Lite Linguistics is a TikTok channel focused on world languages. They recently produced a video on Breton language. This is how they explained it. "Hello welcome to lite linguistics Meet Breton a Celtic language spoken in the Brittany region of Northwestern France Around 275 BCE there were Celtic languages all over Europe, spanning all the way from Iberia to Anatolia but as the Latin speaking Romans and the various Germanic tribes came in they pushed these Celtic peoples out. Which leaves us with just these modern day darker green Celtic languages. Now Breton is the only Celtic language remaining on the European mainland but even then it was brought over by Celtic speakers from Great Britain around the year 800 AD. So it's more closely related to Welsh and Cornish than it is to any extinct Celtic continental language the government of France has tried to put it down many many times throughout the centuries. Breton has no status at the national level. Breton is the only Celtic language that has no recognition in their national government but despite all the opposition people keep speaking it and keep learning it."
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Louis Kuter, editor of Bro Nevez BREIZH AMERIKA PROFILES | Lois Kuter
Lois Kuter has been informing English speaking audiences about Breton culture and language for over 40 years with her subscription based newsletter. Bro Nevez, the longest running Breton newsletter, includes articles about the Breton language and culture, book and music reviews, and short notes to introduce readers to Breton history, art, literature, economy, sports, nature and Brittany's Celtic cousins. Lois is also the only American to have been awarded a Collier de l’Hermine. We sat down with Lois to discuss her connection to Brittany, about the ICDBL, and her thoughts on the future of Breton language. What is your link to Brittany? I have no Breton or Celtic heritage in my family that I know of. My discovery of Brittany was accidental. I’m afraid it is a long story, but I’ll try to keep it short. When I was a teenager I bought an exotic looking musical instrument labeled “Made in Pakistan” which turned out to be the practice chanter for Scottish Highland bagpipes – the basic instrument one uses to learn and practice tunes. I found that there was a bagpipe band in my area – there are many in the U.S. – and I decided to learn. From there I discovered the variety of bagpipes and had the good fortune to meet an uillean piper who took me and a friend on as students. I started on the wooden flute then gradually got up the courage to try the uillean pipes. My piping is very rusty these days and I was never exceptional on either the Highland pipes, uillean pipes or flute, but came to love the music and enjoyed getting together with friends for very informal gatherings where conversation far outweighed music-making. My uillean pipes teacher was interested in all the Celtic languages and cultures and it was at his house that I discovered the music of sonneurs de couple and the bagad, as well as Breton song. I studied anthropology and ethnomusicology as an undergraduate student at Oberlin College and then as a graduate student at Indiana University (Bloomington). When it came time to choose a dissertation topic for my PhD, looking at the relationship of Breton music to Breton identity was a natural choice. And to understand what Breton identity is, it is necessary to look also at language. So I set off for a preliminary look at Brittany the summer of 1975 and then spent an entire year there from September 1978 to September 1979 – certainly a very interesting period in the evolution of Breton identity and music. There have been a few shorter trips since, and I have kept in contact with many friends I made while in Brittany. Music has always been what I love most about Brittany and from 1984 to 1997 I produced 139 hour-long and half-hour-long radio programs for a local radio station here in Philadelphia. While this was a small university station, there were hundreds of listeners who discovered all kinds of Breton music from LPs and CDs of that period in my collection. Tell us about the ICDBL and the newsletter that have been going on for over 40 years? How does someone sign up for it? The International Committee for the Defense of the Breton language was founded in Brussels in 1975. During the years after that over 20 “branches” were established throughout Europe – in most cases a single representative with a particular interest in the Breton language. The idea was to show that it was not just the people of Brittany who were interested in the future of the Breton language. The Brussels base offered the opportunity for the ICDBL to do lobbying on behalf of the Breton language in the European Community. During my stay in Brittany in 1978-79 I was asked to consider setting up a branch of the ICDBL in the U.S. which would add to the presence of a branch already in Canada. The U.S. Branch of the ICDBL was founded in 1981 and we published the first issue of our newsletter that year. Unlike the other branches of the ICDBL, the U.S. branch was a membership organization. Although