What are the minority language policies in your country?

Harvey   Wednesday, December 22, 2004, 15:32 GMT
I've seen a lot of talk here about minority language policies in France, Spain and Belgium, but not a lot about what other countries do. How does your government handle minority languages?

Do they encourage them? Do they supress them?

What are your minority languages?

Thanks.
Cro Magnon   Wednesday, December 22, 2004, 20:20 GMT
AFAIK, there is no official language policy in the USA. However, many businesses have Spanish translations on their English signs, and most ATMs give you the option of Spanish or English.
Tiffany   Wednesday, December 22, 2004, 20:41 GMT
Here in Northern California, you also have the option of chinese at ATMS.
Joanne   Wednesday, December 22, 2004, 22:04 GMT
And Korean in NJ.
Damian   Wednesday, December 22, 2004, 22:28 GMT
I believe in Wales all ATMs give you the option of Welsh or English, and I think in the Western Isles of Scotland Gaelic is an alternative to English, but I would not swear to the accuracy of that. Whatever happened to our Gaelic brethren of late in this forum? I miss them.

In Wales all road signs and others are bilingual, even in the overwhelmingly Anglicised capital city of Cardiff and the rest of SE Wales.
Brennus   Wednesday, December 22, 2004, 23:23 GMT

Dear Harvey,

In the United States (I don't know if you are American or not) it is a complicated situation. Our present Congress is Republican and largely favors an English only policy. President George Bush is kind of a minority in his own party by willing to cut Spanish speakers some slack. In Washington State where I live, the policy is much more liberal. Washington is one of those so-called "blue states". Here is an article which appeared yesterday in the Tacoma "News Tribune" about current language policy in the pharmacies of Pierce County:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/4363376p-4129349c.html

The United States has not been very kind with regard to American Indian languages and their use by American Indians at all. In Canada, it is a bit different. Though French and English have completely replaced Huron (an Iroquoian language) the Canadian government, in general, has tolerated and even supported the use of native languages there. I was surprised at how many people in northern Alberta still spoke Cree when I was there in the 1970's. I don't think it has declined very much since then.
Easterner   Thursday, December 23, 2004, 02:07 GMT
I have lived in two countries, Serbia-Montenegro and Hungary, and consider both as "my country", they also offer a basis for comparison. They are different with regard to the proportion of minorities and somewhat to minority language policies as well. Serbia (officially including Kosovo as well) is a heavily multi-ethnic country, with more minorities concentrated in two autonomous regions the extreme north (Vojvodina province) and extreme south (Kosovo).

Vojvodina has six ethnicities (a Serb majority, and Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians and Ruthenians, the proportion of Serbs and the minorities is about 1,5 million to 400,000). The former Yugoslavia pursued a policy which made all languages official within the province, and you could learn at school in your native language. The situation changed in the wartime period, only Serbian was allowed in official use, and some of the earlier privileges of the province were curbed, together with minority rights, though formally the latter were maintained. Now a struggle is going on to restore the earlier situation, especialy the use of minority languages on local government level, but it is not an easy process. All languages are used in the media, such as local TV stations, but education in them can be difficult, because you need a minimum number of pupils to start a minority class, which may be difficult to achieve. Kosovo is a different story, Albanians are a majority there (2 million), and several tens of thousands of Serbians and other ethnicities constitute a minority. Serbia has no direct control over the province, it has an interim UN administration, and an elected Albanian government. The inter-ethnic situation there is very tense, and may become explosive.

