There’s an Irish saying, “tír gan teanga, tír gan anam”: a country without a language is a country without a soul. Representatives from some of Europe’s roughly 60 minority languages—or “minoritised” languages, as they call them—gathered recently in Barcelona to discuss what it means to lose a language and what it takes to preserve it.
Language diversity is like biodiversity, a sign of social health, but many of Europe’s languages are fading from use. Breton, for instance, is disappearing as its speakers pass away, and keeping languages alive among the young is tough in an increasingly monolingual digital world.
Catalan, spoken by around 10 million people, is a success story among minoritised languages. Thanks to decades of language immersion in public schools, from preschool to university, about 93.4% of the population can speak or understand Catalan, in addition to Spanish. Both are official languages in Catalonia, creating a culture that is almost entirely and naturally bilingual.
However, recent figures show only 32.6% of adults say Catalan is their everyday language, and the numbers are dropping, especially among the young. Many Catalans rightly worry that the language is constantly at risk of being overshadowed by Spanish (and increasingly by English). This concern sometimes leads to treating Catalan as a sacred, unchanging cultural relic rather than a living language.
Besides regular editors, Catalan media employ “correctors”—essentially a language police who remove any perceived impurities, wordplay, or new terms from broadcasts or publications. This can make the language seem rigid and uncool, partly explaining its decline among youth.
“I speak a Valencian dialect of Catalan, and it bothers me when people correct me, as if we all have to speak a perfect version of the language,” said Blanca Trull Armengol of the European Language Equality Network (ELEN), which organized the Barcelona conference. “It’s a living language, and borrowing words from other languages shouldn’t be seen as contamination.”
Frisian is the native tongue of Mirjam Vellinga and about 500,000 others in the northern Netherlands. She strongly supports letting people be creative with the language instead of sticking to purist rules. “If that means mixing in some Dutch or English, that’s fine,” she told me. “We don’t want to put it in a museum. Losing a language means losing a way of life and our connection to our ancestors. When people’s language is suppressed, you see more depression and poor health because part of their identity is taken away.”
In a world increasingly focused on identity, Vellinga added, some young people see speaking Frisian as cool. “There are rock bands that sing in Frisian, but we don’t have a Kneecap, unfortunately. We’re a bit jealous of Kneecap.”
Rappers Kneecap are a big reason why Irish is experiencing a surge in popularity, with more people choosing to study it at all education levels. “Kneecap are rooted in the reality of young people,” says Conchúr Ó Muadaigh of the Irish language association Conradh na Gaeilge. “They reflect the life and diversity of youth through Irish. But it’s not an academic language. Thousands of young people are drawn to them because of their authenticity.”
In the Republic of Ireland, about 1.9 million people can speak Irish, with around 624,000 using it daily. The language got an unexpected boost during the Troubles in Northern Ireland when Republican prisoners began learning it, creating what was known as the Jailtacht—a play on Gaeltacht, the Irish-speaking regions of Ireland. When the prisoners were released under the Good Friday agreement in 1998, they brought the language back into their communities.After 1998, many people entered education and community activism, leading to the Irish language flourishing in Northern Ireland, where it had previously been nearly extinct. However, in the Gaeltacht regions of western Ireland, the language is declining, partly due to a surge in demand for holiday homes that forces young people to move away.
Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, president of ELEN, shares this concern, noting that depopulation in rural areas is causing a decline in the Welsh language in some regions. “Without proper investment, depopulation occurs as young people leave, and when wealthier individuals buy second homes, it creates a mismatch,” Jones explains. “We see that wealth inequality leads to a lack of language equality.”
In contrast, the Basque language, Euskera, has seen success. Like Catalan, it was suppressed during the Franco dictatorship, but in Spain’s Basque region, parents can now choose from three educational models: entirely in Spanish, half in Spanish and half in Euskera, or fully in Euskera. Nearly 90% of the population opts for the full Euskera model.
Euskera is an ancient language, unrelated to the roughly 100 Indo-European languages, and its origins remain a mystery to linguists. However, for Manex Mantxola Urrate of the Euskera language association Kontseilua, the focus is different. “The mystery isn’t where it came from, but how it survived despite the dominance of French and Spanish states. The answer lies in a strong sense of community,” he says. “We need to protect ourselves; we are the ones in danger. We don’t have to save the language—the language will save us.”
Languages spoken by up to 10 million people are clearly vibrant, and a recent Eurobarometer survey found that 84% of Europeans support the EU’s minority languages. However, their limited presence on digital and social media risks increasing their marginalization. For these languages to continue evolving, the “Kneecap effect” suggests that gatekeepers focused on linguistic purity should relax their standards and allow the languages to adapt and thrive.
Stephen Burgen is a freelance writer who reports on Spain.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of helpful FAQs about the topic of Europes minority languages in the digital age inspired by Stephen Burgens article Were a bit jealous of Kneacap
General Beginner Questions
1 What is the main topic of this article
Its about how minority languages in Europe like Irish or Catalan are struggling to survive and thrive in the age of the internet and digital technology
2 What does minority language mean
A minority language is one spoken by a smaller group of people within a country where a different more dominant language is most commonly used
3 Who or what is Kneacap
Kneacap is an Irish rap group that writes and performs almost exclusively in the Irish language They are highlighted as a successful example of using a minority language in modern popular culture
4 Why would people be jealous of them
Other minority language communities are jealous because Kneacap has managed to make the Irish language seem cool relevant and successful on a global stage which is a major challenge for most minority languages
Challenges Problems
5 What is the biggest challenge for minority languages online
The dominance of a few major languages especially English in digital spaces like social media search engines and operating systems This makes it harder for smaller languages to be seen and used
6 Why is technology like Google Translate or Siri a problem for these languages
These tools are often not available or work poorly for minority languages creating a digital disadvantage If you cant use your language to search or communicate online youre pushed to use a dominant one instead
7 What is digital language death
Its the idea that if a language isnt present and actively used on the internet and in digital technology it risks becoming irrelevant and eventually dying out especially among younger generations
Benefits Importance
8 Why is it important to save these languages
Languages are more than just words they carry unique cultural identities histories and ways of thinking Losing a language means losing a part of human cultural diversity
9 What are the benefits of having a language supported digitally
It helps keep the language modern and relevant allows speakers to connect with each other easily and encourages younger people to learn