it has dropped in recent years, annual membership has hovered around 100 individuals from over 40 states and a few provinces of Canada. The focus of activity has always been the newsletter, Bro Nevez, which provides readers with news about the Breton language and efforts to promote it in Brittany as well as information about Breton music, history, economy, cuisine, the natural environment, arts, sports, etc. Besides the newsletter the U.S. ICDBL has written letters of protest to French government officials (usually without response), and we have set up information stands at Celtic Festivals. Because of our dispersal throughout the U.S. we have not held meetings but have a board of consultants who communicate regularly if there are issues to be addressed – elections of new officers, financial matters, changes of membership dues (which remain very low at just $20 a year), or other action that should be addressed as a group. Our members have diverse backgrounds – many with a strong interest in Celtic languages and music, some with a Breton ancestry, others who might have spent vacation time in Brittany, and yet others who simply feel it is important to support minority languages. Most speak neither French nor Breton, so our newsletter has been important in providing access to English language news that has been scarce in either print or more virtual media. All back issues of Bro Nevez are accessible on our website www.icdbl.org to anyone interested, but we welcome new memberships as a way to cover costs of mailing complimentary print copies of the newsletter to individuals and institutions in Brittany who request it in that format. Anyone interested should contact me at loiskuter@verizon.net. What do you see as the future of Breton language? What steps should be undertaken or done? One cannot be overly optimistic about the future of the Breton language, but it seems that Bretons remain diligent in finding as many ways as possible to give it a place in Breton life. The bilingual schools and the immersion style of Diwan continue to grow, but the French Education system seems to throw up roadblocks whenever possible. For example the French Constitution was used to eliminate measures to advance immersion style teaching in the recent Molac law for regional languages. There has been a growth in radio, audiovisual, and other media presence for Breton but there is need for much more growth there. Thanks to the militant efforts of Bretons to insist on bilingual road and street signage, there have been advances there too. I think the amazing creativity and diversity in Breton music has also been a positive factor. Younger Bretons have embraced the traditional heritage of Breton language song and also create new songs in all styles. It will be up to Bretons themselves to ensure the future of the language by learning it and using it in everyday life. And new generations will need to keep up the fight to counteract government roadblocks and resistance to provide real support for regional languages. Easier said than done!  BREIZH AMERIKA PROFILES | Josh Tyra Josh is a Chicago-based language enthusiast. We sat down with him to learn about his connection to Brittany, France and how he helped in translating J.R.R Tolkien's, The Hobbit into Breton. The Hobbit has become one of the best-selling books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novel was initially published on September 21, 1937, and the New York Herald Tribune swiftly nominated it for the Carnegie Medal and granted it a prize for finest juvenile fiction. The Hobbit has never been out of print and has spawned a film adaptation series, which debuted in 2012 and went on to become one of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time. [Breizh Amerika] What is your link with Brittany? [Josh Tyra] In 1996, When I was 17 and a burgeoning language buff, I went to Brest for a summerlong French-language immersion course. I arrived very curious about the Breton language as well. I didn’t know a single word of it, but I asked virtually everyone I met if they could speak Breton or knew anyone who did. I stayed with two host families that summer, and I was pleased to learn both of them had a connection to the language: a grandfather in one family, in Le Relecq-Kerhuon, was a native speaker; a little girl in the other, across the bay in Plougastel, was just beginning a bilingual track at school. I also scoured bookstores and began to amass Breton grammars, dictionaries, and magazines—a whole suitcase full by the time I went home! To the consternation of my French teachers, I think I spent more time studying Breton that summer than I did working on my French homework. On subsequent trips I made more personal connections—and bought more books!