U.S. English Foundation Research

GERMANY

Language Research

DANISH LANGUAGE

The Danish language is spoken in Schleswig-Holstein, mainly in the rural districts of Rendsburg/Eckernfoerde, Schleswig/Flensburg, Nordfriesland and the city of Flensburg.

The Danish minority enjoys the right to education in the Danish language throughout Schleswig-Holstein (Declaration by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany of March 29, 1955, section 58, paragraph 3). This entitlement has been translated into practice in all towns and villages where the Danish minority finds it necessary to maintain a school. The members of the Danish minority attend schools of the Danish private school system, which regionally offers a large variety of schools. German language is a compulsory subject but apart from that Danish is the teaching language. However, the schools make sure that pupils who will soon leave school learn the technical terms, especially those in the field of the natural sciences, also in German. This is to prepare them for the future vocational training in enterprises and at university where German tends to be spoken. To sum up, all classes are taught in Danish with few exceptions. For most of the subjects students' books tend to be those published in Denmark. Books published in Germany and teaching material prepared by the minority or teachers of these schools are also used.

The Danish minority has a daily newspaper of its own called “Flensborg Avis”. Private broadcasting station “Radio Schleswig-Holstein” produces a daily news program in Danish. The “Open Channel” television in Flesburg is also open to contributions by minorities. There is a press service attached to the Sydsievisvigs Forening (South Schleswig Association), which supplies the media in Germany and Denmark with information on individual minority.

Danish language is used in family life and also in church. The Dansk Kirke I Sydslesvig (Evangelical Lutheran Danish Church in South Schleswig) organizes church activities of the Danish minority. It is not used in the business world. It is not used in official communication with the German central administration. The services of an interpreter are available, if requested by Danish speakers.

The Sydslesvigsk Forening (SSF) is the cultural organization of the Danish minority in South Schleswig. One important role that SSF plays is ensuring that Danish children can go to Danish schools and kindergarten, so that they are able to grow up with the Danish culture and language. Events such as concerts, folk dances, and parties are also planned here. This is a positive example of how minorities in a border area can work together in a harmonious way.

FRISIAN LANGUAGE (North Frisian and East Frisian)

North Frisian (Friisk) is spoken in Schleswig-Holstein in the rural district of North Frisia (Nordfriesland). All Frisian speakers are at least bilingual and trilingual-ism is widespread. Quadrilingual-ism is also found. Sater or East Frisian (Seeltersk) is spoken in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) in the villages of Ramsloh, Struecklingen and Scharrel in the district of Cloppenburg.

Under Article 5 paragraph 2 of the Land Constitution the North Frisians in Schleswig-Holstein are entitled to protection and assistance. This right has not been fleshed out in the schools act. As regards the Frisian spoken in the Saterland region, the Schools Act of lower Saxony as amended in 1993 states that the schools must enable the pupils to develop their perception and feelings. It also says to put them into words using also that kind of the Frisian language, which is important in their region. In Lower Saxony a decree was drafted to give more support to the Frisian spoken in Saterland region.

Neither North Frisian nor Sater Frisian is used as a teaching language. The North Frisian language is mainly taught, on a voluntary basis, in the 3rd and 4th years of primary school. At other schools the North Frisian language is taught for one or two hours a week in different school years, starting in the first year of the primary school through the grammar school. However, there are also school years or semesters where there are no Frisian language lessons.

In the Saterland region in Lower Saxony Sater Frisian is taught in the 3rd and 4th year for two hours a week. The teaching material developed for North Frisian language is used and adapted to the Saterland dialect by the teachers. A pilot project at two nursery schools in Nordfriesland and also one project in the Saterland examined whether it is possible to start teaching the Frisian at that stage. As a result the Frisian population became much more aware of the Frisian language and culture.

Some local daily newspapers and some regional newspapers in Nordfriesland print articles in North Frisian. The “Nortddeucher Rundfunk” broadcasts short radio program. The North Frisian Association supports the language and culture of Nordfriesland. Also the “Nordfriisk Institut” (North Frisian Institute) plays a very important role in maintaining, researching and promoting the Frisian language, culture and history.

(August 8, 2000) After fighting for more than a year for bilingual place name signs Saterfrisians have now been successful. The transport minister for Lower Saxony, Peter Fischer unveiled the first sign in the town of Ramsloh in July of 2000. In Saterfrisian, the town is called Roomelse. This was revealed in a press release from the ministry.

SORBIAN LANGUAGE

Sorbian is spoken in a number of communities in the German Federal Lands of Brandenburg and Saxony.

The School Act for the Free State of Saxony of July 3, 1991 guarantees that pupils are taught the Sorbian language and that in some schools selected subjects are taught in the Sorbian language at all levels. Section 4, paragraph 5 of the Schools Act for Brandenburg of April 12, 1996 provides that it is the special task of the schools to promote the knowledge and understanding of the Sorbian (Wendish) culture. In the settlement area of the Sorbs (Wends) in Brandenburg, pupils are entitled to learn the Sorbian (Wendish) language and to be taught in particular subjects in particular school years in the Sorbian language. The Saxon Act on Child Day-Care Centres of September 10, 1993 is the legal basis for teaching the Sorbian language and culture at Sorbian and bilingual child day-care centers in the German-Sorbian area of the Free State of Saxony, and thus for keeping the Sorbian language and culture alive. The Act on the Sorbs (Wends) provides for how the Sorbian language is to be promoted and taught at Sorbian child day-care centers in Brandenburg.

