Language Research

6. Language in everyday life: The use of language in everyday life, e.g. education, broadcasting, and other

Persons belonging to national/linguistic minorities may use their own language in contact with administrative and judicial authorities and in the judicial proceedings and public services within the regions where their language is officially recognized.

ALBANIAN

There are no public or legal services available in the language. Bilingual signs do exist sporadically.

The language is not officially present in the education system, but it is taught in a small number of schools (pre-primary through secondary education) as an extra-curricular subject. It is also taught as a subject at a number of Italian universities. The Albanian government gives study grants to Italian students.

Some private bilingual radio stations broadcast radio programs in Albanian. There are no television programs in the language. A few magazines exist in the language, but no daily or weekly newspapers.

CATALAN

There is no use of the language at pre-primary and primary education levels. One secondary school teaches the language as a subject outside of normal school hours. There are some courses for adults.

Some bilingual radio stations exist, as well as some bilingual newspapers and periodicals. A bimonthly, “l'Alguer” is published in Catalan.

FRENCH (FRANCO-PROVENÇAL)

• In Valle d'Aosta

According to the 1948 Statute of Autonomy, official documents can be drawn up in Italian or French by request with the exception of judicial documents, which must be in the Italian language. Recruitment for regional administrative bodies is conditional on a proficiency test in both languages. Place names are exclusively in French and Francoprovençal, with the exception of the main town of Aoste, which has “Aosta” as its Italian name. Francoprovençal dialects, while having no official status, are to a large extent used in public life at official events, meetings of town councils etc.

The 1948 Statute of Autonomy stipulates that all schools in the Region, during all stages of education from nursery to secondary levels, must spend the same number of hours on the teaching of both the French and Italian languages. Some subjects however may use French as the language of instruction. These new regulations have not yet been fully implemented. Francoprovençal, while not being taught at school, does become part of certain initiatives organized by the regional authorities responsible for education. These include school activities aimed at promoting the use of the language amongst schoolchildren, training courses for teachers and language learning courses for adults.

No local radio station or television channel transmits exclusively in Francoprovençal or French. The third public station, and some local radio and television stations with their own funding, produce some information and news programs in French and Francoprovençal. Two French-speaking television stations (France 2 and French-speaking Swiss TV) are broadcast regionally by Italian state television. There are various weekly and other periodical publications in French, which often include texts in Francoprovençal. In addition, texts in French and Francoprovençal appear regularly in local Italian language periodicals.

• In Piedmont

There is no real public presence for the language. Road signs and public notices are only sporadically bilingual, and certainly not official.

Since the end of the 1970s Francoprovençal has been used at nursery school level thanks to private initiatives. The language is taught and used as a medium of teaching in some primary schools on the initiative of private individuals as well. Teachers attend special preparatory courses organized by the universities and by local organizations and associations.

Francoprovençal is not used on radio or television. There are no newspapers or periodicals exclusively in Francoprovençal. There are, however, a number of bilingual periodical publications.

FRIULIAN

There is practically no legal or public presence for the language, apart from a few bilingual signs.

The Friulian language is used at some state nursery schools in the province of Udine as part of pilot projects for bilingual pre-school education. A program of partial immersion in Friulian and Italian started in 1987 and is still under way following the pattern of “one people - one language”. A recent regional act (April 1993) assigns funds for the promotion of the Friulian language in the primary schools of the public sector. The language has been taught as a separate subject in primary schools since the 1950s. In some secondary schools, Friulian is taught as an optional subject during the first three years of the cycle. There is no training in the teaching of Friulian, but some cultural associations provide courses for teachers in collaboration with the University of Udine. Friulian language and literature are taught at the Universities of Udine and Trieste.

There are no television stations broadcasting entirely in Friulian, but the third public radio channel does produce some programs about the language and culture. There is one private radio station. Some periodicals in the Friulian language, as well as bilingual ones exist.

On May 19 of 2000, the mayor of Udine, the capital city of the northern Italian region of Friuli, won a battle against bureaucracy and celebrated the first marriage in the Friulian language. As the rules of enforcement of the new Law on Linguistic Minorities still had not been adopted, the mayor of Udine faced a delicate problem and had to find his own solution.

GERMAN

Under the Special Statute, German has equal status with Italian. Germans are entitled to use their language in all dealings with police officers, public bodies and with local or provincial responsibilities. Both languages can be used in the representative assemblies of the regional, provincial and local authorities. All administrative offices and bodies are required to use the language of the public in both oral and written communication. In the province of Bolzano/Bozen, government departments must use the German language in their dealings with Germans. German can also be used in court.

The Special Statute guarantees the right to education in the mother tongue for Germans in the province (from nursery through secondary levels). Italian is taught as a second language starting from the second year of the elementary level. The rule is that lessons in the mother tongue are taught by teachers who share this mother tongue. This principle also applies to the second language. Teachers who have German as a mother tongue can train in other German speaking countries; various university agreements and international standards allow these diplomas to be validated.

Both the public television service and the public radio service broadcast German programs. In addition, it is possible to receive TV programs from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. There exist a large number of newspapers and periodical publications in German. Occasionally, German language articles appear in Italian newspapers.

In the areas outside of South Tyrol where the German-speaking minority lives, no public presence exists apart from occasional bilingual road signs.

