Linguistic treasures: Exploring France's regional languages 

It’s silly. I think it’s wonderful to be able to speak multiple languages. Countries like neighboring Luxembourg do a good job of that.

It's sad France isn't celebrating the rich diversity in of all the languages and cultures within its borders.

The fact that the french state murdered the occitan culture is so sad. How could the french state kill its own cultural diversity

unfortunately, my grandmother was the last native Alsatian speaker in our family :(. We all speak French, but finding an Alsatian teacher in either the UK or the south of France is impossible..

The Constitutional Council is wrong. Our kids took French Immersion in the United States and it in no way hinders learning English. The linguistics "experts" promoting these backwards ideas should be ignored as outdated. Immersion doesn't interfere with dominant language acquisition. And the Immersion model helps the French disapora.

In Wales in the UK, Welsh-medium schools can be found in abundance and, in fact non-Welsh speaking parents will often send their kids to such schools as they’re often better than their English-medium equivalents. As a result, the Welsh language is growing, it’s brilliant! The government in France should take an active interest in preserving its linguistic heritage!

Oh geez! The linguist they interviewed is soooooo biased!!! Ask any other linguist outside of France and outside of the "oldschool" and they will completely differ on this. To be a true bilingual, the 2 languages should be taught at the same time from birth through grade school, at the same level. Learning their heritage language at the same level as the national language will in NO WAY impede the students' ability to comprehend the national language at say a higher academic level, if anything, it may make the student more aware of language nuance. Bilingualism, whether in combo with a heritage and national or national and foreign language, doesn't decrease a child/student's ability to understand anything, actually it may make them smarter and maybe even more tolerant of say, um, immigrants. I mean come on, this BS is why most other parts of Europe are better in second or foreign languages than France. And how the hell does immersion classes detract from the constitution? Keep all government correspondence in French, sure, whatever, but what does that have to do with people's lives outside of the public/government sphere? Linguistic diversity has only ever hurt the people that don't understand it, and separatist movements don't happen because of linguistic diversity, hahahah, they happen because of oppression from expressing and living their diversity

I'm glad whenever French public TV talks about the state's language diversity at all because that isn't too common. Let's hope that France will eventually embrace its other languages just like most of the country's neighbours have! Here are the languages of France that the map in the video didn't show: the around fifteen langues d'oïl in Northern France; Arpitan; Flemish; Lorraine Franconian; South Franconian in Northern Alsatia; the indigenous languages of French Guiana; Antillean Creole; Guianan Creole; Réunion Creole; the Austronesian languages in New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Fortuna; as well as Comorian and Malagasy in Mayotte.

Something is changing in France. More and more people from these regions aren't willing anymore to accept that their identities are treated this way. Quite often it harms their future options of finding a qualified job, particularly in those areas where German dialects are spoken and speaking the language is very useful for a job career.

As a native catalan, bilinguism has only brought me culture and a great source of help at learning new languages. Children are sponges, we can't compare our adult brain with theirs, i know exactly when i spoke in catalan and when i spoke in spanish, don't tell me how i knew, i just knew it. Moreover in my elementary school there was engliah since 3 years and french since 9 years. English has been a part of my life wherears french is a language i don't use except when travelling. But all this inputs where necessary for me to communicate in 5 languages (i then learned german in high school) at the age of 18. And it's not an isolated case. The more inputs of different cultures the better.

Not so long ago the French state filed criminal charges on speakers of these languages who gave their children non French language names. Breton langage schools are continuously harnessed by public officials with manufactured complaints. The Fench state makes every attempt to obstructed, intimidate and diminish the activities and lives of people working to preserve their languages. All while French an invented language is aggressively pushed and all foreign language teaching in France declines.

They totally forgot West Flemish in the North

You forgot all the langues d’oïl, Picard, Normand, Gallo, Tourangeau, bourguignon-morvandiau, Poitevin, Angevin, Lorrain, franc comtois, Champenois etc… How could you even forget those ???

