Master of Science

[Royal Ass.]

If I were you I would simply be offended at having to put my business card in the English language considering you are not from an anglophone country.  Do you have two business cards, one in dutch and one in english? Or are they making you completely switch to english?

[Godder]

To make it crystal clear, Bram has said that the only point of the card is to have his level of education on it. Without that, the card would be useless, so comments on the validity or otherwise of business cards having degrees on them is of no use to him.

If I were you I would simply be offended at having to put my business card in the English language considering you are not from an anglophone country.  Do you have two business cards, one in dutch and one in english? Or are they making you completely switch to english?

I'd agree, but if you need them at an international conference or for speakers of languages other than Dutch, English is generally the best option.

[Bram]

If I were you I would simply be offended at having to put my business card in the English language considering you are not from an anglophone country.  Do you have two business cards, one in dutch and one in english? Or are they making you completely switch to english?

Only in English. I did specifically request a Dutch version but it was deemed too expensive and not very useful to boot. Sadly, it's true. The books and journals I read, the papers I write, the talks and presentations I give, the conferences and lectures I attend, heck, even our department reading club discussions (at which only Dutch-speakers are present) are all in English. It's just like they say....bad English is the universal language of science.

 

[Royal Ass.]

Wow.  I'm surprised at the pervasiveness of english in your country.  I remember going to amsterdam and everyone spoke english.  This was differenet from other countries in europe I visited.  I'm surprosed there hasnt been a nationalistic backlash to the, what I would argue,  slow eradication of your langauge.  Is there a class difference based on lanuage; those who speak english and those who don't?  Or does everyone speak english now (educated and uneducated, poor/rich)? 

[Bram]

I imagine the divide is more based on age than anything else, really. The elderly tend to have a bad command of the language, whereas pretty much everyone else speaks it to some degree. English is a mandatory subject in high school (and these days, I think in primary education as well). Plus, we don't dub movies and TV shows like, say, the Germans, Italians and (I'm pretty sure) the French - you tend to pick up stuff even when reading subtitles.

At universities, most classes are presented in English because of the presence of foreign exchange students. Most of the course material tends to be in English as well - publishers apparently see little profit in translating such niche material to Dutch.

I'm not particularly afraid of an erosion of my mother tongue, though. Dutch is still very much alive, as proven by the continuous (and frankly, rather annoying) restructuring of our grammar and spelling. News media (both on TV and in print) are still in Dutch, as is virtually all everyday (non-professional) interpersonal communication. We also have a body of literature that would be the envy of many nations.*



*= the envy, that is, of nations that both lack a body of literature entirely and are looking for boring WWII-obsessed literary ramblings to fill that particular cultural hiatus.

[OfficeShredder]

Considering english is the de facto language of many sciences, it's not that surprising the card is in english

[Bram]

Come to think of it, isn't "Master of Science" a bit of a weird title, though? It's probably a sort of remnant from (or reference to) the guild system, but still. Intuitively, I feel there can only be ONE master of anything. Like, Master of the Universe (presumably M.Uv.). It should be something like "Good at Science" (G.Sc) instead, or "Successfully Studied Science for a Couple of Years"  (SSS4CY).

[ELD]

That is exactly why I posted about the S.Ov.  The name "Master of Science" just cracks me up.  Master of the Universe is the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the thread.  That is totally what they should call Astronomers.  If someone studied Meteorology would they be "Master of Weather."  I guess that's like Storm from the X-men, but replacing the mutant powers and skin tight outfit with a piece of paper and years of blurred together drunken memories. 

I hereby lobby to change the title Zoologist to "Beastmaster."  I think that has a much more important sound to it.  If those kind of titles had been available when I was younger, I would have considered going to college. 

[Royal Ass.]

I imagine the divide is more based on age than anything else, really. The elderly tend to have a bad command of the language, whereas pretty much everyone else speaks it to some degree. English is a mandatory subject in high school (and these days, I think in primary education as well). Plus, we don't dub movies and TV shows like, say, the Germans, Italians and (I'm pretty sure) the French - you tend to pick up stuff even when reading subtitles.

At universities, most classes are presented in English because of the presence of foreign exchange students. Most of the course material tends to be in English as well - publishers apparently see little profit in translating such niche material to Dutch.

I'm not particularly afraid of an erosion of my mother tongue, though. Dutch is still very much alive, as proven by the continuous (and frankly, rather annoying) restructuring of our grammar and spelling. News media (both on TV and in print) are still in Dutch, as is virtually all everyday (non-professional) interpersonal communication. We also have a body of literature that would be the envy of many nations.*



*= the envy, that is, of nations that both lack a body of literature entirely and are looking for boring WWII-obsessed literary ramblings to fill that particular cultural hiatus.

You aren't afraid of what will happen to your langauge, but look at how much has changed in just a couple generations.  How can you be sure that in a few more generations your language will have a similar status as say Irish?  The fact that higher education is being conducted in english isnt going to do a whole lot to help with dutch literature either.

I don't mean to harass you on this, but this subject interests me a lot - the death of langauges. 

[nataz]

Oh man, when I re-do my cards, I totally want G.Sc