The languages present in these areas are not taught in public schools. It is possible to learn these languages in the framework of extra school hours or as an experiment, although this remains limited. The situation depends on the will, the commitment and the capabilities of the teachers and parents. Lessons offered to Walsers in the Aosta Valley are the only exception.

In the Aosta Valley some bilingual radio stations broadcast partially in German (Walser). These broadcasts are financed by the central and regional administration in deference to the new statutes. There are no radio or television programs in Cimbri. However, there are a few periodical publications dealing with the Cimbrian language and culture. Mbcheno/Fersentaler is not represented in the media at all. The language has no presence in the media in the other linguistic islands.

GREEK

There is no public presence for the language apart from occasional bilingual road signs.

In Puglia, Greek is not used in nursery schools, despite the fact that current regulations allow parents to request the use of the language at this educational level. At elementary level, the situation varies from one community to the next. In two towns the language has been taught since 1978 on an official experimental basis for 15 hours per week, from the first year onwards, throughout the elementary cycle. In Calabria, Greek is used sporadically in nursery schools, usually on the initiative of the children's parents. At the elementary level, the language is taught as a subject three hours per week. At the secondary level the language is occasionally taught as a subject. Adult courses in Greek are organized for residents who do not know the language.

Some private local radio stations broadcast in Greek from time to time. There are no television broadcasts in the language. Two Greek-language newspapers are published in Calabria with the financial help of the local administration. In Puglia various Italian-language newspapers occasionally carry articles in the Greek language.

CROATIAN

There is no public presence for the language, except for some bilingual road signs.

Croatian is not used as a language of instruction in the schools, and it is not taught as a subject.

There are no radio programs, television services, newspapers, or periodicals in the language.

LADIN

Over the last few years there have been numerous initiatives to make the Ladin language more visible (public signs, especially road signs). Following a 1988 regulation, Ladin was given the status of an official language in the public administration of the Ladin valleys located in the provinces of Bolzano/Bozen and Trent. In the Ladin valleys of the province of Bolzano/Bozen some legal and administrative texts are published in three languages i.e. Italian, German and Ladin. In addition, knowledge of Ladin is required in order to become an employee of the local administration offices.

It is necessary to make a distinction between the situation in the province of Bolzano/Bozen where the language is officially recognized, and the situation in Trento and Belluno, where schools are for the most part monolingual (Italian).

Bolzano/Bozen: The Autonomy Statute (1972) stipulates that Ladin should be used in all nursery schools and taught in all primary schools in the Ladin valleys. A trilingual school system was set up in which pupils are gradually introduced to the use of both Italian and German as mediums of instruction, while Ladin is taught as a subject. At the secondary level, half of the subjects are taught through the Italian, and the other half through the German language. In addition, Ladin is taught two hours per week at this level.

Trento: The presence of Ladin in educational establishments is not as systematic and comprehensive as in Bolzano/Bozen. The Ladin language is used in the nursery schools. New regulations (1992/1996) ensure the use of Ladin as the language of instruction for a few hours a week in all primary and secondary schools, in addition to being taught as a subject. No university level institution outside of the valley uses Ladin as the language of instruction. It is possible, however, to study the Ladin language at some Italian universities, as well as in Innsbruck. There are also adult education courses available.

Since 1978, private bilingual and trilingual radio stations have been transmitting cultural programs and news for one to two hours per week. Some programs also broadcast through the regional network of the public channel. Since 1988 the regional station of the public channel in Bolzano/Bozen transmits Ladin television broadcasts for Ladin communities in Bolzano/Bozen and Trento. The Ladin communities in Belluno are not served by these broadcasts. However, it is intended to extend the broadcasts to this area as well. There are no daily newspapers in Ladin, but both Italian and German language papers of the region carry weekly articles in Ladin. There is one weekly paper in Ladin, which is distributed in all Ladin valleys.

OCCITAN

There is no real public presence for the language. Occitan is used only sporadically in local place names and road signs.

Private initiatives have introduced Occitan in some pre-primary and primary schools, but the teaching of the Occitan language is not carried out in an official coordinated fashion.

“Occitan-lengua” viva (Occitan-living language) is the name of one of the educational projects in Italy. Experimental educational projects in primary and secondary schools and those aimed at adults include material about Occitan culture such as poetry, music, local architecture and cuisine. These projects hope to introduce Occitan into everyday life and foster collaboration with the Occitans on the other side of the Alps.

There is no television or radio service in the language. There are a number of bilingual periodicals (Occitan/Italian).

SARDINIAN

Many initiatives have been taken to make Sardinian the official language of Sardinia, but it has yet to be used in administration or in court.

For the first time in 800 years, an official event has been carried out in one of the dialects of the Sardinian language (Campidanese). It was a deliberation of the Communal Council of Quarto Sant'Elena made in written version of Sardinian-Campidanese. It was the first official use of Sardinian in the public administration. (2000)

Public signs and place names are sometimes bilingual.

The Sardinian language is used in pre-primary schools in so far as it is necessary to communicate with children. At the primary and secondary levels, the language has recently been introduced as a separate subject, on an official experimental basis. Teachers can attend courses organized by universities and cultural associations. Since 1970, there has been free language tuition for adults. This opportunity is not taken advantage of regularly.

Some private local radio stations include Sardinian programs in their broadcasts. There are a few newspapers in Sardinian with an average circulation of 3,000 copies. Bilingual newspapers and periodicals are also available. There is no current information on television services.

