Berkley Center

Studying in Paris has been a pleasure. Paris is the métropole, the center of what can be seen as the French essence. It is almost easy to forget that France is a nation made up of millions of people from 27 regions, five of which are overseas, while walking down the rue to class with a warm croissant and a thick chocolat chaud in hand.

Any French student could probably tell you that the first document written in what can be considered the ancestor of the modern French language is the Strasbourg Oaths, dating all the way back to 842 CE. They’ll know about the founding of l’Académie française in 1635 CE. However, not many know the literary births of the many regional, territorial, and minority languages that call France home.*

"Le fédéralisme et la superstition parlent bas-breton ; l'émigration et la haine de la République parlent allemand ; la contre-révolution parle l'italien, et le fanatisme parle le basque. Cassons ces instruments de dommage et d'erreur."

“Federalism and superstition speak Bas-Breton; emigration and hatred of the Republic speak German; the counterrevolution speaks Italian, and fanaticism speaks Basque. Let us break these instruments of shame and error.”

-Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac, 1794 (member of the Comité de salut public)

Currently, over 70 languages in the country are listed as “Languages of France,” but this linguistic and even cultural diversity may be difficult to see in daily Parisian life. Dating back before the French Revolution, the notion of "being French" was "speaking French" (typically a pure Parisian or Ile-de-France dialect), a notion still alive and well today. The monolingual education was formed to ease communication and to unify a nation, fractured by regional languages—to create one shared and indivisible identity— as well as to school the masses. The passing of the Jules Ferry laws in 1882 strengthened this goal by making schools free and compulsory. The Loi Toubon and its later amendments in 1994 also reinforced the strength and protection of the French language, now with the growing influence of English in mind. Official documents are published in French. Media and advertisements must be in French. Public life is generally conducted in French. Officially since 1992 with an amendment to the Constitution, the national language is French.

The 1950s brought with them a little more linguistic liberty as regional languages were taught in schools as second languages, but they are competing with popular and typically more practical languages such as English, Spanish, or German. Private schools are still the main means of transferring these regional languages with an equal status to French. A number of media outlets—newspapers, radios, or television—in the regions began broadcasting in their local languages. French is still used in the majority. Although the conception of the European Union and the passing of time has improved the outlook for regional, territorial, and minority languages in France, there still seems to be work ahead. As a member of the European Union, multilingualism is promoted as an asset. Although France has signed a European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, its ratification was blocked by the constitutional amendment in 1992. The Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France is promoting the necessary conversation.

So even though wandering the streets of Paris daily may not bring to mind the multitude of languages France has to offer, there are many linguistic outposts in Paris. Basque and Catalan are taught at the university level in Paris, but only because of their status as official languages in Spain. I had the chance to take a course on Basque history with a focus on the linguistics while studying at Paris III. It was one of my favorites during the semester. I wish I had been able to fit in another course my second semester as it reminded me of the strong Basque, French and Spanish alike, community I had back in San Francisco. There are quite a few ways to learn about the France outside l’Ile-de-France without even having to leave Paris—Maison Basque, the Breton Diwan schools, the Alsatian schools, and other institutions and their communities. Part of learning about French culture, history, and society while in Paris should include learning about the regions spread around this capital city. There is no better way to do that than to look at their languages.

* Please note: I am not even addressing the languages deemed "immigrant languages" which have a similar controversial or "in-between" status.