At present Sorbian is taught as a first language, as a second language and as a foreign language to pupils in primary and secondary schools. Teachers are trained at the Institute of Sorbian Studies at the University of Leipzig where the language is used as a teaching medium for degree courses in Sorbian, and is also taught as a subject. Adult courses are available in Bautzen and Cottbus. Sorbian schools are set up in towns and villages in the settlement area where there are enough pupils to make up a class with Sorbian as a teaching language. At Sorbian schools in the central settlement area the Sorbian language is the main teaching language, German is taught from the first year onwards. At other schools where Sorbian language is taught, German tends to be the language of instruction.

There are approximately 150 books published by the Sorbian publisher “Domowina” for teaching the Sorbian language and teaching other subjects in the Sorbian language. The Sorbs publish several newspapers and magazines also through “Domowina”. Financing, aside from their revenues and allocations, is provided by the Foundation for the Sorbian People. Along with a few periodicals, a daily newspaper is published in Upper Sorbian and a weekly in Lower Sorbian.

The TV station “Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg” (ORB) has been broadcasting a 30-minute program in Lower Sorbian once a month. Radio broadcasts exist in both languages.

In the authorities and administrations of the Sorbian communities Sorbian is permitted alongside German.

The Foundation for the Sorbian People is financed from both federal funds and that of Saxony and Brandenburg. This foundation seeks above all to maintain and develop the Sorbian language and culture, particularly in educational, scientific and other institutions, which serve this purpose. The “Domowina-Zwjazk Luziskich Serbow” is the umbrella organization of most Sorbian associations and institutions. The Domowina publisher issues not only schoolbooks but also scientific and cultural books in the Sorbian language. They also publish new and classical Sorbian literature, children's and adolescents' books and picture books, with financial support from the state.

There are Sorbian priests both in the Catolic and the Protestant parishes and the church services are held in Sorbian language.

ROMANY LANGUAGE

The majority of German Sinti and Roma live in the capital towns of the older German federal states, which include Berlin and surroundings. This also includes the larger cities of Hamburg, Düsseldorf/Cologne, and in the industrial centers of the Rhine-Ruhr, Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar. Some also live in larger numbers in regions containing several smaller towns situated in close proximity to each other; for example in medium and small-sized towns in East Frisia, North Hesse, the Palatinate, Baden and Bavaria. The area in which the language is used is thus spread over most of Germany.

German Sinti and Roma children grow up bilingually with Romany and German and as a rule master both languages. The National Socialists manipulated the Romany language in Germany in the course of their so-called “scientific research” aimed at registering the entire minority in order to plan and execute the ensuing genocide of the Sinti and Roma. For this reason, the minority is of the opinion that the language should be passed on solely within the ethnic group and should be taught by teachers from within this group. The Romany mother tongue is cultivated within the family and within the community. Language courses for children are encouraged as well as in adult education provided by teachers from within the community in an effort to maintain and strengthen the minority language and cultural identity.

German Sinti and Roma associations, and their umbrella organization the “Zentralrat deutscher Sinti und Roma”, are demanding membership for their representatives on the controlling bodies of both public and private radio and television services. This is in order to end discrimination and to work against clichés and stereotypes with regard to the minority.

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Updated (January 2003)

NORTH FRISIAN

Schools in Schleswig-Holstein are generally state run. The only exception in North Frisia are private schools belonging to the Danish minority. These come under the auspices of the Danish School Association in South Schleswig and are funded partly by the “Land” and partly by the State of Denmark.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Frisian was first used in education on the island of Sylt in 1909. This, however, was soon partly forbidden by the Prussian Ministry of Education. A decree of 1925 allowed teaching of Frisian in schools in order to help prevent the decline of the language. A further decree in 1928 (May 19) specified certain measures for the teaching of Frisian. This decree had fallen into neglect due to the rise of National Socialism and the circumstances leading to the war.

Following the World War II, a decree in 1947 (October 17) fastened on the initiatives of the previous decrees, emphasizing that Frisian classes were voluntary. According to the curriculum of 1986, Frisian could be taught as a part of the German lessons whereas the new curriculum of 1997 allowed Frisian to be included in all subjects.

Frisian is taught mostly in the 3rd and 4th grade generally once or twice a week. It is rarely used as a medium of instruction outside Frisian lessons except in the Danish-Frisian school in Risum, which uses the Danish, Frisian and German languages. This is also the reason why this school has a special status.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Frisian is taught in two grammar schools (in Niebüll - the 5th and 6th grade; and in Wyk on the island Föhr in the 5th, 6th, 11th and 13th grade), and in three intermediate schools with a total number of 24 lessons. There is no secondary modern school teaching Frisian at present. The Danish-Frisian primary and intermediate school in Risum also teaches Frisian as a subject.