—and I kept studying the language through the years. When social media took off, I made some good brittophone friends online and got a chance to practice with them. In 2017, my former high school choir in Indiana invited me to compose a new song for them and to conduct the first performance. I decided to write an original poem in Breton and set it to music. The result was “Glas eo ar Mor” (“The Sea is Blue”), which I would describe as a love song to Brittany and to the Breton language. The lyrics play with the multiple meanings of the word glas (“blue, green, pale, gray, bracing,”) while the music is meant to evoke the rise and fall of ocean waves. A clip from the first performance was featured on the Breton-language chat show Bali Breizh, and I later got an email from a woman who told me she was a Breton speaker from birth and loved the words to my song. That really meant a lot to me! How did you get involved in the second edition of the Breton translation of The Hobbit? One of my prize bookstore finds in Saint-Brieuc in 2001 was An Hobbit, the newly printed first edition of Alan Dipode’s Breton translation of The Hobbit. I was thrilled when I found it: I’ve been a lifelong Tolkien fan, ever since my father read The Hobbit to me as a little boy, and I love using translations of familiar books to help me learn a new language. I was lucky to get a copy, because this edition went out of print fairly quickly. Later I became aware of Michael Everson, a linguist, fontographer, and publisher now based in Dundee, Scotland. His unique publishing company Evertype specializes in Celtic and other minority languages, the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll, and some related topics. When I saw he had published The Hobbit in both Irish and Cornish, I thought Evertype would be the perfect place for a second edition of the Breton Hobbit, so I wrote to him. He already knew about Alan’s translation and was keen to publish it. He asked me to look into the copyright status, and thanks to social media I soon made contact with Alan’s son and got him connected to Michael. With the original publisher no longer in business, Alan was the sole copyright holder for the translation, and he agreed to Michael’s proposal to republish it. At this point, Michael mentioned to me what we came to call the “God problem”: Tolkien’s characters often use “minced oaths,” mild old-fashioned exclamations such as “Good gracious me!”, “bless my soul!”, “my goodness!” and “oh dear!”, all euphemisms for stronger imprecations. Alan had rendered many of these expressions with the Breton phrase ma Doue ! (literally “my God!”). This was a legitimate translation option, since ma Doue is frequent in spoken Breton, where it has a bit less force than its English equivalent. Michael, however, felt that ma Doue and a couple of similar expressions (such as petra an diaoul…? “what the devil…?”) were out of place in The Hobbit. Although Tolkien was a devout Catholic, he never had his Middle Earth characters make direct references to Judeo-Christian religion. So Michael asked me to research some alternative phrases. I found many possible substitutes and sent my findings to Alan, who proved more than happy to make the requested changes. He used some of my suggestions and incorporated many other expressions I hadn’t even been aware of. Apart from the 30-odd instances of the “God problem,” I had also found three other passages where I felt the Breton might be retooled to better reflect the English as I understood it. I made so bold as to include these in my list of suggested changes, and I was delighted when Alan accepted them as well. This gave me confidence, and I began to think the project might benefit from a native English speaker’s point of view on the whole translation—to say nothing of a second pair of eyes on the lookout for typos, of which many remained in the first edition. Since there were no other volunteers, I began to go through the entire Breton text word by word, line by line, comparing it to the original English. From the very start, Alan was extremely generous and collaborative as he patiently allowed me to query his translation choices down to the minutest detail. We developed a very warm rapport in the course of our work, and this project turned out to be one of the richest, most rewarding, and most enjoyable experiences of my life. How long did it take and what was the reaction in Brittany? The initial revision process took nine months, from June 2019 to March 2020. After the book was typeset, we spent about two months on further proofreading, and the book finally came out in August 2020 (in the middle of the first pandemic lock-down!). All told, I read the entire text word-for-word three times, and Alan read it at least that many. The work continually reminded me how much I have left to learn. Sometimes Alan would accept my suggestions, but just as often he might tell me, “No, we can’t really say it that way in Breton.” An early problem we encountered was that I was unable to find some of the words in the Breton dictionaries at my disposal: I owned only one major dictionary and a couple of student ones. Even supplementing those with some very good online resources that had become available, I could not always track down the words Alan had chosen. He remedied this problem in the most extraordinarily generous way: heavy boxes of books began to show up on my doorstep—rare and out-of-print dictionaries and grammars that Alan had travelled the length and breadth of Brittany to find in used bookstores (and