Didn’t think so

Some people say that the Dutch language is on the verge of disappearing, because of the influx of migrants.
I tend to disagree.
Of course, my language will change, as it has always done throughout the centuries.
A language is a living thing.
We might lose the articles, as already happened in certain youth cultures who solely use ‘die’ instead of ‘de’ and ‘het’ now: die meisje, not het meisje. We might even throw out some prepositions, as is also already happening amongst the youth who for instance talk of ‘in tien jaar’ instead of ‘over tien jaar’.
Dutch-speaking youth, mind you.

Dacht het niet
Is that a bad thing? Somewhere in the past the Dutch language lost its cases. You know, the ones that are still actively used in German: nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. But is there one Dutch person sorry about that?
Dacht het niet. (didn’t think so)
I can’t help thinking that the people who come to the Netherlands to live, love and work here, might turn out to be the very saviors of our language. The ones that will keep it alive and even give it a new impulse. 
With a few tweaks here and there, for sure.
The enthusiasm, curiosity and perseverance they show in learning Dutch is endless. And not just because they have to, due to government rulings.
Instead, they want to speak Dutch, because they want to be a neighbor, a friend, a colleague, a lover, a parent, a relative – in short a full member of the Dutch society, to which a certain proficiency in Dutch is unabatedly the key.
With or without articles or the correct preposition.

© Marjan Ippel, 2025