As for Hungary, the largest minority is that of the Gypsies (about 300-500,000), but only a minority of them speaks their original language, Romani, a language of Indian origin, with a lot of loanwords - many have switched to Hungarian, especially in urban areas. The language is propagated by Gypsy intellectuals, but the number of speakers is declining, although you can be educated in Romani if you want, but the quality of education is much worse, so many parents choose to send children to Hungarian classes. Officialy Gypsy children are not segregated, but in reality, on local level, they are. As for other minorities, they are small in number, about 300,000 altogether, mostly Germans, but also Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, Romanians, and there is a small Greek and Armenian community as well. Officially 13 minority languages are recognised (all the above, including Romani), and schools can be started in all of them. They are also propagated by local radio and TV stations, but with the exception of Germans, there is natural assimilation going on, because of the small number of speakers, although all minorities try to maintain their links with the neighbouring countries in which their languages are official.
Easterner   Thursday, December 23, 2004, 02:10 GMT
"especially" and "officially", sorry for the typos
Easterner   Thursday, December 23, 2004, 03:45 GMT
>>In Wales all road signs and others are bilingual, even in the overwhelmingly Anglicised capital city of Cardiff and the rest of SE Wales.<<

In the area of Vojvodina province where I come from, the names of towns are villages are written in the minority language as well if the proportion of minority population exceeds 20 or 30 per cent, I'm not completely sure. I'm not sure about Hungary either, but I guess it is the same. In my native city, situated in an area where Hungarians and Croatians are a local majority, Serbian, Croatian (the two being almost identical) and Hungarian are all used on local government level, official documents are usually published in all three.
Ved   Thursday, December 23, 2004, 20:28 GMT
In Canada, we have two "national" languages, English and French, which means that they are both used by the federal government. When it comes to the provinces and territories, most of them are officially monolingual, one is bilingual (New Brunswick, English and French) and one is trilingual (Nunavut - Inuktitut, English and French).

All other languages are treated as minority languages and their preservation is encouraged. Aboriginal Canadians speak many languages (hundreds, I guess), but they only comprise a small fraction of the population. Some of the large minority languages are Chinese, Ukrainian and German.

In Toronto, around half the population was born outside Canada, which makes it the most culturally diverse city on earth. You will hear more than ten languages during an average bus or subway ride.

Minority languages are offered as subjects in primary and secondary schools. Immersion education is quite popular.

Packaging is always bilingual, so, although I speak English at home, I will often reach for the "du gingembre" when I'm cooking and use "du lait" or "de la creme a cafe" in my coffee.

I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario yesterday to see an exhibition of Modigliani's works. Everything inside the gallery was written in both languages. Apart from English and French, I also heard Hungarian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Mandarin and Korean spoken. Then I went for an Italian dinner. It was a normal afternoon in Toronto.
Brennus   Thursday, December 23, 2004, 22:50 GMT

Dear Ved,

Thank you for that piece information. I was hoping that someone on this site would do a thorough job of explaining the Canadian policy.
Ved   Thursday, December 23, 2004, 23:51 GMT
Brennus, you're welcome. If you have any questions, please go ahead and ask. I'd be happy to try to answer them.
Trevis   Monday, December 27, 2004, 09:01 GMT
In France, everything which is not french is unallowed. Another rule are for examples in trains, underground... about the french and its translation, it's unallowed to use only an english translation. For example in the south east, you will allways have french and italian, spanish is more used in south west and in Paris.

English is unallowed everywhere, if a guy uses directly english, people won't respond to you.

If yu speak to a cop in english, good luck because he's gonna think you're mucking him!

I like France, it's better than US
Easterner   Monday, December 27, 2004, 09:29 GMT
Concerning France, to what degree is the use of national minority languages recognised there (I mean Occitan, Alsatian German, Breton, Flemish, Catalan, Basque, etc.)? I know French is the official language, but are minority languages entirely confined to the private sphere? Can you teach at schools in a minority language, or only in French? Are radio or TV stations the only way to cultivate minority languages? I would welcome any enlightenment on the subject.
Easterner   Monday, December 27, 2004, 09:34 GMT
>>English is unallowed everywhere, if a guy uses directly english, people won't respond to you.<<

So for example if you need urgent medical help (e.g. your spouse has a fit of epylepsy at a hotel) and you speak only English, are they not obliged to give it to you if you ask in English? Or technically you can ask for it in English, but they are not obliged to understand you? Sorry for the extreme example, just want to get the right picture...