The Ladin school system: multilingual education in practice

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: Ladin is a Romance minority language spoken by around 30,000 people in the area around the Sella massif. This mountain range lies at the centre of five valleys: in the Province of Bulsan/Bozen/Bolzano these are Gherdëina/Grödner Tal/Val Gardena and Val Badia/Gadertal, in the Province of Trent/Trento Fascia/Val di Fassa, and in the Province of Belum/Belluno the areas around Ampëz/Cortina d'Ampezzo and Fodom/Livinallongo del Col di Lana. The population of these five valleys forms the Ladin language community.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: Ladin is a Romance language, which is linked to the history of the Alpine region. Around 15 BC, the Romans advanced into the area, conquered it, and their Latin gradually mixed with the languages spoken there. This led to the emergence of Ladin, a form of Alpine Romance. Today, besides Ladin, there are two other Romance language communities that underwent a similar development: Romansh in the Swiss canton of Grischun/Grisons, and Friulian in Friûl/Friuli. Later on, Germanic tribes also moved into the Alpine region, which is why Germanic influences can still be identified in Ladin today. Ladin speakers and Germanic populations lived alongside each other for many centuries, and this has naturally left traces in the languages.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: In the Ladin school system in the Province of Bulsan/Bozen/Bolzano, Ladin speakers benefit from a special form of education that does not exist in the other two provinces, Trent/Trento and Belum/Belluno. In South Tyrol, this is known as the paritetic school system. German and Italian are taught in equal measure. This means that half of all school subjects are taught in German and the other half in Italian. In addition, there are two hours per week of Ladin, and Ladin can also be used as a support language to explain content more clearly when needed. There are also special cases, such as the Montessori school section in Urtijëi/St. Ulrich/Ortisei, where teaching even switches between three languages. Mathematics, for example, is partly taught in Ladin, German and Italian, usually alternating every three days.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: In Ladin kindergartens, all three languages are used in equal measure. This can, for example, happen on a weekly basis: some kindergartens have a German week, during which the entire staff speaks German with the children. This is followed by an Italian week, and then a Ladin week.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: From lower secondary school onwards, half of all subjects are taught in German and the other half in Italian, while Ladin continues to be taught for two hours per week. To give a concrete example: at the upper secondary school where I teach, mathematics, biology and chemistry are taught in German, while business administration, law and physical education are taught in Italian. Thanks to this equal distribution of languages across subjects, both languages have the same status.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: In a German-language school in South Tyrol, Italian is taught only as a language subject for about four hours a week, while all other subjects are taught exclusively in German. In Italian-language schools, it is exactly the other way around. The key feature of the Ladin school system, as already mentioned, is that both languages are used not only as subjects in their own right, but also as languages of instruction in other subjects. There is another special feature at upper secondary level: in the final school-leaving examination, the first written exam is taken in the main language of the school. In a German-language school, this means a written exam in German. In Ladin schools, however, students can choose between Italian and German for the first written exam, depending on which language they feel more comfortable with.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: One distinctive feature of the Ladin minority is certainly that there is no other state or region where Ladin is the majority language. In German-language schools in South Tyrol, there is no problem with textbooks, because there is a wider German-speaking area outside South Tyrol – Germany, Austria or Switzerland. This means that German-language schools in South Tyrol can draw on teaching materials developed in those countries. With Ladin, things are more complicated, because the language is limited to this specific area and to around 30,000 speakers. Producing teaching materials is therefore a major challenge. This task is handled by a department of the Ladin school authority and requires enormous effort. However, if we talk about minority protection, it is absolutely essential. Since Ladin has found a place in schools, the situation of the language has improved. Without this step, Ladin would probably be in a much worse position today.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: For us as teachers, such situations can be extremely difficult and frustrating. In addition to the major challenge of ensuring the acquisition of the school languages and successfully conveying subject content in the respective language of instruction, there must ultimately be an assessment in every subject at the end of each school year. This means that pupils who have only just arrived suddenly have to study, for example, business administration in Italian and sit written tests in that subject. In such cases, the system can reach its limits. A major advantage, however, is completing the entire system from kindergarten through to the final school-leaving examination. By the end, pupils then have good knowledge of German, Italian and Ladin.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: Yes. The Ladin cultural institute Micurá de Rü, based in Val Badia, is also engaged in linguistic research. One of its main tasks has been – and continues to be – the compilation and continuous updating of Ladin dictionaries, both German–Ladin and Italian–Ladin, for the Gherdëina and Val Badia varieties. These dictionaries are now also available online and even as an app, which is very practical. In addition, there is a set of rules – a Ladin orthography and grammar. Work on this began relatively late, only from the mid-19th century onwards. Members of the clergy, who formed the educated elite of the time, engaged with the Ladin language and compiled the first grammar. The institute’s namesake, Micurá de Rü, published the first Ladin grammar.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: As mentioned earlier, the Ladin school system at primary level is particularly complex, because teachers have to teach their subject in different school languages. This requires a rich subject-specific vocabulary. For teachers working in Ladin kindergartens and primary schools, there is a Ladin section of the Faculty of Education at the Free University of Bulsan/Bozen/Bolzano. Just as in later teaching practice, the degree programme there is also trilingual. One third of the courses are taught in Ladin, one third in Italian and one third in German. It is crucial that staff in the Ladin primary sector receive solid training and are able to meet these demands.

Maximilian Oberhollenzer: Absolutely – this happens in every language, both minority languages and so-called “major languages”. Differences between older and younger generations are most noticeable in vocabulary, as some parts disappear while others are added. In the past, Ladin was mainly used in agricultural and artisanal contexts. As a result, there are many specialised terms, for example for agricultural tools. Many of these terms are no longer familiar to younger generations. They are no longer used, and as the objects themselves disappear, the words that designated them often disappear as well. On the other hand, the world is changing, and new technological developments are emerging. These developments also need to be named. Ladin, too, has to move with the times. If Ladin had stood still 100 years ago, it would be difficult to talk about contemporary issues today. That is why I do not see these linguistic changes as something negative. We often engage in purist debates about language, focusing on an idealised, supposedly pure form of a language, insisting that it must be exactly like this and must remain so. But a language has to be flexible in order to be used at all. That would be the ideal – and that is exactly what happens in reality.