User:Ooswesthoesbes/Shkola Hurbanovni/Introduction: Limburgish

This is an introduction for the study Limburgish which is taught at the Shkola Hurbanovni. There are several subjects within this study, for example:
 * Limburgish grammar: quite obvious, without a good knowledge of the grammar, you can't learn a language.
 * Limburgish vocabulary: we start with simple words like grass, field, sun, walk and love. At the exams you are expected to know these words and some less standard words like system, drug store and spider.
 * History of Limburgish: Though this is not the main subject of Limburgish, we do pay some attention to the history of the language to understand some irregular forms and the orthography. Unless you really want to, you won't learn much Old Limburgish (±1000), but Middle Limburgish (±1800) however will be of more importance.
 * Limburgish articulation: one of the more difficult parts of the language is the articulation. Limburgish is well-known with the fact that there's only a uniform orthography, there's no standard pronunciation. Limburgish has over 500 dialects, we will mainly focus on the five largest dialects: Mestreechsj, Ètsbergsj, Remuunjsj, Mofersj and Zittersj. Fortunately, Limburgish people tend to speak very slowly, so you don't need to worry much about the speed.
 * Dutch and German languages: to help understand some words and developments in Limburgish, it is very useful to understand Dutch and German. Most resources you will be using actually are in these languages. That's why it's highly recommended that you also choose one of this language, preferably both, at the secondary school if you wish to study Limburgish.
 * Limburgish culture: you will also learn some of the culture of Limburg. You will taste the food, get knowledge of their customs and learn the "laws of Limburg".
 * Related languages: you will get an introduction into Ripuarian and Selfkantish as well.

Recommendations
It's recommended that you visit Limburg during your school year. Shkola Hurbanovni will fund and take care for all students that will go to abroad. As already cited above, it's also recommended that you choose German and Dutch at the secondary school.

Future
"What's the use of learning Limburgish?" is the number one question we receive at introduction days. Strangely enough, strangely because Limburgish is a regional majority language, it is. Their are hardly any people that can fluently speak and write all three languages Limburgish, Dutch and English. Limburgish is the most important language in the Dutch province of Limburg and has over 1,6 million native speakers.

Information about the students

 * We started a test study in 2008 which gave the following results:
 * 16 students, of which were: 8 Lovian, 6 Dutch (Limburgish) and 2 with another nationality.
 * Two people didn't finish the first year.
 * 7% did not pass the exams.
 * In 2009 we started another test year:
 * 24 students, of which were: 9 Lovian, 4 Dutch (Limburgish), 2 Dutch (not-Limburgish), 6 American and 2 with another nationality.
 * So far, no-one has quit the study.