The state is breaking the law. This is revealed in a brand new report from the Language Council. Here they have looked at how the ministries and the underlying state bodies comply with the rules on switching between Nynorsk and Bokmål. BREACH OF THE LAW: Berre Medietylsynet fulfills all requirements in the regulations. Photo: Eirin Tjoflot / news – What I see in this report is that the state is in no way fulfilling its statutory mission of using both Bokmål and Nynorsk in the distribution that they must at least do, says Åse Wetås, director of the Language Council. – It is simply terribly bad, she says. Break with the law and politics The regulations are crystal clear. It requires central government bodies to alternate between Bokmål and Nynorsk in generally available material so that neither written language is represented by less than 25 per cent. It also requires that all forms and digital self-initiated solutions must be available in both languages. – Terribly bad, says Åse Wetås about the findings in the report. Photo: Eirin Tjoflot / news – At point after point we see that the exchange of languages is not good enough and that the Storting’s adopted policy, i.e. to particularly strengthen Nynorsk as the least used written language, is not taken into account. The report is based on data from as many as 15 ministries, the Prime Minister’s office and 161 state bodies. Berre Medietylsynet fulfills all requirements in the regulations. – This report is a sad picture of a state that is unable to follow Norwegian laws and follow the state’s own language policy ambitions, says Peder Lofnes Hauge, leader of Norges Mållag. Leader of Norges Mållag, Peder Lofnes Hauge, says that the consequences for New Norwegian are unfortunate. Photo: Elise Årdal – That is serious enough in itself, but has extra unfortunate consequences for Nynorsk, which is the least used of the two written languages, he adds. Promise to follow up Even the Ministry of Culture and Equality, which has special responsibility for our language, breaks the law. – It is in no way good enough, says Wetås. Culture and Equality Minister Anette Trettebergstuen (Ap) did not have the opportunity to be interviewed, but wrote in an e-mail to news that the ministry has a conscious attitude towards the use of Bokmål and Nynorsk. Each ministry also has the overall responsibility for language work in its sector. Trettebergstuen says she will follow up the dialogue with the ministry’s underlying businesses. Culture and Equality Minister Anette Trettebergstuen says that ensuring the use of both languages is an important part of the language policy. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB – In the award letter for 2023, I will remind you of the requirements in the Language Act and ask you to initiate systematic work to anchor language work in the company, she says. The Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness, which among other things is responsible for laws and regulations, has also gone back on several of the measuring points to the Language Council. – In other respects, the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness is quite far from complying with this law. It is a very bad signal to the rest of the state, says Wetås. Nor did the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness have the opportunity to answer questions from news. Language in the state: Nynorsk section on the websites of state bodies under the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness in 2021: Directorate for Community Security and Preparedness (DSB): 4 percent Court administration: 27 percent Attorney General: 1 percent Commission for resumption of criminal cases: 4 percent Office for compensation for victims of violence: 3 percent Directorate of Correctional Services: 22 per cent National ID Centre: 8 per cent National Security Authority: 2 per cent Norway’s Supreme Court: 27 per cent Police Directorate with Kripos: 19 per cent Police College: 3 per cent Police Security Service (PST): 5 per cent Attorney General: 1 per cent Secretariat for conflict councils: 5 per cent The Bureau for police cases: 0 per cent The Norwegian Civil Rights Administration: 10 per cent The Directorate of Immigration (UDI): 14 per cent The Norwegian Immigration Service (UNE): 4 per cent Eco-crime: 4 per cent See a complete overview of all government agencies here. – A managerial responsibility The director of the Language Council believes it is a managerial responsibility to recruit the expertise that is needed. – This has to be worked on systematically and in a structured way. What I, who work in the state, must remember is that I work for our citizens. The most important thing we can do is to follow the political decisions, the political priorities and the laws that the Storting has adopted, she says. The target team leader is agreed. – I think the most important thing we can do to make next year’s reading more cheerful is for the various ministers to tighten up and tighten up their own civil service. It can’t be that difficult to fulfill the target act rules in the new language act, he says. PS: news, which also has a requirement that 25 per cent of the content be in Nynorsk, has only managed to do so twice.
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– It is simply terribly bad, says the language director – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
