Unit 3 multilingualism and multinationalism Text 1

J.Read, M.Wright, I.Conway

Francis Favereau is still reeling from the success of his Breton-French dictionary. With only 200 copies of an initial print-run of l,700 left on the shelves, the l.9 kg tome – the largest of its kind – is fast selling out and publishers Skol Vreizh are gearing up for a second run.

For a language that has long been considered “threatened” – it was banned in public for most of the 19^th century and was given only partial recognition as late as 1951 – the dictionary has been widely welcomed.

First to order copies of Geriadur Meur brezhoneg ar vreman were the region’s 22 bilingual “immersion” schools, where children are taught solely in Breton until the age of eight, after which they learn in both languages.

Now a pocket-size Petit Favereau is being edited for publication at the end of the year. Between 600,000 and 700,000 people out of the region’s two million-strong population understand Breton. As many as 200,000 people speak it daily.

According to Favereau: “There is a decline in the number of people speaking Breton in their daily lives because of the demise of traditional speakers, but there is a massive resurgence of Breton sentiment and interest in the language and culture”.

Favereau puts this down to an increase in the number of “new Bretons” – people who as children were not taught the language but want their offspring to learn it. Some 80 per cent of Bretons are in favour of the language being taught in all Brittany’s schools. Parents have even gone on a hunger strike in their efforts to get Breton put on the curriculum.

Mounting frustration and anger felt by many Bretons reached a peak last year when the French government joined the British in refusing to sign the European Charter for Regional Languages, thus reaffirming French as France’s only legal language.

The massive Yes vote that Bretons bestowed on Europe in the Maastricht referendum bears sharp testimony to the belief that a united Europe will give the region the boost it so desperately needs by providing money for cultural projects. Europe’s minority languages will receive an Ecu 3.5 million grant from the European Commission this year.

Text 2

J.Read, M.Wright, I.Conway

The survival of Frisian, spoken by about 300,000 of the Netherlands’ 15 million inhabitants, is under increasing threat because Dutch itself, as a minority European language, may even be fighting for its life.

Yet within the northern province of Friesland there is a strong sense of pride in the language which underlines the region’s distinct cultural identity.

The Frisians have been vocal in their demands for the retention of their independence and their own language. A well-defined Frisian movement continues to push for state recognition, the money to pursue educational and cultural goals, and a more official status for their language.

They have had mixed success. An important victory in 1980 was the introduction of compulsory Frisian in primary schools.

However, Geske Krol-Benedictus, a leading member of the Frisian National Party, points out: “Often the standard of teaching is poor and it depends completely on the individual commitment of the teacher”.

Only five per cent of secondary level students take Frisian as a subject and few of those who speak Frisian can read or write it.

Nevertheless, the majority of Frisians want the language to occupy a position equal to that of Dutch in both administrative and judicial matters.

The scant attention the Dutch national media pays to Frisian is a continuing source of irritation. On the infrequent occasions when Frisian is spoken on Dutch television it is accompanied by subtitles. The regional Friesland radio network provides 20 hours’ broadcasting each week and the main newspapers in the province, the Friesch Daglad and the Leeuwarder Courant, publish only a single Frisian paper each week.