Source: Mercator Education, Regional Dossiers, the North Frisian language in education in Germany

http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/regional_dossier_northfrisian_in_germany.htm

SORBIAN (BRANDENBURG LOWER SORBIAN-WENDISCH)

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

Witaj is the Sorbian word for “welcome.” This project covers the initiative to approach children bilingually, in German and Sorbian. In 1998, the first bilingual nursery “Mato Rizo” in Cottbus-Sielow started with 54 children. Two years later similar nurseries were established in Dörgenhausen and Rohne.

A total of 105 children attending the nursery schools in Brandenburg in 2000/2001 were educated by teachers who used both languages with the aim to achieve complete bilingualism for the children.

In the school year 2000/2001, the first six children from a Witaj group went to a primary school. These children have been integrated into the German classes, but they also had seven hours a week of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic in Sorbian. The Sorbian textbooks are similar to the German ones. The German-speaking children in the same class have one hour a week in Sorbian.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

The Brandenburg school law of 1996 provides pupils in the Sorbian area with the right to study Sorbian and be taught in Sorbian.

In Brandenburg, as well as in Lower Lusatia, German is the language of primary education. Sorbian is taught as a subject one hour a week in the 1st grade and three hours a week in the 2nd to the 6th grade. Teaching of the Sorbian language depends on the parents' wish.

After 1989 the number of pupils having Sorbian education decreased dramatically. In the school year 1990/1991, only 14 schools, attended by 373 pupils, offered Sorbian as a school subject. But after 1991 the number of schools and pupils has continuously increased.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Brandenburg has three school types: comprehensive schools, grammar schools and pre-university grammar schools. Students are offered Sorbian as an optional subject for three hours a week in the first two types of schools. Generally, the demand for these classes is very small. Next to Sorbian as an optional subject, it also can be taught as a compulsory second foreign language.

The Niedersorbische Gymnasium in Cottbus is the only grammar school in Lower Lusatia with Sorbian as a second foreign language in its program. In 1952, the Gymnasium began as a bilingual school with the final examination in Wendisch. As schools were forced to become monolingual and parents did not pass the language on to their children any longer, the disappearance of Wendisch classes at primary schools started. Since 1992 the school has offered Wendisch as an obligatory second foreign language. In the school year 1998/1999, 488 pupils attended the Niedersorbische Gymnasium and one year later the number rose to 513.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Since 1998 the University of Potsdam has offered an additional course in Sorbian, among other reasons, to qualify teachers for teaching Sorbian in the lower classes and other people interested in teaching Sorbian in the first and second level. Six students a year, on average, take an advantage of this possibility. In 2001, 45 Lower Sorbian/Wendisch teachers studied there.

Traditionally, students study Sorbian at the Leipzig University in Saxony. Some universities in other parts of the FRG also pay attention to Sorbian.

SORBIAN (SAXONY UPPER SORBIAN)

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

The Saxon Law of 1993 requires day care institutions in the German-Sorbian area to teach the Sorbian language and culture. In 1997, about 700 children attended eight Sorbian day nurseries in the districts of Bautzen and Kamenz. Moreover, twenty bilingual nurseries can be found in the districts of Bautzen, Kamenz and the Niederschlesier Oberlausitzkreis. In 1997, about 1,000 children, among them 685 in Sorbian groups, attended these nurseries.

Next to Witaj nurseries in Brandenburg, the Sorbischer Schulverein took the initiative to establish four groups in Saxony. In the year 2000, 78 children took part in these groups.

Although the Witaj initiative is generally seen as hope and perspective for the future of the language by Sorbian officials, the current number of participating nurseries and children is too small to expect a real renaissance of the Sorbian language from this new development.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Paragraph 2 of the Saxon Law on Education (1991) basically set out the legal right of the Sorbs to have Sorbian as a subject and as a medium of instruction. Furthermore, for the first time in history, all schools in Saxony have to teach a basic knowledge of Sorbian history and culture.

The administrative act on Sorbian and other schools (1992) defined Sorbian schools as those where Sorbian is the medium of instruction. Other schools were defined as schools where German is the medium of instruction and Sorbian is just one of the subjects.

According to the Saxon School Law, Sorbian schools have to foster and develop the cultural and linguistic heritage of the Sorbs. They are established in places with a sufficient number of pupils to form a Sorbian class (25 pupils).

In the Sorbian language area of Saxony the former “A” type schools have been reestablished to Sorbian schools where Sorbian serves both as a subject and a medium of instruction, with the exception of the German language, which is taught in German.

In 2000, there were five Sorbian primary schools in Saxony: one in the Bautzen district and four in the Kamenz district. They were attended by a total of 575 pupils. Of these, 229 pupils had Sorbian as their mother tongue, 191 pupils studied Sorbian as a foreign language and 155 pupils had Sorbian as a second language on their curriculum.

In addition to the Sorbian primary schools, the school inspectorates of Hoyerswerda, Kamenz and Görlitz have 24 German primary schools, which offer Sorbian as a second language, either as a foreign language or as a language for basic communication. In 2000/2001, a total of 2,607 pupils attended these schools, 408 studying Sorbian as a second language, 153 studying Sorbian as a foreign language and 166 pupils studying Sorbian as a language for basic communication.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Upper Lusatia, covering the districts of Bautzen and Kamenz, has six Sorbian secondary schools: four in Kamenz and two in Bautzen. Six schools in the school inspectorate of Hoyerswerda teach Sorbian as a foreign language.