There are about 80 languages in the Philippines. Separatism (except on religious grounds in the south) has never been an issue. The Filipino national language is all over the media that it is difficult to think now of Filipinos counting themselves as other than Filipinos. Why can't France make the leap if regional languages like Occitan, Breton and Alsatian are indeed national treasures? And dialects like Normand, Champenois, and Picard?

What about Flemish Language in the Nord

The basque people Are the oldest people in Europe, we Are prerromanic people with neolitical origin, basques are not Spanish Of French.

They forgot Arpitan language , btw i had the chance to heard occitain language in Dordogne during a dinner with french friends and theirs families ,they start to speak it and for me, italian, it was so amazing to understand it, it was so touching, like "the presence of the ancients romans is still stonger in the south until today", they conquered from Aix en Provance to tne North.

France already has many enemies outside the country, it should not make more enemies on the inside. Respecting the minorities and their rights is very important for a true democracy. The same goes to Spain, Turkey and Israel. Either make peace with your minorities and give them their rights so everyone can live in peace, or persecute a whole society for the sake of racism/nationalism. Which one sounds more democratic?

I’m soo glad I live in Britain, a devolved Welsh government seems like heaven when you compare it to France. The French Constitution really needs to be changed. Stay strong Llydaw!

That map is missing a lot

My dad grew up speaking Occitan and French and I wish he'd have taught me. Funny how languages of the home soil are denigrated while the farthest thing from regional languages are fetishized and seen as what is really needed. Sad!

Banning ones language is not the best way to fight agains the separatism. Living well together, caring about each other, being mindful of the other's interests, allowing all cultures to flourish is the way to go.

yikes, mistakes!! You missed Flemish in northern France (area of Hazebrouck).

Flo, j’habitais en Corse, (Porto-Vecchio), pendant 2 ans et le peuple corse sont très fier d’être corse et de parler cette belle langue. Flo, je dis ceci comme un étranger des Etats-Unis. Diu vi salvi Regina!

These languages have no home but France and deserve to be cherished

I lived in Aix-en-Provence for ten months in the mid 80's. Never heard Occitan spoken except for a 15 minute program on TV once in a while.

You forgot Flemmish (still spoken in one village) and Italian (Nizza)!

Nice lesson video...

Many linguists don't speak a second language. They have a very academic, scientific approach to language. Spoken languages are a result of environment, culture, food, history, ethnicity, etc. Linguists should not have been presented as experts of regional languages.

Why do you skip the part of Flanders that is still occupied by France?

France has done it darnest to wipe out its own heritage, especially regional languages. The British tried the same with Celtic languages in the UK and even in colonialism in Ireland. Immersion programmes have been evidenced to improve children’s cognitive skills and preserve their culture all without diminishing unity or the dominant language. The linguists who are against immersion are speaking from a political leanings rather than their professional training. They are either working from outdated theories or are heavily influenced by centralist Frances’s imperialist stance towards its own regions. Politics pervades every single aspect of French life and many have been indoctrinated into this only one type of French person myth.

Many of the 19th century nation-states had a one language policy, and using only the official language in the newly-established elementary schools that everyone had to attend led to the downgrading of the regional languages. Politicians thought that was necessary because these new countries were artificial, in that they were the territories that the current or previous monarchs happened to rule. Around the borders, the regional languages were closer to those used in neighbouring countries such as Italy, Spain or Belgium. These policies inevitably disadvantaged those whose class, religious or ethnic group had a home language further from that used by the ruling class in the capital. They were also exploited by politicians who could support a local identity or use it to attack another group. We see the toxic effect of linguistic chauvinism at present in the former Yugoslavia and former Soviet Union. Provinces where the majority language (or religion) is officially supported are safe for minorities if there is an overarching authority to limit the "tyranny of the majority," such as a federal government or the communist party. Once they become "self-governing" the focus switches from fighting the central power to subjugating the "other."

