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New ‘knight’ champions Dutch language, culture

November 26, 2003 By Barbara Wolff

Oostburg, Little Chute, Friesland, Barneveld: The names of towns scattered across Wisconsin bear evidence of Dutch settlement.

“However, some of these communities were started up back in the 19th century, and use of the Dutch language has faded out by now. The Dutch usually assimilate very rapidly in this country, and tend not to form permanent Dutch-speaking communities,” says R. Byron Bird, emeritus professor of chemical and biological engineering.

For just that reason, Bird took it upon himself to champion Dutch language and culture after becoming smitten with the country and its people while on a Fulbright fellowship in Amsterdam in 1950.

At UW–Madison alone he assisted in establishing Netherlandic studies, housed in the Department of German; has taught informal Dutch classes for scholars doing research in Holland; has co-authored two elementary Dutch readers for English-speaking people; and has helped to form the UW–Madison Dutch club, a collegial amalgamation of town, gown, students from Holland and English-speakers interested in things Dutch.

For these and other efforts to maximize awareness of the Dutch language and culture, Bird recently was “knighted” into the Order of Oranje-Nassau by the consul general of the Netherlands on behalf of Queen Beatrix. “The Dutch do not use the term “Sir,’ and have no equivalent for it. Just as well,” he notes.

Bird clearly has a gift for languages. In addition to Dutch, he is proficient in Japanese, and has studied German and French.

“When I came to Madison as a graduate student in 1947, I took my meals at the Deutsches Haus and Maison Francaise to gain fluency in those languages,” he says.

However, he says that Dutch contains particularly fascinating idiosyncrasies.

“Linguistically it’s about halfway between English and German, but it has all sorts of pitfalls for unsuspecting beginners,” he says. “It’s easy to learn a little Dutch, but it takes a lifetime to master the intricacies of the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and intonation.”

So fluent is Bird’s Dutch that native speakers often mistake him for one of their own, says Jolanda Vanderwal Taylor, associate professor of German who teaches Dutch classes. “He delights in trying out the many idiomatic expressions in which Dutch is so rich,” she says.

Bird is full of examples of that richness. “”Wie zijn billen brandt moet op de blaren zitten,’ which means, He who burns his bottom must sit on the blisters. In other words, you have to take the consequences for your mistakes,” he says.

According to Taylor, Bird’s textbooks alone have gone a long way in making the public at large more aware of Dutch language and culture. The first text was published 40 years ago. “Until then, there had been a dearth of teaching materials for Dutch,” she says.

UW–Madison began offering formal courses in Dutch in 1984. Today, about 100 students enroll in one of the six or so courses the German department offers every year.

“Dutch is a must for any student studying the history of art, the history of science, Indonesian history, philosophy and several agricultural sciences,” Bird says.

Even without the scholarly applications, he says that Dutch would be useful for just about anyone to know, given our global economy.

“There are 16 million people who speak Dutch in the Netherlands, and another 7 million in Belgium. Then there is Afrikaans, which is close enough to Dutch that Afrikaans and Dutch are mutually understandable,” he says.

“The key to understanding another culture is definitely through the language,” Bird says. “America needs people who can interact with others in all languages, from Arabic to Zulu. There is no such thing as an unimportant language.

“Learning a language is hard work — make no mistake about that! But the rewards are very great. All sorts of doors open up. Even if your linguistic skills are limited, people will appreciate your efforts, and become more friendly and helpful. And if you make a few mistakes, everyone will get a kick out of it — and you will learn something.”