Besides these Haupt and Realschulen, Bautzen has a Sorbian grammar school. In 2000/2001, this only Sorbian pre-university school was attended by 516 pupils, of which 215 had Sorbian as a mother tongue and 186 attended Sorbian classes as a second language.

Since the recognition of Sorbian as a state-specific school final examination subject, higher-level courses have been introduced. Pupils are also allowed to choose examination in Sorbian as their mother tongue, which is now on a par with German as a fully-fledged examination subject.

In bilingual or German schools Sorbian is taught exclusively as a foreign language in small groups (of at least five pupils) in addition to the curriculum of the whole class. Lessons are aimed at acquiring an active command of a small range of vocabulary (about 2,100 words) by the end of the 10th grade and a passive knowledge of the grammatical rules and their use. These groups are usually very heterogeneous in their linguistic composition when pupils without any knowledge of Sorbian are often taught in the same group as pupils who have an almost perfect command of Sorbian.

School principals are often not in favor of Sorbian, because it is seen as a matter for the Sorbs themselves. In the school year 2000/2001, six German secondary schools taught Sorbian as a second language. Of 2,143 pupils only 159 attended these Sorbian lessons. One German grammar school in Hoyerswerda offered Sorbian as a foreign language, in 2000/2001 attended only by three pupils (out of 484 pupils).

HIGHER EDUCATION

The teaching of Sorbian at the University of Leipzig has a long history stretching back to the early 18th Century. In 1716, the Wendisch Theological College, one of the University's first student colleges, was founded.

The Institute of Sorbian Studies (ISS) was established in 1951 as the first and only university establishment in Germany to offer the Sorbian Studies (the language and culture of the Lausitz Sorbs, the smallest of the Slavic peoples). Initially meant mainly for the training of Sorbian teachers and those willing to work at Sorbian institutions, the ISS later broadened its scope.

Upper and Lower Sorbian studies at the University of Leipzig has traditionally been regarded as a course for Sorbian native speakers. However, it has also been incorporated into German and international Slavonic studies, as well as into European minority research.

In addition to the existing Chair of Sorbian Studies/Linguistics, the other options are Sorbian literature and history, Sorbian teaching and methodology and Sorbian ethnology. In the academic year 2000/2001, sixteen full time students attended Sorbian Studies, six studying Sorbian as a main subject, three as an additional subject and seven as a teacher-training course.

The University Library and the German Library, both located in Leipzig, maintain extensive stocks of Sorbian literature, newspapers and magazines, as well as specialist journals on Sorbian studies. Finally, the “Sorabija” student group comprises students of Sorbian nationality studying in various faculties. It organizes lectures, discussions and traditional festivals.

Source: Mercator Education, Regional Dossiers, The Sorbian language in Education in Germany

http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/regional_dossier_sorbian_in_germany.htm

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Updated (July 2003)

SORBIAN MEDIUM SECONDARY SCHOOL TO BE CLOSED

At the beginning of July a fax from the Saxonian Ministry of Culture arrived at the municipality of Crostwitz and confirmed the fears of local parents. Their school will be closed down after the summer holidays so numerous strikes, demonstrations and negotiations over the last two years have been fruitless.

The Sorbians are a Slavonic minority with approximately 60,000 people living in the German-Polish-Czech border region in the provinces of Saxony and Brandenburg.

Crostwitz is one of only two Sorbian secondary schools (age 10 to 16). The Sorbian minority has until now had two Sorbian medium primary schools (age 6 to 10) and two secondary schools. Four primary and secondary schools in the region have both Sorbian and German classes. To continue in their education Sorbian students can attend a Sorbian ‘gymnasium’ (college).

The school was closed due to a new Saxonian legislation requiring a minimum of twenty children per class and forty children per school. In recent years the school in Crostwitz has had only around thirteen to seventeen students per class, and after the summer holidays the first grade would have only seven pupils.

Sorbs as well as other minority representatives and organizations think that minority schools need to have a special status, as they play an important role in language education and the local community.

Unfortunately, population projections do not forecast an increase in the number of children. Even those bilingual secondary schools that will be kept in the region can only continue thanks to the exemption to the rule requesting a minimum of forty children per school.

Smaller, local schools are especially in danger. Parents, Sorbian as well as German, have been fighting against the closure of schools. In August 2001, Crostwitz parents refused to send their children by bus to the nearest school. By teaching them at school in Crostwitz they disobeyed the Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for the closure. The protest was followed by a strike, where 1,000-1,500 Sorbian students did not attend classes for a few hours.

A request for a public referendum to change the new school law was nearly successful. According to Jan Nuk, a chairman of Domowina (a Sorbian NGO), 426,000 of the required 450,000 signatures were gathered.