The problem is not the use of our languages but French Jacobinism, which is a doctrine based on centralisation and the fear of losing national unity. And yet, this would only have advantages, the Romance languages other than French open portals to Spain, Portugal and Italy, as do Occitan, Catalan, Arpitan and Corsican, while Flemish, Alsatian and Platt de Lorraine open others to Dutch, German and even English! Not forgetting all the languages spoken in the overseas territories. The Spanish model could perhaps be a source of inspiration without going to the excess of independences (or the Swiss model.could be another one).

for the first time in my life, i am ashamed to be french. the french governments chauvinistic attitude towards linguistic minorities and the laicite laws are the things i detest most about the Republic.

They forgot a very important language, known as: Francoprovençal / Arpitan / Romand

Hey! I don't see Gallo, Norman, Picard, Poitevin-Saintongeais or Flamand on your map!

This is so crazy to me. While they certainly aren't super-common, it is perfectly legal to have immersive schools in the U.S., and parents often search them out to give their kids an advantage later on in life. My local school district had an elementary school with a Chinese (Mandarin) immersion option.

Italy only refuses to call its linguistic heritage "regional languages" and insists in defining "dialects" real languages such as Emilian, Lombard, Sicilian, Neapolitan-Calabrese, Venetan, Romagnol and Ligurian.

Where is Flemish?

It's especially sad in the case of Occitan because it is a window into a rich culture and a connection to other similar languages in Europe like Catalan

They lied and omitted arpitan in a cinic way, horrible this action.

Tecnically Catalan is a Occitan Dialect.

Long live Corsica

There are also Picard, Arpitan.

Flamande is missing...

What about Flemish?

It's a pity you forget the flemish (neerlandais) language in and around Lille (Rijsel)

The map misses out Corse, Chtii, Provençal, Franconian, Flemish and of course overseas languages.

Where is the Flemish in the North?

Basically like in Spain. We speak Spanish and Galician, Catalan and basque are official

I hate that she names them by their french names.

Alain Betolila's opinion seems exaggeration or may potentially even contradict the evidence. For instance, it is well known that the first language of Alexander Pushkin (by far the most talented Russian poet of all time) was French, and that he learnt Russian with a delay when he was a child. But it didn't prevent him from becoming the most prominent Russian poet and from actually transforming the then prevailing complex Russian literary language into the extremely elegant modern language of his poems.

What's the point for a national media broadcast to explore diversity if their own government bans that same diversity?

A national treasure, says it all. It's like a beautiful oldtimer. You admire it, it is in the garage and you ride it from time to time to remind yourself you have it. You shouldn't admire your own language like beautiful cutlery by putting it behind a glass case, but by actively using it. The Parisian sameness is backed by a constitution France purposefully misinterprets to justify forced assimilation. Example of an alternative: Italian is Italy's language, nobody denies that. However, the Italian government has granted German South Tyrol autonomy, also after assimilation attempts. And if you are so afraid they will separate from you because they don't feel like you, maybe it is because they are not. Who are you to force them to be. How can France claim it has égalité (equality), when it doesn't even see its own peoples and languages as equals.

vive le breton

And arpitan, corsican and flemish....

The origin of the language policy goes back to the French Revolution. Many of the peasantry were royalist, and spoke regional languages. Standard French is the Parisian dialect, and support for the revolution was strongest in Paris. So the thinking went that the peasants would understand and embrace the revolution if they spoke the language of Paris.

Francique ? 😕

Serbia is doing exactly the same with Romanian

I still struggle with standard French. Must be because my roots are Occitania my modern identity is Acadian we speak mostly Franglais we call it chiac. The joy of living in the anglosphere.

Fear is the mind killer

If you don't preserve the regional languages now they will soon disappear ! The national language needs no protection; the national dominance supports the French language . We in Louisiana have witnessed the demise of the french language due to the dominance of the english language in our country (we were reprimanded of speaking french in school). Because the US has squelched french, Spanish has emerged: a lost french culture. I hope you will learn from our experience.

Diwan schools teach Breton in Brittany or Breizh !!

