"published in 1703, though either the Catholic variety of Sursilvan or Putèr was more commonly used there until the 20th century. In the 16th century, the language border between Romansh and German largely stabilized, and it remained almost unchanged until the late 19th century. During this period, only isolated areas became German-speaking, mainly a few villages around Thusis and the village of Samnaun. In the case of Samnaun, the inhabitants adopted the Bavarian dialect of neighboring Tyrol, making Samnaun the only municipality of Switzerland where a Bavarian dialect is spoken. The Vinschgau in South Tyrol was still Romansh-speaking in the"
"become an official language when Cyprus reunites. On 15 July 2008 the EU Council approved the naming of Welsh as a co-official language of the European Union. Scottish Gaelic received the same status in October 2009. The Romani people, numbering over two million in the EU, speak the Romani language, which is not official in any EU member state or polity. Moreover, Romani mass media and educational institution presences are near-negligible. Though not an official language of the European Union, Russian is widely spoken in all member states that were part of the Soviet Union (and before that the Russian"
"that parents would have to register their children's names under one of the official languages. By 1996 Romansh was recognized as an official language beside French, German and Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansh is now the official correspondence used when communicating with Romansh people. At this time the Canton of Grison is the only place where Romansh is the official language. This allows for any citizen to request official documents from the local government in the Romansh language. An official language of the autonomous region of Friuli, it has protected status, and is used in all forms of education in the region."
"French, and Italian, and in Article 70 as an official language if the authorities communicate with persons who speak Romansh. However, federal laws and other official acts do not need to be decreed in Romansh. In 2016, the languages most spoken at home among permanent residents aged 15 and older were Swiss German (59.4%), French (23.5%), Standard German (10.6%), and Italian (8.5%). Other languages spoken at home included English (5.0%), Portuguese (3.8%), Albanian (3.0%), Spanish (2.6%) and Serbian and Croatian (2.5%). 6.9% reported speaking another language at home. In 2014 almost two-thirds (64.4%) of the permanent resident population indicated speaking"
"The official language is Romanian, a Romance language (the most widely spoken of the Eastern Romance branch), which presents a consistent degree of similarity to Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian, but equally shares many features with the rest of the Western Romance languages, specifically Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan. The Romanian alphabet contains the same 26 letters of the standard Latin alphabet, as well as 5 additional ones (namely 'ă','â','î','ț', and 'ș'), totaling 31. Romanian is spoken as a first language by approximately 90% of the entire population, while Hungarian and Vlax Romani are spoken by 6.2% and 1.2% of"
"and elsewhere such as Israel, where it is the native language of five percent of the population, and is spoken by many more as a secondary language. This is due to the large number of Romanian-born Jews who moved to Israel after World War II. And finally, some 2.6 million people in the former Soviet republic of Moldova speak a variety of Romanian, called variously Moldovan or Romanian by them. The total native speakers of Romance languages are divided as follows (with their ranking within the languages of the world in brackets): Catalan is the official language of Andorra. In"
"is controversial among Romansh speakers. Romansh is a Romance language descending from Vulgar Latin, the spoken language of the Roman Empire. Within the Romance languages, Romansh stands out because of its peripheral location, which has resulted in several archaic features. Another distinguishing feature is the centuries-long language contact with German, which is most noticeable in the vocabulary and to a lesser extent the syntax of Romansh. Romansh belongs to the Gallo-Romance branch of the Romance languages, which includes languages such as French, Occitan, and Lombard. The main feature placing Romansh within the Gallo-Romance languages is the fronting of Latin to"
"relocate to accommodate any other ethnic group as had been the norm with a variety of other ethnic minorities throughout Europe. Though there have been some stumbling blocks, the history of the relationship between the Romansh people and the other ethnic peoples of Switzerland appears to have been and continues to be an unusually polite and respectful one. Romansh people The Romansh people (also spelled Romansch, Rumantsch, or Romanche; Romansh: , ""rumàntsch"", or ) are a Romance ethnic group of Switzerland, native speakers of the Romansh language. They are usually multilingual, also speaking German (both the standard variety and the"
"Romanian language Romanian (archaically Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ""limba română"" , ""the Romanian language"", or ""românește"", lit. ""in Romanian"") is an Eastern Romance language spoken by approximately 24–26 million people as a native language, primarily in Romania and Moldova, and by another 4 million people as a second language. It has official status in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. In addition, it is also one of the official languages of the European Union. Romanian is a part of the Balkan-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin, which separated from the Western Romance during the 5th–8th centuries."