The Saxonian ministry; however, does not see the closure of Crostwitz as violation of any legislation protecting the minorities, either on a provincial or European level. Referring to the possibilities to study the Sorbian language in bilingual schools, the Sorbian secondary school in Crostwitz could not continue in operation.

Source: Eurolang News, Copenhagen, July 2, 2003, by Brigitte Alfter, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4304

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Updated (September 2003)

BILINGUAL SIGNS IN NORTH FRISIAN

One hundred road signs with the picture of a child playing and the text in both German and North Frisian (Mind the children), produced by the minority organization “Friisk Foriining” were recently placed on the roads all over the county of North Frisia, but also outside the core areas of the language.

This idea originated during the visit of the Northern Frisian minority in the Austrian Province of Carinthia. The Slovene minority had received funding for this project from their local bank; however, in Germany banks did not want to support it so instead the Province of Schleswig-Holstein, which has certain financial means for Frisian projects, supported it.

Whereas bilingual place name signs are legally guaranteed by Austrian legislation in Carinthia, in Northern Frisia the situation is different. In spite of that, bilingual signs have been put up in some municipalities in recent years.

The Northern Frisian minority lives in Germany's northernmost province. About 10,000 speakers use nine dialects, some of them existing only on the mainland, some of them only on the islands just off the coast.

Source: Eurolang News, Copenhagen, September 16, 2003, by Brigitte Alfter, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4387

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Updated (April 2004)

BROADCASTING LEGISLATION AND PRACTICE

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN

Schleswig-Holstein is one of the States that has included explicit provisions with the aim to promote minority languages (Article 24 (3) of the Landesrundfunkgesetz - the Law on Radio Broadcasting). The Frisian and Danish minorities have the same rights to access the media as other language groups. Apart from that, Schleswig-Holstein maintains two “offene kanäle” (open channels) for radio broadcasting that are also available to members of the Danish community.

In Schleswig-Holstein, both public and private broadcasters are obliged to promote minorities. The public broadcasting entities ZDF and NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk), in particular, are active in providing and producing programs, mainly news on cultural, social and political events and specific programs directed at the Danish minority.

As a result of a Danish-German cooperation, the program “Hier Her” reports bilingually on current affairs. Radio “Frijson” targets on the Frisian minority.

SORBIAN

The public broadcasters of Brandenburg (Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg – ORB) and Sachsen (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk – MDR) provide, inter alia, mostly radio broadcasting in the Sorbian language. The ORB is active in scheduling programs that either inform about the Sorbian culture or translate common programs into the Sorbian language (e.g. children's programs).

Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf

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Updated (June 2004)

EDUCATION

The Danish minority has the right to get instructions in Danish in Schleswig-Holstein Land (Bonn Declaration of March 29, 1955). Article 8 of the Constitution of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein leaves it to the parents/guardians to decide whether their children should attend a school for national minorities. The pupils coming from the Danish minority are thus given an opportunity to learn and use the Danish language. The details are regulated by the Schools Act.

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

The Danish language is offered in day-care centers in the Schleswig Region. The Danish Schools Association for South Schleswig is a providing body for activities of the Danish minority with regard to nursery schools. During the school year 2002/03, it operated 57 nursery schools and day nurseries that were attended by 1,881 children, of whom 511 were preschoolers. With a few exceptions, all of these children will go on in Danish-language schools. These institutions have their own admission regulations.

There are also some German nursery schools operating in the Danish language. Since 1998, Danish has been offered as part of the Language Encounter Concept in seven nursery schools by a working group “German Schleswig Region”(one of the four German Border Associations in the country).

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Under Article 8 (4) of the Land Constitution, the parents/guardians are those who decide whether their children will attend a school with minority-language instructions.

In the 2002/2003 school year, the Danish Schools Association in the Schleswig Region operated 48 primary or comprehensive schools (Realschulen, secondary schools, with lower secondary grades) and secondary modern schools with a primary education section.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

In Schleswig-Holstein, especially in the Schleswig Region, many publicly maintained secondary schools offer Danish as a foreign language. Danish is offered also by some schools outside the traditional Danish-speaking area. In the 2002/03 school year, around 4,200 pupils studied the Danish language.

UNIVERSITY AND OTHER HIGHER EDUCATION

Danish is offered when studying Nordic Philology at Kiel University (CAU - Christian-Albrechts-Universität), and for those who prepare for a teaching profession at Flensburg University (UF - Universität Flensburg).

JUDICIAL AUTHORITIES

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS

According to Section 82/a, (2) of the Land Administration Act, applications, petitions, records, deeds or other documents can be submitted in a foreign language, i.e. a language other than the official language.

APPOINTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES HAVING KNOWLEDGE OF A REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGE

For example from around 800 employees of the regional police headquarters in Schleswig-Holstein Nord, at least 200 have basic knowledge of Danish, which allows them to answer questions and to read documents in this language¹.

However, according to the survey conducted throughout the Land, so far no cases have been recorded where knowledge of any of the minority (Danish, Frisian and Romany) or regional (Low German) languages would have been a prerequisite for appointment.

