Switzerland's so-called mother tongues

Hamo wrote:
You have stated that the Italian spoken in Switzerland differs little from the Italian spoken in Italy. This would make good sense in so far as there are more Lombard Swiss than there are Italian Swiss, and standard Italian appears to be what both Lombardy Swiss and Italian Swiss learn in school.

however, can a Lombard understand a Italian or Swiss Italian?

Hamo wrote:
May I presume then that you have been brought up the way so many children are brought up by parents who want to see their children excel in school, but value their own linguistic bringing of little value with regard to their children's future?

In other words, the reason you understand Bergomask is because you heard it from your parents when you were young, but they did not encourage you to speak it -- not even in the home.

1) Besides doing well in school and a general desire to want to speak the language of your countrymen, are there any other incentives for wanting to learn standard Italian. Does it mean better job opportunity, entry into Italy's top universities, for example?

2) In contrast what is the incentive for maintaining one's mother tongue that is different from the standard Italian spoken in one's region. Is it only historical? For example, is there a body of literature that would be closed to you, if you did not maintain literacy in the dialect of your own language group?

Hamo wrote:

Thank you for your input after so many years.

It would be a travesty for me to remain a member of ProZ.com and not encourage further dialogue on this subject.

I would like to thank you for the anecdote about your mother and grandmother. Surely, it must be true that parents and grandparents alike value their mother tongue well enough to share it with children and grandchildren who show an interest in learning it.

Is the source of the problem not with national educational ministries who do little or nothing to encourage languages that do not enhance a unified national identity? They are so concerned about national greatness and economic strength that they ignore the importance of local community and the environment. These latter enhance the quality of life by placing a drag on wanton industrial growth that national governments often fail to regulate until significant damage has occurred.

Surely, there has always been a tension between conservative and progressive forces, but never in the history of humankind has this tension been greater. Local communities are being crushed world-wide by big business whose leaders care little about "parochial attitudes" and have the luxury of being able to choose their place of residence -- a luxury that workers often do not have.

Children tend to be future oriented, and national educational ministries take advantage of their desire to get ahead socially in order to promote national goals that overemphasize economic growth over the quality of life. Children need to be taught the importance of local community in the preservation of social fabric and environmental integrity.