Illustration of a bilingual French Breton school, in Rennes. - C. Allain / 20 Minutes

The Breton language is in danger. To avoid seeing a part of the local culture disappear, a collective of artists, authors, personalities and academics launched Friday in Morlaix (Finistère) an appeal "for the safeguard of the culture and languages ​​of Brittany ". Yann Tiersen, rapper Krismenn, artists Tri Yann, Gilles Servat or Nolwenn Korbell… In total, 70 people signed this “alarm cry” and demanded “a Marshall plan” to save the language.

"A real Marshall plan is necessary if we really want to save the Breton language", explains Paolig Combot, president of the association Ar Falz - Skol Vreizh which promotes the Breton language and culture. "Breton is no longer the language of shame, from which the ancients suffered".

"Under 40,000, the language is dead"

The collective especially fears the disappearance of the Breton language. A survey carried out in 2018 found that 80% of the 207,000 Britons today are over 60 years old. "In 20 years at best there will be less than 40,000 left. Under 40,000 the tongue is dead, "said Paolig Combot.

With your Kwizh, learning Breton has never been easier https://t.co/cP6MUSySgD

- 20 Minutes (@ 20Minutes) January 30, 2020

These personalities particularly regret that in many municipalities we go "to look for the names of birds or plants, each more tasteless than the other" to name the places, while there are "a host of Breton names available ".

Breton, 1% of the region's budget

The collective finally regrets that there are only 19,000 students in bilingual schools, or 3% of the total enrollment, against 45% in the Basque Country and 16% in Alsace. The collective sent a letter in early November to the president of the Brittany region Loïg Chesnais-Girard to express his fears and ask him for an interview, which he was refused.

"We must generalize the teaching of our languages ​​to all our children, but with 1% of the region's budget devoted to language policies is ridiculous, we must do ten times more," said the Nantes author Yvon Ollivier.

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