MEDIA

As the settlement of the Danish minority in the northern part of Schleswig-Holstein Land borders directly on Denmark, the members of this minority can receive entire broadcasting of the Kingdom of Denmark. Consequently, no special needs for development of their own broadcasting media have arisen so far. Nevertheless, the Danish minority wishes for Danish language news and information about the Schleswig Region to be included in the German programs.

Private radio Schleswig-Holstein (R.SH) disseminates a Danish-language news program on weekdays (at 17:55) for the Schleswig Region.

In addition, there is a TV model test project of Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in Danish and programs of the Danish regional TV stations for S¸nderjylland (South Jutland or North Slesvig) on subjects concerning the Danish minority.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

The Danish minority in the Schleswig Region publishes a bilingual (German/Danish) newspaper “Flensborg Avis” (with a circulation of some 6,600 copies). According to a survey, this newspaper is read every day by 15,000 people in the Schleswig Region. A Press Service, which is affiliated to the South Schleswig Association, supplies information about the Danish minority to the German and Danish media.

It is assumed that only some 20,000 of 60,000 Sorbs in the central settlement areas have such a perfect command of Sorbian that they can actively communicate in this language orally and in writing. Nearly all those Sorbs live in the Bautzen-Kamenz-Hoyerswerda Region where Sorbian-language education has been in existence since the late 1940s. In the other parts of Lusatia, only a small number of Sorbs, mostly of older age, have a good command of Sorbian.

EDUCATION

The Sorbs have their traditional settlement area in the Land of Brandenburg and the Free State of Saxony. As regards the school system in general, in this settlement area, the respective Constitution and the relevant laws of the two Länder guarantee that children's day-care centers and schools may be established by voluntary providing bodies (this guarantee also applies to Sorbian (Wendish) associations).

The Saxon Act on Children's Day Care Institutions of November 27, 2001 and the Children's Day Care Centers Act of Brandenburg Land of June 10, 1992 form the legal basis for teaching and cultivation of the Sorbian language and culture at Sorbian and bilingual day care centers in the German-Sorbian area.

The School Act for the Free State of Saxony of July 3, 1991 guarantees pupils the right to learn the Sorbian language and, at some schools, it even guarantees the right to study the selected subjects in the Sorbian language in all grades. Under the School Act of Brandenburg Land of April 12, 1996 (Section 4, para. 5, 2nd sentence), advancement of the knowledge and understanding of the Sorbian (Wendish) culture is a special task of schools. In the settlement area of the Sorbs (Wends), pupils have the right to learn Sorbian (Wendish) and, in specified subjects and for grades [age-groups] to be determined, the right to be instructed in the Sorbian language.

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

In Saxony, Sorbian-speaking and bilingual groups are set up in day care centers if parents/guardians wish so. The free decision of the parents/guardians is in accord with the constitutional rights of the Sorbian people.

A part of 31 Sorbian and bilingual children's day care centers existing in this area is provided by local authorities, and a part is provided by the Christian Social Educational Association for Eastern Saxony, by the Sorbian Schools Association, the Catholic Church, the Workers' Welfare Association and the German Red Cross. All other educational institutions of the Sorbian settlement area in Saxony, which offer instruction in the Sorbian language, especially the schools, are state-provided. A similar structure exists in Brandenburg.

As of June 2003, there were twelve Sorbian day care centers run under the Witaj Project, twelve German-Sorbian day care centers with one or several Witaj group/s, and about fifty-four day care centers, which keep up the Sorbian culture and customs/folklore in the Free State of Saxony.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

In 2003, some 500 pupils received instruction in Lower Sorbian (Wendish) at secondary schools. For the most part Sorbian is taught as the second foreign language; however, in some cases it is also offered in addition to the foreign languages, forming a part of the regular curriculum. Three schools offer these Lower Sorbian classes also to pupils from other schools, whose parents wish their children to study this language.

The Free State of Saxony

In the 2002/2003 school year, the Landkreise² of Kamenz and Bautzen had six Sorbian secondary technical schools. As of the end of the 2002/2003 school year, the Saxon State Ministry of Education and Culture cancelled its co-funding of the Sorbian Mittelschule (secondary technical school) in Crostwitz because for the school year 2003/2004 pupils were enrolled only for three classes. These remaining three classes were transferred to the Sorbian Mittelschule in Ralbitz. Thus, five Sorbian secondary technical schools are operating in the 2003/2004 school year, four having classes of Sorbian as a mother tongue as well as classes of Sorbian as a secondary language and one offering Sorbian only as a secondary language.

For the pupils with Sorbian as their native tongue, lessons are held in the Sorbian language, with the exception of the following subjects: German, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology (from the 7th grade onwards). The other pupils are taught in German.

Overall, in the 2002/2003 school year, the Sorbian language instructions were used at 33 schools in Saxony that were attended by some 2,500 pupils. About 850 out of these spoke Sorbian as their mother tongue.

At Sorbian schools, Sorbian is a compulsory subject, while at the other schools, participation in the Sorbian language lessons is optional.

ADMINISTRATION

APPLICATIONS AND SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS

In the German-Sorbian areas, both German and Sorbian are admitted in relations with the authorities and local governments of the Land. Sections 9 and 11 of the Act on the Sorbs' Rights in the Free State of Saxony (Saxon Sorbs Act) of January 20, 1999 and Section 23 of the Administrative Procedure Act of Brandenburg Land provide for the general possibility to submit applications, petitions, records, deeds or other documents in the Sorbian language.