no doubt spent a fortune to have shipped to me!). Among them was one very scarce volume on Old Breton from his own personal collection, which he sacrificed to me after learning it was on my wish list. Thanks to his overwhelming kindness, I got the tools I needed to complete the job much more efficiently. Although the project certainly expanded my knowledge of Breton vocabulary, grammar, and style, it also tested the limits of my English. I quickly discovered that a native command of English was not enough for a thorough understanding of the text. Tolkien’s English, though similar in many respects to my own, is not identical to it; and for a so-called “children’s book,” The Hobbit contains a large number of words quite outside the working vocabulary of even an educated English speaker. Often I overconfidently assumed I had understood a passage, only to find after further research that I had been quite wrong. Then there was the perennial bane of translators, genuine ambiguity. Even now there remain a couple of passages where the merits of two opposing interpretations still present themselves to my mind, and I can still get caught up arguing first one side and then the other, as if I were staring at the famous “vase or two faces” image. The project also confronted me at every turn with the question, “What constitutes a faithful translation?” I was initially disposed to be overliteral out of sheer loyalty to the source text. This even became a standing joke between us! As the project proceeded, my approach relaxed—but not completely, as Alan can testify! In the end, I’m very proud of our work. The resulting text is still largely the same as Alan’s 2001 version, but I feel confident that we have arrived at dozens of improved readings. Not only that, but the majority of the typos, omissions, and other such mechanical errors have been corrected. The reactions I have read from Brittany, primarily through social media, have been overwhelmingly positive. One young woman wrote, “I’m even more excited about learning Breton now that I have found this book!” That is my favorite comment so far, because it goes to the heart of why I participated in this project. I think if you want to encourage people to read in a given language, there are certain books you want to have in print, and The Hobbit is one of them: it consistently figures in top-ten lists of bestselling books worldwide. So this is my modest contribution to Breton literature and to promoting the longevity and health of the language. If it can generate excitement about learning Breton and reading in it, this edition will have fulfilled its goal. (By the way, for those who prefer not to patronize a certain global retailer, An Hobbit is available through AbeBooks, Book Depository, and many other online booksellers.) Another reason to get excited about this edition is how beautifully and lovingly it has been produced: all of Tolkien's original maps and illustrations are included, and thanks to Michael's custom fonts, all the captions and legends look as if they had been hand-lettered by Tolkien in Breton. Where passages appear in Tolkien's Dwarvish runes and Elvish script, these have been not only translated into Breton, but represented using forms of those alphabets that Michael specially adapted to Breton phonology. It's this unheard of attention to detail that makes this Hobbit—and all of Evertypes' Hobbit translations—very special. What are your future projects? I’d like to continue promoting An Hobbit in any way I can. One thing we have done to raise awareness of the book is to produce four YouTube videos: short selections from the first four chapters read aloud in Breton by Alan and his wife Marivon Berr, with the text shown on screen and subtitles available in French and English (to view them, visit Evertype’s YouTube channel). We have more of these in the works—the next video in the series will feature the famous character of Gollum, and I’m eager for the world to hear Breton Gollum-speak! It’s really colorful. We’ve even had some requests for a full-length audio book, and I think that would be fantastic. I’d love to hear some really dramatic readings with a good variety of voices, accents, and ages. But this is as yet only an idea, and would take quite a lot of resources to produce. I can also confirm that the Breton version of The Lord of the Rings (Aotrou ar Gwalennoù) is in an advanced stage of preparation, and I have already had some involvement in that massive undertaking. Any more on that subject I dare not say! Also on my “to-do” list: I would like to translate F. Kervella’s enormous Yezhadur Braz ar Brezhoneg (Comprehensive Grammar of Breton) into English. I think this would be a significant contribution to Celtic linguistics. It would allow wider scholarly access to an important work that has influenced the writing of generations of Breton authors and translators, including Alan Dipode. I’ve made a good start on the translation, but it’s obviously going to be quite a job to finish it! As for my music, I would love to hear “Glas eo ar Mor” performed by a choir in Brittany, maybe even with a full orchestra. I’ve been talking with an interested group in Brest, but unfortunately, their rehearsals are still on hold due to the pandemic. We may have to wait a while, but hopefully one day the song will be heard live in Brittany!  