SLOVENE

The Special Statute associated with the London Memorandum of 1954 establishes the rights of the Slovene minority in Trieste. Among these rights is, the right to use their language in official contact with administrative and legal bodies, and the right to receive a response in that language (either directly or through an interpreter). However, this is only put into practice in four communities of the province. In some communities of Gorizia the same rights are recognized as well, but not in Udine at all. Administrative and legal documents are available in the Slovene language in the same four communities in Trieste, but not always elsewhere in the province. Some towns in Gorizia also supply documents in the language. In the province of Udine some communities include the use of the Slovene language in their statutes. Public municipal signs are occasionally in Slovene. According to the penal procedure legislation, ethnic minority languages can be used in court. This rule is generally applied for Slovenes. In 1997 a special law of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region allowed minority language speakers to present applications and other documents to the regional authorities in Slovene, but the individual speaker is responsible for providing a translation.

The situation of Slovene schools differs widely from one province to another. In Udine there is only one private nursery school using Slovene as the language of instruction. In Gorizia and Trieste public Slovene language nursery schools exist with state or municipal support. At the primary level, several state-sponsored Slovene language primary schools operate in Trieste and Gorizia. In Udine there is only one private Slovene primary school, which is not recognized by the state. Slovene is not taught as a subject in Italian language primary schools.

At the secondary level, the same dichotomy exists. In Trieste and Gorizia there are all types of state-sponsored Slovene language schools, whereas in Udine there is only one private school, which was officially recognized by the State in 1997 and is subsidized by the State and the region. The language is not taught as a subject at Italian language secondary schools. Teachers receive their training at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. Their qualification is recognized in Italy under the regulations of the Treaty of Osimo (1975).

The Slovene language is taught as a subject at the universities of Trieste, Udine and Padua. According to an agreement between Italy and Slovenia, university qualifications obtained by minority speakers in Slovenia are recognized by the Italian State. The language is not used as a teaching-medium at graduate level institutions in the area. A few adult education courses in Slovene do exist.

There is a daily short television program broadcast by the public television company, averaging less than half an hour. Broadcasting covers the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia only. Public radio service broadcasts about twelve hours per day in the language. There are also a number of private Slovene radio stations. There are a number of weekly as well as one daily newspaper published entirely in Slovene. A number of periodical publications in the language are also available.

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Updated (October 2001)

The minority languages are beginning to be recognized by professional bodies in Italy. Since September it is possible to undertake the State exam to become a professional Italian journalist also in Friulian, Ladin, Catalan, Sardinian, Occitan and Greek. Before the implementation of Law 482/99 , which recognizes twelve language minorities in Italy, it was possible to take this exam only in Slovene, German and French language.

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Updated (November 2001)

The newly established The United Provisional Committee of the German Linguistic Islands in Italy (“Comitato Unitario Provvisorio delle Isole Linguistiche Germanofone in Italia”) launched in its first assembly a request for starting radio and television programs for the eleven German-speaking linguistic communities in the Northern Italian Province of Trento. In their request, the committee refers to article 12 of minority law No 492, in which a media service should be provided for all linguistic minorities in the area. However, the response from authorities of this region was not very optimistic therefore the committee members will raise the issue in a few months again.

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Updated (July 2002)

The United Committee of the German Linguistic Islands in Italy recently had their official inauguration in Luserna. The association represents varieties of German spoken in so-called “linguistic islands,” spread across five areas in northern Italy.

According to the Coordinator of the Committee, Luigi N. Castellan, this cooperation is psychologically important because one does not feel so isolated and can reach common goals better.

Among the initiatives of the newly established Committee is launching of their own homepage, creating a database of every linguistic island and improving media and education supplies.

While the author of a standard document on the German linguistic islands, Bernhard Wurzer, 30 years ago wrote about an “inevitable catastrophe” that will lead to the death of these languages, today's situation seems to be less tragic. It is true that the linguistic islands are isolated in the middle of a different linguistic and cultural environment and they do not have a strong linguistic-cultural country to back them, like South Tyrol has, but today the minority language speakers are more self-confident.

One of the problems of the linguistic islands is that the number of speakers is decreasing. “One reason for this is probably that this ancient language is perceived by the younger generation as socially not acceptable and inferior,” explains Luis T. Prader, secretary of the Committee.

Another reason it that a lot of young people leave the area to go to university or to work, and they do not come back.

Most of the linguistic islands are situated on an isolated plateau, over 1,000 meters above sea level. The number of inhabitants in these villages rarely exceeds one thousand.

Source: http://www.eurolang.net/, Eurolang, Brussels, June 25, 2002 by Margret Oberhofer

Three mayors of ethnically mixed municipalities in the outskirts of Trieste have decided to undertake a firm protest action by not applying a State decree. The Italian Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Scajola, last December (2001) signed a decree allowing four ethnically mixed municipalities to issue also monolingual Italian identity cards. Until now, bilingual Italian-Slovene ID cards have been issued, based on various international agreements and the Constitution of Italy.

The Slovene party “Slovenska Skupnost – Unione slovena” raised the issue with the Regional Administrative Court, and until the decision, the decree was frozen. After the court agreed with the government, the prefect of Trieste asked the mayors of the municipalities to apply the decree and issue also Italian-only ID cards. But the point is that an internal law of the State cannot break international agreements and the obligations deriving from them, stated Andrej Berdon, a member of the group of lawyers who raised the issue with the Regional Administrative Court.