Translations of such applications into the German language are organized by the authority concerned, without any costs imposed on a citizen. In the exclusively Sorbian communities, or the communities with the Sorbian majority (in the Free State of Saxony) the Sorbian language prevails in public life. This also goes for administrative authorities, meetings of local/municipal councils and civil marriages.

PLACE-NAMES

In the Sorbian settlement area, there are bilingual signs for places, towns, public buildings, institutions, streets, lanes and roads, and squares and bridges. This is guaranteed by Section 10 of the Act on the Sorbs' Rights in the Free State of Saxony (the Saxon Sorbs Act) and by Section 11 of the Act regulating the substance of the Sorbs' (Wends') rights in the Land of Brandenburg (the Act on the Specification of the Rights of the Sorbs.

MEDIA

Brandenburg

TV

Since April 1992, ORB (Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg) Television has aired the only regular³ monthly Sorbian-language program in Germany, which is entitled “Ùuýyca - Sorbisches aus der Lausitz”. It is a 30-minute magazine program in Lower Sorbian, with German subtitling.

NEWSPAPER

For the Sorbian people, the following Sorbian-language print media are published on a regular basis:

• Serbske Nowiny (Sorbian Newspaper) 2,100 copies, a daily in Upper Sorbian, published on Mondays through Fridays as an evening paper and on Fridays, including specific supplements, e.g. literature, arts, sport.
• Sokoùske listy (Sokolske letters) 1,650 copies on Mondays through Thursdays and 2,100 copies on Fridays.
• Nowy Casnik (New Weekly) 1,100 copies, a weekly in Lower Sorbian, with a German-language portion, published on Saturdays.
• Rozhlad (Outlook) 610 copies, a monthly periodical about the Sorbian language, culture, literature and art, with articles in Upper and Lower Sorbian.
• Serbska Ðula (Sorbian School) 210 copies, an educational journal with articles in the Upper and Lower Sorbian languages; 6 editions per year.
• Pùomjo/Pùomje (Flame) 1,800 copies (Upper Sorbian edition)/850 copies (Lower Sorbian edition), children's and youngsters' journal.
• Katolski Posoù (Catholic Herald) 2,360 copies, an Upper Sorbian weekly of the Catholic Sorbs.
• Pomhaj Bòh (Help God) 800 copies, a protestant monthly in Upper Sorbian.

EDUCATION

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

As stated by the Frisian Council Section North, there are fourteen nursery schools offering Frisian language activities. Their offers range from half an hour per week taught by external Frisian staff to a whole-day Frisian work performed by trained nursery-school teachers. The majority of nursery schools, however, offer Frisian activities once or twice per week. Attendance of Frisian courses at this level is voluntary.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

Frisian is taught at many publicly maintained schools in the North Frisian area and at a number of schools of the Danish minority. As a rule, this language is offered as a voluntary subject in the 3rd and 4th grade. However, this course is competing with foreign languages (mainly English, but also Danish).

It must be pointed out that in the school year 2002/03, a total number of 1,473 pupils studied Frisian at 25 schools of all types. Since 1987/88 school year, the number of pupils participating in such courses has almost doubled. Frisian is also taught at three other schools of the Danish Schools Association⁴.

The following Frisian dialects are taught: Mooring (Frasch, Freesk), Fering [dialect spoken on the island of Föhr/Feer], Sölring [dialect spoken on the island of Sylt/Söl], öömrang [dialect spoken on the island of Amrum/Oomram] and Halunder [dialect spoken on the island of Heligoland].

Danish minority schools in Keitum (Sylt), Bredstedt and Risum offer Frisian language instructions. The school in Risum uses Frisian in addition to Danish and German, when Frisian is mandatory.

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

Frisian is offered as a subject at Flensburg University for those studying to become primary and secondary school teachers. The Kiel University (Christian Albrechts Universität CAU) offers Frisian Philology as a post-graduate study subject and Frisian Studies for students who study to become teachers at Realschulen or Gymnasien.

Under the Teacher Examination Regulations, which entered into force at the end of 1999, both universities include Frisian in the course of studies for the teaching profession, i.e. as a complementary subject (18/20 hours per semester) or as an extension subject (e.g. 40 hours per semester for teachers of primary and secondary modern schools). From the 2001/2002 winter semester onwards and upon individual request, Frisian can be studied as a second subject for teachers at primary and secondary modern schools.

MEDIA

Since 1989 the radio program of NDR 1 called “Welle Nord” has been aired once a week. Out of a sixty-minute evening broadcasting about Schleswig-Holstein, about 3.5 minutes are in the Frisian language (a sub-regional broadcasting for Nordfriesland Kreis). Another regular 60-minute program in the Frisian language is called “The North Frisians and the Sea” and it started to be transmitted on December 1, 1999.