The French state in the 19th and 20th century suppressed every other dialect of Oil and other different languages very greatly... Things have changed greatly...

Please don’t hate me. But Ioften wish France had chosen Occitan instead of Parisian French…. This would have made French a lot more similar to the other Romance languages.

Where is Franco-Provençal (Arpitan)?? It can't be neglected, it is spoken in Southeastern France and also in French speaking Switzerland. And please don't include it in Langue d'Oil, it is an independent branch and transition between French(Langue d'Oil) and Occitan(Langue d'Oc). Very beautiful language.

None of this matters since everyone will have to learn arabic eventually.

I can understand the government's position a little bit. Let's say a kid from Paris moves to a region that speaks Occitan. This kid is probably gonna struggle in class because they wouldn't be able to understand the math class in the regional language. Teaching the local language in class though would be a good thing

Le occitan.... ???????????????????? Actually Gascony goes over Bourdeos and Aquitanie is part of Euskal Herria. Le basque territory is way bigger than that. Is funneh to call this France heritage when they spoiled all the kingdoms around them without provocation. In fact these idioms are not co-oficial like in Spain.

France should be divided in news germanics, latines and celtics nations. France is multiethnic should dissapear very conflictuos and divide insidely. No cure for this situation.

This made me laughed at how you are liers! You have been trying for centuries tried to get read of these languages

France is doing it's best to kill no French languages. Breton= Brezhoneg is slowly but surely vanishing because of French imperialistic policy towards no French languages. Comparing Welsh=Kembraeg and Breton=Brezhoneg is awfully distressing. French authorities doesn't follow the international and treaties dealing with respect of minorities languages Thank you for telling the reality of "so called French speaking load abroad of Human rights" . Tien e peb Amzer

There is only one important language all French people should learn !!! . . . . . English of course.

Local languages are pushed forward by the EU in Brussels whose aim is to destroy European nations. Just look at Spain where local languages are much more common and, gradually, the State is crumbling. The same in Belgium. In France all local languages had disappeared and very few people can still speak them naturally. Their revival is just artificial as, originally, each village had its own dialect.

those are not regions, those are nations, they do NOT identify as french.

Ah yes, the undermined peoples

Hilarious propaganda from monolingual Statists.

Brittany has always been Celtic and not 👎 Latin and not French, it gives independence to Brittany and Occitania, France must stay in the regions of the seed oil langues, not everyone wants to be more French, that's the price to pay for "France for the French" from le penns. Let the breakaway regions go in peace and better to leave than to have Paris destroyed. The hypocrisy of the unjda france is no longer sustainable. Anyone who doesn't want to be French has the sacred constitutional right to leave in peace. This applies to Occitania, Brittany Alsace and Lorraine and Walonia and Basque Country.

French is dominate language because it was not allowed to teach and speech these languages. 😂 Libertè only in french, under Paris strong hands.

Free Catalan

So not teaching the language formally will make the language decline? I don't know how the Galicians , Basques , Aragonese & Catalans learnt their languages up to '75?

This is why I don't want an official language. France's dirigisme is needless and anti-freedom. Also I love to see francophones in Quebec argue the exact opposite - for separatism, for linguist particularity, for communitarianism. Good for them when they're a minority, bad when the francophones are in charge.

So Flemish in French-Flanders is officially dead?! :(

In Canada French is taught in immersion schools. Kind of ironic that Quebec is the only part of Canada that limits immersion.

The French have obviously learned from what happens in Spain and they don't want to repeat it in France, even at the cost of being undemocratic. Very pragmatic there. In Spain we have 3 cooficial languages: euskera, catalan and galician. There's also 2 dialects of catalan which are also taught in their respective comunities: valencian and balearic. There are regional TV and radio stations in each language. I'm frankly very proud of that and I think is a lesson of democracy Spain is teaching to the world. However, problems may arise if without scruples use language as a political weapon and to achieve their personal agendas.

I kind agree with her. Having different languages may be a cause for a revolution some time later in life