The tolerance of Italian-Slovene bilingualism was also tested in another case, involving two shop owners in the village of Aursina-Nabrezina in the outskirts of Trieste. Local “carabinieri” (policemen) accused the shop owners of not applying a decree, which was elaborated during the fascism rule of 1940. The offence was that the Italian text on the shop signs was not written in bigger letters than the text in the foreign language.

Source: http://www.eurolang.net/, Eurolang, Trieste, July 4, 2002 by Vida Valencic

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Updated (December 2002)

LADIN

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

• BULSAN

The regional statute mentions Ladin as the main language in pre-school education. According to the specialists, teaching in the mother tongue at this level is a condition for successful second and third language acquisition and furthermore it helps to safeguard endangered minority languages. Children with different linguistic backgrounds are educated in the same pre-schools (especially in Gherdëina). Ladin is used during group activities, while in an individual contact a teacher speaks child's mother tongue. In Bulsan all school staff in the Ladin Valleys belongs to the Ladin ethnic group.

• TRENT

In six pre-schools in Fascia, the use of the Ladin language as a medium of instruction is guaranteed alongside with the Italian language on the basis of parity.

• BELUM

In Belum province Ladin is sometimes used in kindergartens but on a voluntary basis.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

• BULSAN

Where possible, the first grade at primary school level takes into account the linguistic background of pupils, which is very diverse (a survey carried out in 1988). Assessment of the background is based on the recommendation of parents and the nursery schools teachers.

First class is divided into Ladin-German and Ladin-Italian section. Ladin is used as a medium of instruction for the acquisition of other languages. The children start to read and write in the second language (Italian, German).

In the second grade the pupils start to study in the third language, when the number of lessons is equal with those in the second language. From this grade onwards the teaching is done in Italian and German. Ladin is only a school subject (2 hours a week) and serves as a “provisional language,” to explain something what the pupils do not understand in Italian or German.

The choice of the teaching language is not made according to the subject, but has a daily or weekly pattern. In the past there was only one teacher per class, teaching all subjects, except for religion. Since 1991/92 this system has been changed so at present there are three teachers per two classes or four teachers per three classes. During specific hours two teachers are present in the same class.

• TRENT

In the Valley of Fascia Ladin is used as a vehicle language in one lesson per week, while other two hours are devoted to Ladin as a subject. Some teachers are appointed especially to give Ladin lessons.

• BELUM

In Fodom and Anpezo some extra-curricular activities are organized in Ladin.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

In Italy, secondary education is split into two levels: the lower level (scuola media) is compulsory and covers three grades for pupils from 11 to 14 years and the upper level (lyceum) is for pupils from 14 to 18 years.

Scuola Media

• BULSAN

In Gherdëina and Badia both German and Italian are used as languages of instruction for all subjects. Ladin is used as a language of instruction for two hours a week. Since 1997/98 English has been introduced as a subject in the curriculum (two hours a week). This means that all pupils at the lower level learn four languages. At the end of this level, pupils have to pass a state examination, with written tests in Ladin, Italian and German.

Ladin speaker are given priority when it comes to qualifying for a teaching post.

In the school year 1999/2000, 607 pupils studied in six secondary schools in the province of Bulsan in the Ladin Valleys.

Upper Secondary Level

At the upper secondary level (the lyceum) students can choose from a variety of different types of schools (all of them are not in the Ladin valleys), each leading to different certificates.

The number of pupils in Ladin schools has decreased significantly during the last years, due to an insufficient offer of these tiny schools in comparison with German and Italian schools in the province Bulsan, offering all possible subjects. German and Italian are the main media of instruction. Ladin is a school subject taught for one hour a week. The local school board can grant permission for a second hour of the Ladin language.

For those students who did not attend a lower secondary school with Ladin, this subject is offered on an optional basis.

In Fascia (Trent) and in Belum, Ladin is not offered at secondary level.

Source: Mercator Education, Regional Dossiers, the Ladin Language in Education in Italy

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

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Updated (January 2003)

GERMAN

EDUCATION

For the German-speaking population of South Tyrol, education at kindergarten, primary, secondary and vocational schools is given in German. Italian as the second language (currently taught from the first year of primary school), and one foreign language (English, from the second year of intermediate school) are taught in all schools.

Only higher-vocational training and the universities offer bi and trilingual educational curricula. The vocational school for health professions is bilingual. Some of the courses are taught in German, others in Italian. The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano offers some courses of study in three languages (German, Italian and English).

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

The Autonomy Statute states that instruction in kindergartens must be in the children's native language and that teachers must be native speakers of that language. In addition to the public German-language kindergartens, there are three legally recognized private German-language kindergartens and one that is not legally recognized since it does not comply with state and provincial laws.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Since the reform in 2002, four to five hours of instruction in the second language (Italian) have been compulsory from the first year of primary school onwards (before it was from the second year). German as a subject is studied approximately five hours a week. All other subjects are taught in German by native speakers.

Students are guaranteed by the Autonomy Statute the right to be taught by native speakers in their own language so the schools have an obligation to provide German textbooks. Books from Austria, Germany and Switzerland offer a broad selection but, because of the differences in a curriculum, these texts do not correspond entirely to the needs of South Tyrol's students.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Level I: Intermediate School

The second part of compulsory education from the age of 11 to 14 (in the new reform half a year earlier) takes place in intermediate schools. It is a comprehensive school that gives all children of the same age a general education, free of charge.