At irregular intervals, usually at 19:00 Schleswig-Holstein Radio broadcasts an one-hour program in Frisian in the area of the entire West Coast and the Flensburg/Schleswig area. The Schleswig-Holstein Magazine, which is aired daily, except on Sundays, often includes broadcasts on the Frisian traditions and culture. The regional programs of the Second German Television (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)) also report about the events of particular significance in the Frisian language.

Source: Second Report submitted by the Federal Republic of Germany under Article 15, Paragraph 1 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, April 2, 2004, http://www.coe.int/T/E/Legal_Affairs/Local_and_regional_Democracy/Regional_or_Minority_languages/Documentation/1_Periodical_reports/MIN-LANG_PR_(2004)_1E_%202nd_report_Germany.pdf

¹ It should be noted that a number of police officers serving with Schleswig-Holstein Nord regional police headquarters are ethnic Danes of German nationality.

² A county-type administrative district

³ every third Saturday in a month, at 13.30 p.m. There are re-runs on the subsequent Wednesday, at about 23.30 p.m.

⁴ Frisian is taught at the Gymnasien in Wyk auf Föhr and Niebüll, at the combined Realschulen of Wyk, Neukirchen, Amrum and Heligoland, at the elementary and secondary modern schools of Niebüll, Föhr-Ost, Föhr-West, Keitum/Morsum, List, Hörnum, St. Nicolai/Westerland, Westerland-Nord, Fahretoft, Husum, Emmelsbüll, and at the Westerland Förderschule [a special school providing tuition for children with learning difficulties].

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Updated (September 2004)

LOW GERMAN USED IN STREET SIGNS

As reported by the Plattdütskbüro (the Low German office in East Friesland¹), two towns have recently introduced bilingual town signs in High and Low German: Auerk and Grootheid (Aurich and Grossheide in High German).

Low German is being used in street signs for the first time, although only in the signs erected on entering and exiting the towns. There are also municipalities which will follow this example soon (Ritterhude, Lütetsburg and Hinte) and several others will discuss this possibility as well, some even outside Lower Saxony.

This milestone has been achieved thanks to the efforts of Niedersächsischer Heitmatbund and Ostfriesische Landschaft (the organization in charge of the Plattdütskbüro) and it will contribute to make the Low German language more visible in the region, both for tourists and for the local people.

Source: Mercator News, September 2004, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

¹ Land of Lower Saxony.

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Updated (November 2004)

DEMAND FOR THE SORBIAN STUDIES ON THE INCREASE

In academic year 2004/2005, more than thirty students study the Sorbian language and culture at the only existing institute for the Sorbian Studies at the University of Leipzig. One third of the students are freshmen, the majority of them coming from Nieder and Oberlausitz where Sorbian is traditionally spoken.

However, the Sorbian Studies attract also international students, mainly from Slavic-speaking countries (Poland, the Czech Republic).

The teaching of Sorbian at the University of Leipzig goes back to 1716 when the Wendish Theological College was founded. After World War II the first and only institute of the Sorbian Studies was established mainly to train Sorbian language teachers. At present the institute has broadened its field and incorporates also German and International Slavonic Studies.

Source: Eurolang News, Göttingen, November 1, 2004, by Simone Klinge, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4793

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Updated (April 2005)

WEBRADIO FOR NORTH FRISIANS

On April 1, 2005 broadcasting of the first North Frisian radio station started in the north of Germany. However, one cannot tune in "Nordfriisk Radio" because it broadcasts only on the website www.nfradio.de.

"NFR" broadcasts every evening between 19:00 and 22:00 programs about North Friesland and its inhabitants in various North Frisian dialects (Mooringer Frasch from the mainland, and Ferring and Sölring from the islands of Föhr and Sylt); however, it also intends to cover other minorities and their culture.

The station plans to play Frisian, Breton, Sorbian and Sámi popular music, which is rarely heard on the radio in Germany and it wants to address particularly younger audience.

The project is primarily an initiative of the Friisk Foriining although it has been financially supported also by the Danish minority living in Germany. It should demonstrate that it is possible to produce three hours in Frisian instead of three minutes that the Norddeutscher Rundfunk broadcasts every week¹.

Source: Eurolang News, Stedesand, March 23, 2005, by Onno P. Falkena, http://www.eurolang.net/

1. The NDR Welle Nord broadcasts a three-minute program called 'Frasch for enarken' (Frisian for everyone) once a week and it also publishes this on its website.

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Updated (July 2006)

THE SSW CALLS FOR MORE SUPPORT FOR TEACHING FRISIAN AND DANISH IN KINDERGARTENS

The South Schleswig Voter Federation¹ has requested the German Parliament invest more money in the Danish and Frisian language education in kindergartens.

Anke Spoorendonk, leader of the minority party, criticized the attitude of the federal state government to the teaching of regional and minority languages. She said that the Minister of Education has underlined the long tradition of multilingualism in the Schleswig-Holstein region and emphasized the special importance of Danish, Low German and Frisian. In addition, Spoorendonk reasoned that, if the Federal Government wants to promote multilingualism and good relations in border areas of Germany, then it must give children the chance to learn these languages at an early stage of their education.

Source: Eurolang News, July 13, 2006 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2682&Itemid=1&lang=en

1. Political party for Danish and Frisian minority living in Germany

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