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France rogue state on regional languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes  Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 17 of 22 06 April 2012 at 8:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Well, I said "one" because Wikipedia indicates one as having 10 times more speakers than the second, the second having only (they say) 2000 speakers, and I considered it was perhaps a bit hopeless for those remaining already. Of course, Manx, etc... but considering the situation, I suppose saving one is already quite a challenge. (btw, does the revival of Manx include the revival of several dialects of it?) If we counted France's minority languages of less than 2000 speakers, then probably you wouldn't call one "Breton" but rather divide it in 4 (probably all more populous than the biggest Saami one) and countless Occitan ones, I suppose. There again, I'm not defending France's policy, but as the topic is populated mostly non-French people, I thought I could provide a few hints as to why the situation is like this. Perhaps failed completely, though. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 18 of 22 07 April 2012 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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For anyone interested, here's how the protests went according to France 24:
Speakers of France’s endangered languages demand recognition Excerpt: "Three presidential candidates - François Hollande (Socialist party), François Bayrou (a centrist), and Eva Joly (Green party) - have already come out in favour of recognising regional languages. The latter two even took part in one of the protests in Toulouse on Saturday. Only one candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (far left), has taken a clear position against these languages being recognised, saying that he was “proud to be a Jacobin, and to speak only French and Spanish, the language of my grandparents.”" 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 19 of 22 07 April 2012 at 1:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Well, that's somehow to be expected. During the electoral campaign, demagogy is at its best, and anyone is willing to promise anything. We'll see what actually happens if they're elected. :)
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| Le dacquois Diglot Groupie France Joined 5648 days ago 54 posts - 69 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, German | Message 20 of 22 29 April 2012 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The UK has ratified the European Charter to qualify Scots (Germanic language) as a minority or regional language. On the other hand, France won't even protect a Celtic one in a "Romance" country. Breton is the only living Celtic language that is not recognized as an official or regional language, despite it being on the UNESCO endangered list. The difference between the UK and the France on this is clear, I agree. The UK is slowly trying to re-embrace linguistic diversity (making up for the past, perhaps?) and France is continuing to crush it.
I liked your devil's advocate reply, I really did, but the endangered languages in France's territory are surely the responsabilty of France. Breton might not be part of your personal ancestral culture, but it's within French borders, no where else. So, the responsability lies with the French government and indeed the French as a whole (attitudes are important). Also, Breton has been around in France since the early middle ages, if native Arabic speakers in France don't understand the importance of saving some of the country's heritage then I think they need educating about the place where they live. As for taxes, lots of people in all countries pay for stuff they don't care about, that doesn't make it less important.
I agree, it's easier to protect one language and not ten, but France doesn't even do that. The fact that they only exist in France is even more reason for the French government to take action as nobody else can help. This is about the powers at be who simply want to homogenise the population at the expense of losing whatever treasures it has. So, I don't think it'll happen either. The Constitution is seen as some kind of holy grail. It's very sad. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Saim Pentaglot Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5084 days ago 124 posts - 215 votes Speaks: Serbo-Croatian, English*, Catalan, Spanish, Polish Studies: Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Occitan, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic (Maghribi), French, Modern Hebrew, Ukrainian, Slovenian | Message 21 of 22 31 August 2012 at 1:50am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Shouldn't he forget that unpatriotic, divisive knowledge of Spanish? I mean, lots of people's grandparents speak/spoke Occitan, why is he making a random exception here? It's almost like he's saying "everyone's heritage is worthless except for mine!". 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 22 of 22 31 August 2012 at 2:34am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Frankly, I don't think many influential people in England care very much about
linguistic diversity. If they did then perhaps Cornish might be in a better state, for example. And Manx. The Celts and the Lowland Scots have had to fight their own battles without much help from England, although the Seigneurs in London did eventually have to concede a limited form of self-governance in the "homeland colonies" (i.e. the Scottish and Welsh Aseemblies - lets not talk about Stormont; there is something totally different going on in Northern Ireland). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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