Comprehensive intermediate schools were introduced throughout Italy in 1962. The curricula prescribed by the State contained very few adaptations to the specific situation in South Tyrol. The state curricula were translated into German in 1983 in the course of the intermediate school curriculum reform. Moreover, the ethnic minorities in Italy, and therefore also the German community in South Tyrol, were able for the first time to make their own input in specific areas, particularly in the subjects of History and Geography (Provincial Law 48/1983).

In addition to the public intermediate schools there are five legally recognized private intermediate schools that are supported by church institutions and one intermediate school that is not legally recognized as it does not comply with state and provincial laws.

In the second year of intermediate school, students receive instruction in English for three hours a week in addition to their second-language instruction (Italian) of about five to six hours a week. The students' native language (German) is taught as a subject for five to six hours a week. All other subjects are taught in German.

Level II: Secondary School

After taking the final state exam for intermediate school, and to complete their compulsory education, students must study for one more year, either in upper secondary or vocational schools.

Essentially, the original structure of the secondary schools goes back to the Gentile Reform Law of 1923. Over the course of the 80s and 90s, secondary schools were transformed in terms of content and structure through a series of Schulversuchen (experiments or trial activities). The 2002 reform plan still included a five-year upper secondary school free of charge.

There are also public upper secondary schools for the German-speaking population and moreover, in South Tyrol, there are three legally recognized upper secondary schools that are supported by church institutions. There is also a provincial hotel school with a legally recognized course of study whose curriculum has been adapted to South Tyrolean circumstances.

HIGHER EDUCATION

The Free University of Bozen-Bolzano was founded in October 1997. The use of languages has been laid down in the Statute of the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, approved via the decision of the Foundation Council, No. 148 of May 10, 2001 and effective from September 18, 2001.

In view of the international structure of the university and the didactic requirements resulting from multilingualism, room has been made for foreign languages, particularly English, alongside the locally spoken languages.

The teaching staff at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano is primarily international. Lectures are given in German, Italian and English, except for the courses for kindergarten and primary school teachers. For German-speaking candidates for the position of a primary school teacher, German is not only the teaching language but it is also studied as a subject. Additional training in didactics is provided for those who will teach German as a second language in South Tyrol's Italian primary schools.

LADIN

Future Ladin teachers study Ladin as a subject (20 percent of the course) and attend half of the other lessons with Italian-speaking students and half with German-speaking students.

Source: Mercator Education, Regional Dossiers, the German Language in Education in South Tyrol (Italy)

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

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Updated (July 2003)

OATHS MADE IN REGIONAL LANGUAGES IN PARLIAMENT

On July 1, 2003 in Trieste the inaugural session of the new Regional Parliament of Friuli-Venezia Giulia took place. The Assembly of the representatives of the multilingual region in northeast Italy, where the Slovene, Friulian and German language is spoken, started with the ritual oath of sixty regional deputies.

Thirteen of them pronounced their oath twice: the first time in Italian and the second time, as the Assembly's regulation provides, using one of the other languages of the region. Eight deputies made it in Friulan and five swore in Slovene.

Although the languages of the region have been used several times in the Assembly, this year more than 20 percent of the representatives made the oath in their mother tongue as well.

However, multilingual swearing in the ceremony was marred by the gesture of a right-wing Forza Italia deputy Camber, who, acting against the spirit of the proceeding, said his oath in Italian and Latin.

The Regional President, Riccardo Illy, who was then to conclude the event by making his oath in all regional languages, told the press, “I wanted to take my oath in all the languages allowed, including German, but after Camber's gesture, I decided not to in order not to undermine the importance of such action.”

Source: Eurolang News, Turin, July 4, 2003, by Marco Stolfo, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4312

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Updated (August 2003)

FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA REGIONAL GOVERNMENT WEBSITE IN FRIULIAN, SLOVENE AND GERMAN

The Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in northeastern Italy, decided to renew its institutional website. It will be restyled and except Italian the homepage will be offered in the other languages traditionally spoken in the region: Friulan, Slovene and German.

The new version will be on line at the end of September. Editors and technicians who work on its content and layout cooperate with the Regional Service for Linguistic and Cultural Identities in order to give to every linguistic community the services they need, according to the national legislation (Laws 482/1999 and 38/2001).

The decision to open the multilingual web pages is a new and positive signal coming from the Regional Administration (after swearing in the minority languages at the inaugural session of the new Regional Parliament).

Source: Eurolang News, Turin, July 25, 2003, by Marco Stolfo, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4339

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Updated (January 2004)

THE LABELLING OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS IS AVAILABLE IN GERMAN

Since December 2003 German-speaking customers of pharmacies in the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol, in northern Italy, where German, Italian and Ladin are spoken, have been receiving information leaflets and brochures in their mother tongue.

This measure has been introduced with support of the Association of Pharmacists (Federfarma) and the main pharmaceutical producers and distributors in the region. It followed a lengthy process beginning with the 1988 presidential Decree (DPR No. 574 on the use of German and Ladin in the public administration and court proceedings), followed by a circular issued by the Ministry of Health in 1997 and confirmed by a new decree two years ago (D. Lgs. 283/2001).