"Federal Constitution since 1938. It was also declared an ""official language"" of the Confederation in 1996, meaning that Romansh speakers may use their language for correspondence with the federal government and expect to receive a Romansh response. (Although Romansh is split into several dialects, the federal authorities use the standardized version (""Romansh Grischun"") exclusively.) Besides the national languages and the many varieties of Swiss German, several regional Romance languages are spoken natively in Switzerland: Franco-Provençal and Lombard. About 20,000 Romani speak Sinte, an Indic language. Five sign languages are used: Swiss-German, French, Italian, Austrian, and German. To avoid having to"
"Since 1993, Romania has been a member of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie despite not having a native French-speaking population or ever being part of any French empire. Languages of Romania In Romania there are several spoken languages. Beside Romanian, the countrywide official language, other spoken languages are spoken and sometimes co-official at a local level. These languages include Hungarian, Romani, Ukrainian, German, Russian, Turkish, Tatar, Serbian, Slovak, Bulgarian, and Croatian. According to the 2002 Romanian Census, Romanian is spoken by 91% of the population as a primary language. According to the Romanian Constitution and the law 1206 of 2006"
"Italian language Italian (""italiano"" or ) is a Romance language. Italian is by most measures, together with the Sardinian language, the closest language to Vulgar Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City and western Istria (in Slovenia and Croatia). It formerly had official status and is still widely spoken in Albania, Malta, Monaco, and in some parts of France (especially Corsica, Nice, Savoie), Greece (Ionian Islands and Dodecanese) and Montenegro (Kotor), as well as in former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa regions where it plays a significant role"
"Languages of Romania In Romania there are several spoken languages. Beside Romanian, the countrywide official language, other spoken languages are spoken and sometimes co-official at a local level. These languages include Hungarian, Romani, Ukrainian, German, Russian, Turkish, Tatar, Serbian, Slovak, Bulgarian, and Croatian. According to the 2002 Romanian Census, Romanian is spoken by 91% of the population as a primary language. According to the Romanian Constitution and the law 1206 of 2006 the official language in Romania is Romanian both at the national and local level. After the fall of Romania's communist government in 1989, the various minority languages have"
"group of closely related dialects, spoken in southern Switzerland and all belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance language family. These dialects include Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader. Romansh was nationally standardised in 1982 by Zürich-based linguist Heinrich Schmid. The standardised language, called Rumantsch Grischun, has been slowly accepted. Romansh has been recognized as one of four ""national languages"" by the Swiss Federal Constitution since 1938. It was also declared an ""official language"" of the Confederation in 1996, meaning that Romansh speakers may use ""Rumantsch Grischun"" for correspondence with the federal government and expect to receive a response in the same language."
"Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Although the majority of the population are German-speaking, Swiss national identity is rooted in a common historical background, shared values such as federalism and direct democracy, and Alpine symbolism. Due to its linguistic diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names: ""Schweiz"" (German); ""Suisse"" (French); ""Svizzera"" (Italian); and ""Svizra"" or (Romansh). On coins and stamps, the Latin name – frequently shortened to ""Helvetia"" – is used instead of the four national languages. Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world,"
"it may be the largest minority language of the European Union. The language is recognized as a minority language in many countries. At present the only places in the world where Romani is employed as an official language are the Republic of Kosovo (only regionally, not nationally) and the Šuto Orizari Municipality within the administrative borders of the Macedonian capital of Skopje. The first efforts to publish in Romani were undertaken in the interwar Soviet Union (using the Cyrillic script) and in communist Yugoslavia. Some traditional communities have expressed opposition to codifying Romani or having it used in public functions."
