introduction

The Linguistic Situation in Alsace and Eastern Lorraine

1 million people, half of Alsace's and Eastern Lorraine's population, speak or at least understand German as their native language . This is France's largest linguistic minority.

German is spoken in these areas since the 4th century AD and is divided into a lot of dialects . Most important of them is Alemannic (spoken in a large area south of Haguenau down to the Swiss border), Francic (spoken in Northern Alsace and in Lorraine) and Platt (in Lorraine), see linguistic maps.

There are striking differences in language practice between town areas and rural areas, German is more spoken in rural areas than in urban aeas, and again there are differences between the rural areas. German speakers are to be found more in Northern Alsace (area of Umterm Wald/Outre Forêt and Krumme Elsass) and in the extreme southern Sundgau, on the Swiss border, than in Kochersberg, also a rural area, but next to the big city of Strasbourg.

Differences occur also between generations. 90 per mcent of people over 50 are practicing the language, but only 10 per cent of school children. In big cities like Strasbourg and Mulhouse, this rate is even lower: under 3 per cent. Strasbourg was a German-speaking city up to the sixties. Now it is almost entirely French-speaking

Thus German in Alsace and in Lorraine is a most endangered language.

The reaction of parents commitees, like ABCM Zweisprachigkeit (ABCM Bilingualism) has been very offensive and efficient in the last decade They established bilingual classes in kindergartens and primary schools. Bilingual means half of the activities are in German (i.e 13 hours a week) and half in French ( 13 hours, too). The official school administration accepted the challenge and in the end gave way). Even the usually very conservative Ministry of Education changed its mind (see Minister Jack Lang's speech). But germanophobic attitudes are still to be found among the teachers. See the ridiculous Ziegler case (1) in a tiny village in Northern Alsace. This teacher was offered an other position after having spoken " too much German ", i.e 25 minutes in three weeks !!!

The medias are not better off : in Alsace French TV has a rather ridiculous 7 minute a day German service !

It's difficult to be multilingual in France, still a very conservative country in linguistic matters. .