in the area; however, it is an asset in border traffic and trade. Danish is never used in (German) advertising. International merchandize does, occasionally, have Danish inscriptions (besides German and English). The use of Danish in business is limited to the border trade.
3.7. Family and social use of the language
Nearly all parents use Danish with their children. Before 1945 Danish had been repressed. After 1945 it gained in popularity. German is now the major medium for forming social ties. About 1/2 of the marriages are between speakers of Danish.Half of the Danophones attend church regularly. There are 44 Danish parishes with 24 pastors in the area who know and use Danish in their services at about 60 different sites. The Danish Church in Germany has 6,684 registered members.
Danish is considered by its speakers to be very useful, much less so by outsiders. It is an economic asset in the German-Danish border area. Young people have good competence in the language, though they may make little use of it. Language courses offered to outsiders by evening colleges and minority institutions are well attended.
Community members would like to see more recognition of their language in public administration, in the media, in public notices and signs. There is frequent and active exchange of all kinds with Denmark, supported and facilitated by the German administration.
3.8. Transnational exchanges
No data for this topic.
4. Conclusion
There are some interesting similarities and differences between the German minority, the "Nordschleswiger", north of the Danish-German border in Denmark, and the "Sydslesvigse", the Danish minority south of that border in Germany. Their most obvious similarity is the enjoyment of the status of protected and supported minorities since the safe-guarding "declarations" of both national majority governments, the famous "Bonn-Kopenhagener Erklärungen" of 1955, which assured both sides of the border of the right to use their languages in education, religious worship and political campaigning. In both minorities all members have a good command of the majority language.
The differences begin with the political histories of the two, which have been strongly divergent since the Franco-Prussian wars. In their effect upon the present situation only the political events of the past half-century will be considered here. 1945, the end of WW II, marked a turning point in the history of both communities: for the German Danes it meant a sudden drop from supreme status and power into national disgrace and stigma, for the Danish German cause a rise to power, popularity and unprecedented attractiveness, accompanied by a surge in consciousness, ethnic identity, language use and prestige of Danish south of the border. The very opposite happened to German in the north, with concomitant increases and decreases, respectively, in membership. The 'Kieler Erklärung' of 1949 further supported the Danish movement in North Germany; the demise of the German Danes in North Schleswig was not halted by similar assurances until the restoration of German sovereignty and its momentous economic recovery, which made possible the 1955 declarations 'equalizing' both minorities. For the German minority in Denmark, however, the losses were irrecoverable; for the German Danish minority Germany's rise to prominence meant a certain reduction to its committed core population. Still, the Danish minority party has managed to surpass the 5% clause and still maintains at least one representative at the supra-regional government level; the corresponding German party in Denmark has lost its seat.
There are quantitative differences between the two: while their geographic areas are similar in size, the minority communities differ strongly in membership. Total community membership figures are correspondents' estimates and differ widely. More reliable membership figures are: 'Bund Deutscher Nordschleswiger': 4,100 members; 'Sydslesvigsk Forening': 17,000 members. Enrolment in German Kindergardens and schools: 1,800, in Danish institutions in Germany: 7,500.
The social distribution of the minority membership again is rather similar. Both are settled in small towns and in the countryside, though the Danish minority in Germany has a strong concentration in the (larger) border city of Flensburg's shipyard labor force. The Danish side now enjoys a steady stream of German tourists throughout the area, whereas Danes come as day tourists or shoppers mostly to German Flensburg, less so to the countryside and to inland small towns.
The national status of the German language in Denmark is incomparably higher than that of Danish in Germany. Every Danish school offers German above 6th grade, so hardly any educated Dane is completely ignorant of German; Danish is offered only as an elective in German schools close to the Danish border. Many German radio and TV stations are received all over Denmark, Danish stations are only received in Northern Germany, primarily in the border area.
Finally, and very importantly, the use of the ethnic language is very different in the two communities. A somewhat regionally tinted variety of Standard Danish ('Rigsdansk') is-- besides German--the daily means of communication of the Danish minority in Germany. The German minority in Denmark uses the regional Danish dialect of 'Sonderjysk' as the daily colloquial means of interaction and reserves German, in its High Standard variety of 'Hochdeutsch', for use in (formal) community meetings, in church and in written communication. The German Danes are, therefore, always diglossic (in Sonderjysk and Rigsdansk) and bilingual (in Danish and (High) German); the Danish Germans mostly bilingual (in the German and Danish standards), occasionally also additionally diglossic in High and Low German.
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