Valle d'Aosta is an Italian region with a special status of north-western Italy thanks to
its geographical position bordering on Switzerland to the north and France to the west, it has
a very particular linguistic history. The Aosta Valley area is in fact a bilingual area. Together with André we
discover the importance of the Italian of French in this region together with
other linguistic minorities such as the Franco-Provençal language which, as we will see, has not been
lost, good vision. Hi Andrea and welcome to this new video how are you? Well fine thank you
thanks for the invitation. Thanks to you for participating, the first curiosity where does your name come from? Yes,
then my name André is French it would be Andrea's correspondent but as
we are from Valle d'Aosta we often have surnames that come from French so they often match well with French names
so it often happens to have French names in Valle d'Aosta. So here we reveal immediately
where exactly are you from? I come from Charvensod which is a small village in the Aosta belt.
So as you mentioned you have French influences so I would like to ask you
what life is like on a borderland? It's nice, we live well because we have the opportunity to
learn two languages ​​in addition to Italian we learn French and then we also have many exchanges with
the lands near both France on the one hand but also Switzerland on the other, Switzerland. ..
we end up with the canton of Valais where they speak French so exchanges are facilitated by the
language. So you also speak French in everyday life? No, let's say no,
Valle d'Aosta is a bilingual region in which Italian alongside French but
French remains quite a niche let's say that we don't speak it among ourselves every day, it
is an official language. Italian than in French,
the toponyms are almost all in French then some have been more or less translated but let's say we
don't speak it fluently among ourselves rather we speak in dialect here, yes, the patois
which would be a Franco-Provençal dialect that if we want it is a half between Italian and French has
some influence on one side and on the other, however, the dialect is more spoken than French. The
dialect is therefore quite a living reality in your region? Is there also talk among young people? Yes
yes yes the dialect is still very popular, we young people want to speak it because in any case it
is the language of our grandparents once we spoke dialect and therefore when it is possible among us,
among people who speak the dialect we speak it here also among friends , at the bar in any situation
of life if possible we speak in dialect and many young people still care to speak it and
therefore we try to carry it forward even if it must be said that compared to the generation of my
grandparents it has certainly been partially lost but as long as there it will be the desire as many have to
carry it forward in my opinion it will be a living language for example I am part of a theater company,
we do popular theater in dialect so it is also a way to continue to carry
on this language and above all to try to carry on certain expressions or
words that maybe would be lost, we try to do this we do it both physically in the theater
and also with videos on yout ube of the songs of the parodies here. So the
patois dialect has some French words, let's say? Yes, some words are very similar to French,
others more to Italian then even there as our territory is still a very fragmented territory
because in any case there is a central valley and many small side valleys that are separated from
each other therefore historically having had few exchanges between them, dialects are also spoken
from one valley to another (which are always patois) but they are often very different from each other let's say
that there is the part of the region more towards France that has more influences with the dialect
what is spoken in Savoy, then there is the part more towards Piedmont that is more contaminated
by Piedmontese and therefore even within a small region like the Aosta Valley each
municipality has its facets, its patois , its terms which are often very different
at times I find it hard to understand I don't know other people who come from another valley which is
now less than an hour by car but thinking about 100 years ago meant hours and hours of walking
so there were not all these exchanges. Of course, so French being an official language
in Valle d'Aosta is taught in schools as a first foreign language? Yes yes we have
throughout the course of study, we have the same hours of French as Italian so I am practically
put on the same level and therefore yes then we also have English, we also study
English but essentially the first language if we want a foreign one. but being bilingual it is
not even the right term to speak like this, however, if we study French since elementary school, then in
junior high school we all have the same hours of French and Italian here. Small curiosity
Valle d'Aosta was the first administration to use the French language in an official act
even before France itself in 1536. Speaking of your personal case, are you bilingual
Italian-French? Yes yes yes we Valle d'Aosta in theory are so then as I tell you in practice
unfortunately French is relegated to a bit so to be used only for when it is convenient so
when tourists come or when we go to France, in everyday life we ​​speak very
little. And as for the road signs, when you go to the restaurant then on the
menu or the public documents, are they in both languages? Then the road signs yes, they are often
both in Italian and in French but as I told you most of the toponyms are already French
of them so there is that toponym there and there is not even a way of saying in Italian, they say
that way . At the restaurant, yes, sometimes you often see French too, I must say that you often
see those classic menus in which there is Italian, there is English and sometimes there is not even
French here is how to do it he sees a little everywhere, while the acts ... then the acts, yes, they are all
bilingual, perhaps they are not at the judicial level, but if one wants to, he can ask for it and he is
provided with the translation if I am not mistaken. There are these translation services let's say. Yes yes yes yes
but basically many acts also to say at the legislative level so, the laws are made
both in Italian and in French already there is just bilingualism there, for those few
things it remains. Do you need to know both languages ​​to work in Valle d'Aosta? Here you touch a
sore point because many public competitions require knowledge of French an extra allowance is given
to those who know French but many times you have to know it to be able to win a
competition, you need to know there is just a part of the competitions that concerns the '' assessment of
knowledge of French and this is a bit of a sore point as I said because it is often a brake for
many jobs in which we might need professionals who come from outside the valley
and this is a brake because it still means studying another language even at some level
probably. So let's say that the choice is limited a bit. Yes, because maybe we already say a
Valle d'Aosta is not so attractive for those who come from outside, maybe they see it as a small
reality in which you may not have the opportunity that a big city gives you and moreover if you have to study a
new language maybe you immediately discard the option of being able to go there and maybe in certain areas
where we needed we can not find professionals because they do not want to start
studying French, this is one of the problems but there are also many others here for
which we are not active in certain areas. How do you feel about learning French from an early age
and therefore being bilingual? Well it's certainly lucky because now I only speak practically
Italian and French, English obviously because I also studied it at the university
but surely the more languages ​​you know and the better you think and the better you understand many things
obviously then I like it. France so I often find myself watching television in French,
we have some channels that are broadcast in the Aosta Valley in French rather than
even following ... I often follow French youtubers which is a good thing in my opinion and that I do indeed
allows you to do the fact that you have studied French. Certainly, as you said,
knowing one more language is always an extra richness; living on the border with France and
Switzerland do you often go over the border? What are the advantages of living close to these
two countries? Yes, it happens every now and then to go out but now it is not so successful anymore but yes,
both towards Switzerland and in any case as I said they speak French and towards France I
often happen to maybe go to some important event and go and follow it let's just say
beyond the Alps; yes I also like to go there, apart maybe to eat some local food,
I think of raclette in Switzerland rather than when you go to France you always tone loads of
baguettes to no end and then certainly also when I happen to go on vacation ,
more than once I went on holiday to France and in any case you can understand everything
that is said to you on the spot and therefore it is definitely an advantage and even for a single
discussion with the French you can keep it well and manage it as if you were almost Italian . Well
André thank you very much for being here with us it was very interesting to know
your linguistic situation. Thanks to you it was a pleasure and congratulations for the
channel. Thank you so much and thank you all for watching this video, hello!