"Italy most notably the provinces of Udine and Pordenone by about 600,000 people. Spoken in Italy by about 18,550 people. The first Swiss constitution of 1848 along with its revision of 1872 neglected to mention the Romansh language, however, it was translated into two Romansh dialects after the first revision. In 1938 Romansh became a national language, however a delineation was made between ""national"" and, ""official"" languages. National languages were largely symbolic while official languages (French, German, and Italian) were used in an official capacity by the government. One notable disadvantage of being a national, rather than official language was"
"had been decreasing since the 1970s, after reaching a high of 12% of the population during the same decade. This was entirely because of the reduced number of immigrants from Italy to Switzerland, but gained again during the last decade. On the cantonal level, Romansh is an official language only in the trilingual canton of Graubünden, where the municipalities in turn are free to specify their own official languages. Significant communities of Romansh speakers remain in the Surselva, the Sursés/Oberhalbstein, the lower Engadin and the Val Müstair. Romansh has been recognized as one of four ""national languages"" by the Swiss"
"most common (16.7%) and Italian being third (14.9%). Originally, the entire population spoke the Upper-Engadin Romansh dialect of Putèr. Due to increasing trade with the outside world, Romansh usage began to decline in the 19th century. In 1880, only 47% spoke Romansh as a first language, while in 1910, it was 45% and in 1941, it was 42%. The Romansh-speaking percentage dropped until, in 1970, only 31% spoke it as their first language. In the 1980s, Romansh speakers increased slightly, but since then, the proportion has decreased. However, in 2000, there were 42% who understood Romansh even if it was"
"Languages of Switzerland The four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian and Romansh. All but Romansh maintain equal status as official languages at the national level within the Federal Administration of the Swiss Confederation. In some situations, Latin is used, particularly as a single language to denote the country. In 2016, the population of Switzerland was 62.8% native speakers of German (59.4% speak Swiss German and/or 10.6% Standard German at home); 22.9% French (mostly Swiss French, but including some Arpitan dialects); 8.2% Italian (mostly Swiss Italian, but including Lombard dialects); and 0.5% Romansh. The German region (""Deutschschweiz"") is"
"foster a language revival. The five largest languages in the Romansh family are Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader. Puter and Vallader are sometimes grouped together as one language: Ladin. Romansh was standardized in 1982. The unified language, called Rumantsch Grischun, is used by the federal government and the canton of Graubünden, where is it an official language, for administrative purposes. Romansh had a rich oral tradition before the appearance of Romansh writing, but apart from songs such as the ""Canzun da Sontga Margriata"", virtually none of it survives. Prior to the 16th century, Romansh writings are only known from"
"language. Hungarian is co-official with Slovene in 30 settlements in 5 municipalities (whereof 3 are officially bilingual). Italian is co-official with Slovene in 25 settlements in 4 municipalities (all of them officially bilingual). Romani, spoken in 2002 as the native language by 0.2% of people, is a legally protected language in Slovenia. Romani-speakers mainly belong to the geographically dispersed and marginalized Roma community. German, which used to be the largest minority language in Slovenia prior to World War II (around 4% of the population in 1921), is now the native language of only around 0.08% of the population, the majority"
"is Spanish (Castilian), followed by Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian, which together cover a vast territory in Europe and beyond, and work as official and national languages in dozens of countries. French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Romanian are also official languages of the European Union. Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan are the official languages of the Latin Union; and French and Spanish are two of the six official languages of the United Nations. Outside Europe, French, Portuguese and Spanish are spoken and enjoy official status in various countries that emerged from the respective colonial empires. Spanish is an"
"been working on the status of minority languages in Europe (cf., e.g., Wirrer 2000 and 2003). In Europe—e.g. thanks to the European Charter of Regional and Minority Language—some languages are in quite a strong position, in the sense that they are given special status, such as Basque, Irish, Welsh/Cymraeg, Catalan, Rhaeto-Romance/Romansh and Romani, native language of the Roma/Gypsies in southern Europe), whereas others are in a rather weak position (e.g. Frisian, Scottish Gaelic, Turkish, Saami/Lappish, Sorbian/Wendish and Yiddish, the once common language of Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe). Especially allochthonous minority languages are not given official status in the EU."
"companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. It has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, part of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. An overwhelming majority of the population identifies themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are native speakers of Romanian, a Romance language. ""Romania"" derives from the Latin ""romanus"", meaning ""citizen of Rome"". The first known use of the appellation was attested to in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia. The oldest known surviving document written in Romanian, a 1521 letter known as the ""Letter"
"and the European Union expanded to subsequently include many of the formerly communist European countries – Romania and Bulgaria (2007) and Croatia (2013). The following table shows the languages in Southern Europe that are spoken by at least five million people in the region: The most widely spoken family of languages in Southern Europe are the Romance languages, the heirs of Latin, which have spread from the Italian peninsula, and are emblematic of Southwestern Europe. ""(See the Latin Arch.)"" By far the most common Romance languages in Southern Europe are Italian (spoken by over 50 million people in Italy, Malta,"
"Portugal; Friulan, Sardinian and Franco-Provençal in Italy; and Romansh in Switzerland. The remaining Romance languages survive mostly as spoken languages for informal contact. National governments have historically viewed linguistic diversity as an economic, administrative or military liability, as well as a potential source of separatist movements; therefore, they have generally fought to eliminate it, by extensively promoting the use of the official language, restricting the use of the other languages in the media, recognizing them as mere ""dialects"", or even persecuting them. As a result, all of these languages are considered endangered to varying degrees according to the UNESCO Red"
"in the area around Geneva near the border with France. Many differences between Swiss French and the French of France are due to the different administrative and political systems between Switzerland and France. Some of the distinctive lexical features are shared with Belgian French (and some also with Quebec French): Other examples which are not shared with other varieties of French: Swiss French Swiss French () is the variety of French spoken in the French-speaking area of Switzerland known as Romandy. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, the others being German, Italian, and Romansch. As of"
"Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, having much in common with languages such as French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. However, the languages closest to Romanian are the other Eastern Romance languages, spoken south of the Danube: Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian. An alternative name for Romanian used by linguists to disambiguate with the other Eastern Romance languages is ""Daco-Romanian"", referring to the area where it is spoken (which corresponds roughly to the onetime Roman province of Dacia). Compared with the other Romance languages, the closest relative of Romanian is Italian; the two"
"Bulgaria and Macedonia. Maltese is a Semitic language that is the official language of Malta, descended from Siculo-Arabic, but written in the Latin script with heavy Latin and Italian influences. The Basque language is spoken in the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain and southwestern France. The following table shows the busiest airports in Southern Europe in 2016. The predominant religion in Southern Europe is Christianity. Christianity spread throughout Southern Europe during the Roman Empire, and Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the year 380 AD. Due to the historical break of the"
"ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is the official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and one of the two official languages—along with Dutch—of the Brussels-Capital Region, where it is spoken by the majority of the population often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland (along with German, Italian, and Romansh) and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy, of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide"
"Europe, they are spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Romance languages are spoken primarily in south-western Europe as well as in Romania and Moldova, in Eastern Europe. Germanic languages are spoken in Northern Europe, the British Isles and some parts of Central Europe. Other Indo-European languages outside the three main groups include the Baltic group (that is, Latvian and Lithuanian), the Celtic group (that is, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton), Greek, Armenian, and Albanian. A distinct non-Indo-European family of Uralic languages (Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Erzya, Komi, Mari, Moksha, and Udmurt) is spoken mainly in Estonia, Finland,"
"status within the member state and count many more speakers than some of the lesser-used official languages. The official languages of EU are in bold. In the list those idioms deemed by member states as mere dialects of an official language are not included. However many of these dialects are often viewed as separate languages: Scots—the Germanic language descended from Old English, not the Celtic language known as Scottish Gaelic—and several Romance languages spoken in Portugal, France and Italy, such as Mirandese, Lombard, Ligurian, Piedmontese, Venetian, Corsican, Neapolitan, and Sicilian. The French constitution stipulates French as the sole language of"