People in the province welcomed this improvement achieved simply by installing computers and printers in every pharmacy.

However, the measure does not cover South Tyrol's Ladin speakers. It is because the Ladins constitute a small community, they speak German or Italian and they did not ask for it.

Source: Eurolang News, Turin, January 6, 2004, by Marco Stolfo, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4555

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Updated (February 2004)

FRIULAN LANGUAGE CLASSES RESERVED FOR IMMIGRANTS

In Friuli,¹ since the beginning of 2004 several Friulan courses have been already organized by the provincial administration of Udin/Udine. Their aim has been to enhance the linguistic skills of civil servants and to implement the Law No. 482/1999.

However, according to Victor Tosorat, the President of Friulan Academy, another group interested in the language learning are immigrants. The Academy, founded ten years ago by students from the University of Udin/Udine, has organized the Friulan language classes for immigrants. The goal of this organization is to help new inhabitants to integrate into the society and to encourage them to learn something about Friulan and Friuli.

Abdou Faye, an immigrant from Senegal, who has lived in Friuli since 1990, believes that immigrants themselves feel the need to speak the language. For those who live in this part of Italy, besides Italian also the Friulan language is important. It can help immigrants in everyday life and also at the workplace where this language is often spoken.

Radio “Onde Furlane,” the Friulan language radio station, has been one of the first in Italy to broadcast multilingual programs with representatives from the immigrant communities.

Source: Eurolang New, Marco Stolfo, Udine, February 16, 2004, http://www.eurolang.net/

¹ Northeast Italy

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Updated (February 2004)

NEW INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE FOR LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ITALIAN IN FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA

The government of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has recently changed its official administrative structure regarding the promotion of languages other than Italian spoken in this autonomous region. From now on it is the “Regional Directorate for Linguistic Identity and Migrants, Instruction, Culture, Sports and Peace and Solidarity Policies” which will be in charge of dealing with the German, Slovene and Friulan linguistic groups.

This new service will be decentralized and will be coordinated from different places. Whereas the office working for the German and Friulan minorities will be located in the Province of Udine, that for the Slovene-speaking community will be based in Trieste.

On the other hand, a new public petition calling for a further institutional support for the languages of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has been recently presented to the Regional Council, specifically aiming at an increase in the public presence of these languages in the area where they are spoken.

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

Updated (March 2004)

TECHNOLOGY WILL HELP PROTECT THE LANGUAGE

Cimbri is a small German-speaking community living in the Provinces of Verona, Vicenza and Trento in the central Alps. This Germanic language is spoken by only 500 people so Internet and radio broadcasting are the most important tools for its protection.

The main office for the Cimbri language and culture was established in the last November in the little town of Ljetzan/Giazza. It provides information on Cimbri and promotes the initiatives like a course on the Cimbri language called “Tzimbar Lentak”, the website www.cimbri.it and the first Cimbri radio station.

The radio will broadcast in Cimbri and Italian on the frequencies of two local private networks. With this aim in mind the Cimbris of the three provinces have started to work together to create a common standard language.

At the beginning of March the Cimbri Association in Verona (Curatorium Cimbricum Veronense) and the local UNESCO Center organized an international meeting about the language and culture of this linguistic minority. The Law 482, which is designed to protect and promote Italy's regional languages, has also supported the initiatives to protect this language and culture from extinction.

In Italy the language is the most commonly used in the little town of Luserna (Trento), where 300 people speak “Tzimbar”. There is another town called Luserna; however, it is in Brazil. The descendants of Cimbri emigrants, who speak Portuguese and Cimbri, live there.

Internet may unite what geography and history has divided and save this endangered language from extinction.

Source; Eurolang News, Turin, March 8, 2004, by Marco Stolfo, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4451

AN OFFICIAL ROLE OF OCCITAN AT THE 2006 TURIN WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES IS OPEN TO DEBATE

The role of the Occitan language at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin was discussed at an international conference entitled “Occitan, the Olympic language and culture,” held on March 5 and 6 in Turin and in Bardonecchia.

The meeting was organized by an association promoting the language and culture of the Occitan valleys in Italy called Chambra d'Oc, which has claimed the official status for Occitan at the 2006 Olympics.

For the first time this claim was initiated three years ago, in October 2001, when Chambra d'Oc launched a call to local, regional, state and international institutions requesting the Turin Winter Olympics Organizing Committee (TOROC) to declare Occitan an official language of the games, alongside Italian (the official language of Italy) and French and English (the official languages of the International Olympic Committee). This call, which received a support of the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL), made reference to the Law No. 482/1999.

On May 18, 2002, TOROC participated in an international meeting where this issue was discussed. TOROC expressed its willingness to allow the presence of the Occitan language and culture at the games, as requested by an EBLUL resolution.

In this regard, several Occitan experts attended the meeting on March 5-6 in order to prepare a lexicon of sport terms. They worked in collaboration with the Catalan Terminology Center (TERMCAT), which already developed 28 dictionaries for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, one for each sport.

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

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Updated (June 2004)

BILINGUAL SIGNS IN UDINE

Most of the road signs of the Province of Udine will be bilingual by the end of this year. This is the aim of the Provincial Administration of Udine, based on Law 482/99, entitled “Regulations for the Protection of Historical Language Minorities”.

