Linguistic Minorities
Although Italian is the primary language of Italy, there are a number of protected Linguistic Minorities in the country.
| Language | Region | Speakers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbëreshë | Calabria, Basilicata, Molise, Sicilly | 90,000 | spoken by the Arbëreshë |
| Catalan | Sardinia | 20,000 | |
| Croatian | Molise | 3,500 | |
| Franco-Provençal | Aosta Valley, Calabria, Piedmont, Puglia | 70,000 | |
| French | Aosta Valley | 100,000 | |
| Friulano | Friuli-Venezia Giulia | 600,000 | |
| German | Aosta Valley, Trentino-Alto Adige | 225,000 | |
| Griko | Calabria, Puglia | 20,000 | a form of Greek spoken by the Greek ethnic minority |
| Ladin | Trentino-Alto Adige | 35,000 | |
| Occitan | Aosta Valley | 200,000 | |
| Sardinian | Sardinia | 1,500,000 | |
| Slovene | Friuli-Venezia Giulia | 100,000 |
Italian law states that these minority languages and cultures should be preserved and promoted. It decrees that, among other things, these languages and cultures can be taught in schools, that the official documents and acts are bilingual, and that the local language can be used for territorial broadcasting information.
However, soldiers doing Military Service are required to speak only Standard Italian and not in dialect.
Some of the protected languages are commonly spoken but not frequently written. For example, bilingual web sites are not common. The exceptions are related in particular to border regions which speak Italian as second language, e.g. the German speaking areas of Trentino-Alto Adige region and the French speaking Aosta Valley, whose official web sites are frequently bi- or multi-lingual, especially those of public bodies that by law have to provide bilingual information.
For the same reason, to date, only four of the linguistic minorities in Italy are provided for with programmes broadcast by the national public broadcaster RAI: the French speakers of the Aosta Valley, the German speakers of South Tyrol, the Ladin speakers in the Dolomites and the Slovenian speakers of Trieste.
N.B. The law does not take into account other languages commonly spoken in Italy among immigrant communities, such as Arab or Chinese.
Video
The video shows a clip from Star Trek overdubbed in Friulano.
See Also
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