Declaration of Neutrality: The Languages of Austria, Part 2

On Friday, we looked at the history behind Austria's national holiday, the day honouring the Declaration of Neutrality. Today we'll be looking at the languages spoken there, from the native and regional languages to the immigrant languages that have found their way into Austria.

A statue of Athena, Parliament Building, Vienna.

Official Languages

German (Austrian German)

German, of course, more specifically Austrian German. Around 8.5 million people speak this variety of German and it's not only spoken in Austria. The region of South Tyrol, which ironically is found in the north of Italy, is also home to a number of Austrian German speakers.

Minority Languages

Burgenland Croatian

The variety of Croatian spoken in Burgenland by the Burgenland Croats is recognised as an official minority language in the eastern region. This was a direct result of the State Treaty we mentioned on Friday, which led to the Declaration of Neutrality. About 2.5% of Austria's population speak Burgenland Croatian, making it the most widely-spoken recognised minority language in Austria.

Slovene

The official language of Slovenia is also recognised a minority language in the Austrian region of Carinthia. The Carinthian Slovenes, who inhabit the region and speak the language, were also recognised as a minority in the State Treaty. Even though only 0.3% of Austria's population speaks Slovene, it enjoys a greater level of recognition than some of the other immigrant and minority languages.

Serbian

Serbian is the most widely-spoken minority language in Austria, with a similar number of speakers as that of Burgenland Croatian. However, Serbian does not have the same level of official recognition as Burgenland Croatian, although some linguists could argue that Serbian and Croatian are dialects of the same language.

Turkish

Much like Germany, Austria has become home to a significant number of Turkish immigrants. Of course, the Turkish immigrants their language with them, resulting in around 2.3% of the population speaking the Turkish language.

Hungarian

The Hungarian language is spoken by around 20,000 people in Austria, amounting to a very low percentage of the population. Historically, Hungarian was an important language in Austria owing to the union between Austria and Hungary from 1867 to 1918.

Are there any important languages in Austria that we've missed? Tell us about them in the comment below. We'll be back on Wednesday with our language profile for the week.

Part 1 | Part 2

Statehood Day: The Languages of Slovenia

Yesterday was a holiday in Quebec, but today we're heading from North America across the Atlantic and into Eastern Europe. We have another holiday for you in the form of Slovenia's Statehood Day, the day that the country became independent from Yugoslavia. If you haven't been, modern Slovenia is a beautiful place that definitely deserves its own post.

It goes without saying that the native and official language of Slovenia is Slovene, which is spoken by nearly 90% of the population. With Italy and Hungary just next door, Slovenia also has a decent number of speakers of Italian and Hungarian.

An artist's rendition of the island on Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Serbo-Croatian languages such as Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin can also be found in Slovenia. The Romani language, despite being spoken by only 0.2% of Slovenia's population, is protected under Slovenian legislature.

Historically, Slovenia's linguistic landscape was significantly different. Unfortunately, World War II and the events that followed were hugely detrimental to the ethnic, racial, and linguistic diversity of then Yugoslavia.

German used to be spoken in Slovenia, but an expulsion of German people following the Second World War led to a hefty decline in speakers, leaving German to be natively spoken by fewer than 2,000 people in the whole of Slovenia.

The Bavarian dialect of German, Gottscheerish, was also historically prominent in Slovenia. Again, this language also suffered due to expulsion of its speakers following WWII. The Czech language also suffered a similar fate to German and Gottscheerish and is now seldom spoken in Slovenia.

That's it for this week's special days and holidays. Tomorrow we'll be back to our regular schedule with our weekly language profile.

The EU And Its Languages: Part 2

Yesterday we saw a brief history of the EEC which later became the EU, the countries that formed it and the languages they brought with them. Today we'll be continuing our little history lesson with the Maastricht Treaty, the formation of the EU and countries that became members and brought their cultures and languages with them.

The Colonel Building in the
Dutch city of Maastricht. 

The Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992 and formally created the European Union. Three years later Austria, Sweden and Finland all joined the club. Austria had little to no worries when it came to linguistic recognition as German had been a permanent fixture since the creation of the EEC. Sweden and Finland, however, led to Swedish and Finnish being added as official languages.

It would take another nine years before the EU would allow any more nations into the community, but when it did it would be the largest expansion to date. On May 1st of 2004, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia joined, as well as seven former members of the Eastern Bloc: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia. Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovak and Slovene all became official languages.

Three years later in 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became EU member states and Bulgarian and Romanian became official languages. Irish also finally gained its official status, no less than 14 years after Ireland joined the EU.

With five years having passed since the last the enlargement, Croatia is due to accede at some point this year and will no doubt bring with it its native language, Croatian.