The province has a budget of Euro 293,475 that will make feasible the replacement of more than 1,000 road signs along approximately 700 km. The new signs will show the official place names in Italian and also in Friulan, Slovene or German. The project intends to ensure both functionality and equality of the different languages and will be carried out by the Office of the Friulan Language and the Other Minority Languages and the Road Service.

In order to ensure the quality of translations, the province has created an ad hoc commission with the aim to define the place names in Friulan whereas those in Slovene and German will be translated by a special working group.

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

TEACHING OF THE FRIULIAN LANGUAGE

Teaching of the Friulian language in schools was officially introduced only recently by Law 482/1999. However, some teachers, with the support of local institutions, had already been using the Friulian language in nursery, primary and junior high schools.

In the pre-registrations for the 2002/3 school year, almost 60 percent of parents (30,000 children) asked for the Friulian language lessons and over 1,000 teachers submitted their availability to teach the language.

The Friulian language is studied at the Universities of Udine, Prague, Moscow and Lubljana. The University of Udine has recently started up teacher training courses for the Friulian language.

THE USE OF FRIULIAN IN ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS

The right to use the language in contacts with the public administration is guaranteed by Regional Law 15/96 and by Law 482/99. In the Province of Udine, 109 town statutes out of 124 (90 percent) foresee special norms for the safekeeping of the Friulian language and culture. About 40 percent of the towns in the Province of Udine have bilingual road signs.

THE MEDIA IN THE FRIULIAN LANGUAGE:

There are two monthly magazines “La Patrie dal Friûl” (only Friulian) and “Int” (bilingual). The weekly magazine “La vita Cattolica” has a page and a few dedicated sections in Friulian.

There are two radio stations: Radio Onde Furlane (completely in Friulian) and Radio Spazio 103 (broadcasting only a few hours in Friulian).

Three private TV stations broadcast programs in Friulian: “Telefriuli” broadcasts news for three minutes once a day, “Lis gnovis” is financed by the Provincial Government of Udine and “Rai” (national radio and TV network) broadcasts without a regular scheduling.

Source: The web page of the Province of Udine, http://www.provincia.udine.it/English/Home/Territory/The%20Language/index.asp

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Updated (January 2005)

BILINGUAL SLOVENE SCHOOL THREATENED BY GOVERNMENT CUTS

According to a recently approved Law on the Protection of the Slovene Minority, the school in San Pietro al Natisone should become state run soon.

In 1984, when the Slovene minority in the province of Udine did not have any official recognition, a group of teachers, parents, and local administrators decided to found a private school where the Slovene and Italian languages would be taught. Despite verbal attacks of Italian nationalists, particularly active in this area bordering on former Yugoslavia, a nursery school was opened, followed two years later by a primary school (only six children studied there). In 2004, this nursery school already had 74 children and 125 studied at the primary school.

Ziva Gruden, a chief of the bilingual institute of San Pietro and one of its founders, believes that the law will bring financial stability to their activities without changing their aims. The state recognition is the result of a long struggle that the Slovene community in Udine has undertaken in order to re-affirm its existence.

The children in this school are educated in both languages, when two teachers teach the same subject at different times of the day. This system is slightly different from the one applied within the Slovene communities living in the provinces of Gorizia and Triest. Slovene-medium public schools have existed there since the end of the Second World War, being recognized by the Allied government who was then controlling the area. However, in the province of Udine, where the Italian Government was in charge already at the end of the war, the Slovenes did not get any education in their language and this situation remained unchanged until the foundation of the San Pietro bilingual school in the eighties.

On the other hand, the whole education system in Italy is under pressure because the government introduced financial cuts in the field of education. Language activists in San Pietro are afraid that the cuts could stop afternoon activities, which are essential for a bilingual school.

Another cause for concern is the fact that after finishing a primary school children are not guaranteed secondary education in Slovene. In academic year 2004/2005, the secondary school in San Pietro launched a Slovene language section, where students have Slovene as a foreign language instead of German. Besides they can choose to have another six lessons per week of Slovene on a voluntary basis. It is not much compared to the nursery and primary schools, but still it is a step forward to obtain complete education in Slovene.

Source: Eurolang News, Udine, January 4, 2005, by Max Mauro, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4863

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Updated (June 2005)

SLOVENIAN DAILY CELEBRATES 60^TH ANNIVERSARY

"Primorski Dnevnik" is the voice of the Slovenian community in Italy already for sixty years. It was first issued in Triest/Trieste on May 13, 1945, a few days after the end of the Second World War.

According to Bojan Brezigar, the editor and chief of staff composed of sixteen journalists; the daily with 11,000 copies per day reaches almost all Slovenian families living in Italy where this community has around 60,000 members.

Since 1995 they have increased the number of copies sold and tried to attract a younger audience by publishing a weekly supplement specifically for them. The daily covers all stories, not only those focusing on minorities; however, it also pays particular attention to the political problems that hinder the implementation of the Law for the Protection of Minorities, approved by the Italian Parliament back in 2001.

Source: Eurolang News, Trieste, June 8, 2005, by Max Mauro, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=5055

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Updated (February 2006)

FRIULAN FILM HITS THE NEWS IN THE ITALIAN PRESS

The main Italian newspaper, Corriere Della Sera, dedicated a full page to an independent horror film produced by Friulan director, Lorenzo Bianchini. The press does not usually give attention even to a film shot in Italian or English.