By Paul Molac - Member of the French National Assembly for Morbihan's 4th constituency My colleagues from the majority, Christophe Euzet and Yannick Kerlogot, yesterday gave to the Prime Minister, in the presence of the Minister of National Education, their report on the teaching of regional languages. Following the speech by the President of the Republic, I note with interest that the fate of the teaching of our languages in France is now on the table at the highest summit of the State. It is therefore now up to the executive to assume its responsibilities in this area and to legally secure immersive education. My two colleagues recognize the very delicate situation in which we find ourselves following the decision of the Constitutional Council of 21 May. I am surprised, however, at the timidity of the proposals, which are far removed from what is necessary to ensure the legal security of the immersion teaching method. Only a constitutional revision procedure will make it possible to definitively secure the immersive teaching of our languages. I do not understand why this proposal is judged by the rapporteurs as “undesirable”. In fact, more than 140 parliamentarians, including a very large majority of the opposition, have already joined in the letter that I sent to the President of the Republic asking for this revision procedure to be initiated. This proves that getting a majority between the Assembly and the Senate is possible. We proved it during the parliamentary discussion where it was the Senate that introduced the article concerning immersion. We still have six months of parliamentary work left, which is more than enough time to vote on a referendum law. It’s all about political will. Also, upon reading the proposals, I am worried about potential setbacks in the pedagogy carried by immersive education networks including Diwan. In particular the proposal to change pedagogy in order to cut back on teaching in the regional language in kindergarten. This would be a regression compared to a 50-year-old pedagogy, which has proven itself, with regard to the mastery of the French language as well as the regional language. I do not believe either in the relevance of a committee named “National Council for the teaching of regional languages” directed from the senior administration of the Ministry of National Education, where the public offices of regional languages already work in synergy. with the regions and the State. This kind of committee has already existed and has had no effect. We can expect that the Prime Minister, when he meets the associations concerned as he had promised, will hear their concerns in person, which should not be diminished with the publication of this report.  By Paul Molac - Member of the French National Assembly for Morbihan's 4th constituency The bill relating to the protection of regional languages and their promotion, which I was defending, was definitively adopted by a very large majority this Thursday, April 8 in the National Assembly as part of the parliamentary day reserved for my group, Libertés et Territoires. This is the first law devoted to regional languages definitively adopted under the Fifth Republic. This historic victory is due to the unprecedented mobilization of associations, educational networks and thousands of volunteers in all our territories who are committed to preserving this wealth which belongs to all of humanity. The determination of the deputies on all benches, and in particular of the majority, to adopt this bill in conformity with the outcome of the Senate is the symbol of the wide awareness of the need to save these regional languages in danger of dying out. The purpose of this law is to enhance the protection, accessibility and visibility of regional languages in three areas: First of all in heritage, by recognizing that regional languages belong to France’s intangible heritage in order to be able to better protect them. Then in public life, by legally securing the display of regional language translations on inscriptions and public signs, as well as the use of diacritics from regional languages in civil status documents. We all remember the story of this Breton baby named Fañch, who had to go to the Court of Cassation to have the right to keep his tildé on the letter N. Finally, in education, where we have now made significant progress, and in particular for the recognition of teaching by immersion in the regional language in public schools, as well as to make effective the payment of the school fee (forfait scolaire) for students. associative schools such as Diwan. Likewise, this law will make it possible to extend the possibilities for offering regional language education in public schools, so that as many establishments as possible can offer this education. April 8 is a historic day for advocates of regional languages and I hope a turning point in the relationship between the Republic and its linguistic diversity.  