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ADR-0014 Written Language

Context

In order to expand our reach and foster international collaboration in the field of AI Validation, we have decided to conduct all communication in English on public platforms such as GitHub. This decision aims to facilitate better understanding and participation from our global colleagues. However, within the Government of the Netherlands, the norm is to communicate in Dutch for internal purposes. This ADR will provide guidelines on which language to use for different types of communications.

Assumptions

There is no requirement to use Dutch as the primary language for all our activities while working for the Government of the Netherlands. More information can be found in the More Information section.

Decision

The following channels will utilize English:

  • GitHub projects
  • GitHub repository
  • Email to international partners

The primary language for the following channels will be Dutch:

  • Mattermost (internal collaboration tool)
  • Emails to internal parties
  • Official internal documents like memo's or notes to the house of representatives
  • Guides for Dutch users on how to use the tools
  • UI for the tools we will make

Risks

Dutch-only developers will have a harder time following along with the progression of our team on both the code on GitHub as our Project Management.

Consequences

  • All tickets and issues will be written in English on GitHub projects.
  • Code reviews will be written in English.
  • Comments in the code and commit messages will be written in English.
  • Documentation of the tools will be written in both Dutch and English.

More Information

Although many attempts by previous cabinets, Dutch is not the official language in the Netherlands according to the Dutch constitution. See the following link.

According to the website of the Government of the Netherlands the Dutch language is the official recognized language. This means that in combination with the law Algemene wet bestuursrecht on wetten.overheid.nl governing bodies and their employees need to communicate in Dutch unless stated differently elsewhere. It is stated here that communicating in another language than Dutch is permitted if the goal of communicating in another language than Dutch is sufficiently justified and if other parties are not effected disproportionately by the usage of another language.