The film Square root of three won the 2001 Friulan festival and since then, it has been screened in towns and villages in and around the Friulan region, in some of the biggest multiplexes and even on university courses. Furthermore, it has been released on DVD with Italian and English subtitles to reach a wider market. Due to good reviews and articles published in important magazines and newspapers such as Corriere Della Sera, the DVD has rapidly sold 1,500 copies and is ready for the second-run release.

Bianchini has also directed two other films, one with Friulan and Italian dialogues, and one played mainly in Italian. Despite the fact that those films were produced with the help of his friends and very little money, they have been successfully broadcast in the region.

Source: Mercator Media News, February 2006, by Max Mauro

http://www.mercator-central.org/newsletter/newsletter20.htm#misc2

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Updated (February 2007)

A MANUAL OF LEGAL TERMS IN THE SARDINIAN LANGUAGE

At the time the Government of Sardinia acknowledged a "common Sardinian language", it also set up a regional Language Bureau to monitor and control the new common form of the language. A new book, written in Sardinian, is currently setting out to establish linguistic norms and to develop a common legal language. The book, entitled "Towards an Official Language", is primarily a technical manual for translating legal terms from Italian into Sardinian, but it also deals with other European languages from English to Catalan.

The purpose of publishing such book is to shift Sardinian known as a language of the past and old traditions to a modern, minority language within the European Union.

According to Mr. Corongiu, an author of the book, the first step is to build the language of law and administration for two specific reasons. Firstly, the use of a second language in the public administration is essential to its greater usage. Secondly, according to him, people in Sardinia have a strong sensitivity for defending the local variants of Sardinian - no one is willing to give up his or her particular dialect. If this carries on, the unity of the language cannot be obtained. In contrast, the legal field is a sort of no-man's-land where it is easier to think of a unified language, he added.

There has been some criticism that the project is "artificial". In defense, Mr. Corongiu says: "Each language is somehow artificial. The history of European languages teaches us that. The problem is how to gain political and popular approval for it".

Fortunately, the current Government of Sardinia, led by President Renato Soru since 2004, has a strong commitment to promoting and developing Sardinian in all domains.

Source: Eurolang News, February 13, 2007 by Andrea Oppo http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2816&Itemid=1&lang=en

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Updated (May 2007)

THE STUDY REVEALED THAT MAJORITY OF SARDINIANS SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE

A research paper entitled "The Common Sardinian Language: A Socio-linguistic Study" was conducted by the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari. The results of the research have revealed strong support for the language.

68,4 percent of Sardinians state that they "know and speak at least one of the language variants". In municipalities with less than 4,000 people this percentage increases to 85.5 percent, while in municipalities with more than 100,000 people it decreases to 57.9 percent

31.9 percent of Sardinians are against the use of Sardinian in public offices, whereas the majority (57.7 %) completely or partially agrees with the introduction of a unified written form of Sardinian for publishing official documents of the Sardinian Regional Government.

29 percent of those interviewed state that, while they could not speak Sardinian, they could understand it. Only 2.7 percent could not speak or understand it at all.

In urban areas, the percentages are particularly significant: in Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, 59.3 percent of respondents affirm that they know and speak Sardinian, and 36.7 percent say that they can only understand it. In Nuoro, 66.7 percent people speak Sardinian, and 62.7 percent of those live in Olbia.

Finally, almost 90 percent of Sardinians "strongly agree" with the sentence: "The local language must be protected as it is a part of our identity." Furthermore, 78.6 percent of all Sardinians agree with the teaching of Sardinian in public primary and secondary schools, and 81.9 percent agree that the teaching of languages at school should include Italian, a foreign language, and Sardinian.

In the debate held after the report was launched, the Regional President, Mr. Renato Soru, said: "It's time we taught Sardinian in public schools. And it's time that teachers of Sardinian got official credits for their work just as English or Italian teachers get." He added: "I don't understand why politics should protect only old walls and archaeological sites and not care about a living thing like a spoken language. In fact, a language tells us much more than a few old stones - it speaks about the people and is much more important."

Meanwhile there were some disagreements among scholars on the reliability of the research. They criticized the research that it overestimated the real knowledge that people have of Sardinian. Referring to the critics, Mr. Soru said, "this is exactly what matters to me as a politician, if people pretend to know Sardinian better than they effectively do, this means they are interested in it, they recognize its value and they probably regret not knowing it."

Source: Eurolang News, May 11, 2007 by Andrea Oppo http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2872&Itemid=1&lang=en

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Updated (April 2008)

RADIO BROADCASTING IN SARDINIAN IS TO BECOME REALITY

The Regional Government of Sardinia and Italian national network Rai have agreed on radio productions in the Sardinian language.

Starting from next May, Sardinia will have daily 30 minutes of prime-time radio broadcasts dedicated to different issues: news, culture, Sardinian history, environment, social problems, and other subjects of general interest. From Monday to Wednesday, this broadcasting will be entirely in the Sardinian language.

President of the Region, Renato Soru, said that this agreement was an important turning point, which would give a boost to the regional radio programming. Similarly, Maria Antonietta Mongiu, Regional Councilor for Public Education, noted that this was an important step in helping the region to develop their Sardinian identity and that the use of the Sardinian language in mass-media is one of the most important goals that can be achieved.

Source: Eurolang News, April 17, 2008 by Andrea Oppo http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3046&Itemid=1&lang=en

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