Report: Germany's minority languages in danger[fr][de] 

The report , which is the third on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in the country, identifies North Frisian, Sater Frisian and Lower Sorbian among those particularly at risk.

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was adopted by the Council of Europe in June 1992 and came into force in 1998. It seeks to promote threatened languages as part of Europe's cultural heritage and facilitate their use in daily life. So far, it has been ratified by 23 countries and signed by a further 10. 

Based on the report, the Council calls on the German government to introduce "specific legal provisions" to preserve its threatened languages, lamenting that many of the recommendations of previous reports have not been acted upon. 

Primary and secondary education should be made available in regional and minority languages and steps taken to boost their use on radio and television, urges the report, which calls on the German government to provide adequate education in Upper Sorbian, Low German and Romani in particular. 

Moreover, the Council asks Germany to ensure that all its languages currently under the charter's protection – among which Danish features in addition to the above - can be used in dealings with the administration and the courts. 

In response, Germany said its "competent authorities do not invariably share the views and evaluations" of the Council. But it would not do the report justice to comment further before consulting with the Länder, said the Interior Ministry in a statement, explaining that the government will be able to react in detail when the next such report is published.

French regional languages: a threat to national unity? 

Meanwhile, language issues also caused a stir in France last month, where a bid to include the statement "regional languages are part of France's heritage" in the constitution stalled in Parliament. Such tongues include Breton, Corsican, Occitan and Alsatian, but Article Two of the constitution states that "the language of the Republic is French". 

Despite passing the lower house, the amendment was rejected by the Senate after the Académie Française - an influential cultural body – warned that it constituted an "attack on national identity" and a threat to "national unity". France is yet to ratify the European Charter, while the amendment bill was returned to deputies for second reading. 

At the European level, the Commission is set to publish its new Multilingualism Strategy in September. At its heart is a recommendation that EU citizens learn two foreign languages in addition to their mother tongue - one for professional reasons and alongside another 'personal adoptive language' (EurActiv 19/02/08).