Learn Breton Today! Has there ever been a better time to learn a new language? The global pandemic and the social distancing that comes with it have lead many to add virtual learning into their daily lives. Now is your chance to learn the Breton language from home with virtual training sessions in English. Learn the Breton language in English from the comfort of your own home over the next year with a new program developed by Skol an Emsav. Skol an Emsav, based in Rennes, is a non-profit organization that has promoted the Breton language for adults for the last 50 years. They specialize in full-time training courses for the professionals, as well as weekly classes for the general public. With over 10 years of experience with online training, they decide that the time was right to offer a new program for English speakers. Breizh Amerika is partnering with Skol an Emsav to help get the word out to everyone in the world. If you are a Breizh Amerika member you even get a discount when you sign-up for the course! 💪 SKOL AN EMSAV - WEEKLY ONLINE CLASSES From September 2020 - June 2021 Duration : 30 weeks Course duration : 1h30 per week Cost for year : 200€ Breizh Amerika member : 10% discount Every week for an hour and a half over the course of 30 weeks you will be learning the basics of the Breton language through active teaching methods. An emphasis will be put on adapting Skol an Emsav's experience to your needs all year long. You will have your level recognized at the end of the year through the European language scale. The course will teach you how to introduce yourself, to speak about your family and your surrounding environment. More importantly, you will be having fun doing so! What is Breton language exactly anyway? For starters, Breton has nothing to do with French which is a Latin language. Breton is most similar to Welsh, Cornish, and Irish because it is from the Celtic language family tree. Breton was brought from the British Isles to what is now Brittany by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages, Since then, the language has been at the heart of the culture and traditions of Brittany, even while the French government has tried its best to make it go away. Those persistent efforts from French authorities has seen the number of Breton speakers decrease from over 1 million in 1950 to under 200,000 today. Breton is now classified as "severely endangered" by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. The grassroots work to create Breton language immersion and bilingual programs by locals in Brittany has been successful, and there are now as a result nearly 15,000 children learning Breton everyday. Now is your chance to learn a very cool celtic language from anywhere in the world. Why does it make sense to learn another language? 1. Give your brain a boost! 🧠 Breton is over a thousand years old and has its own intricate system of rules, structures, and lexis. Our brains like to be challenged and cope with complexity as it makes sense of and absorbs new patterns. Learning a new language helps develop cognitive thinking and problem-solving. The collective evidence from a number of such studies shows that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function — a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems, and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. 2. Improve Memory & Multi-Task like a pro! 🤓 Learning a new language is like a workout for your brain. Jumping from one language to another and thinking in a different language helps sharpen the mind making us better multi-taskers. Studies have also shown that bilinguals may have a resistance to the onset of dementia, being diagnosed, on average, 4.5 years later than their aging monolingual peers. This may be due to the additional white matter bilingual speakers in the prefrontal cortex. White matter is made of nerve fibers and is a component of the brain that connects and carries signals between different regions. It appears that we can state that speaking multiple languages creates a more “connected” brain. 3. See the World Differently! 🌎 Being multilingual offers the advantage of seeing the world from different viewpoints, enhancing our ability to communicate in today’s globally connected world. Language learning gives us a sneak-peek into different worlds and cultures allowing us to be more flexible and appreciative of other people’s opinions and actions. When you learn the Breton language, you will not only get the change to discover a new culture, history, and people - you'll also get the chance of viewing the world with a Celtic lens.  Celui qui aime les chats a une belle femme (proverbe breton) Breizh Amerika is partnering with Rising Voices and our friends at the Living Tongues Institute, First Peoples’ Cultural Council, Indigenous Tweets, Endangered Languages Project, and the Digital Language Diversity Project to use social media to promote and celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity on the internet. In celebration of UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day 2018, we invite you take part in this new and fun challenge to take place February 14-21, 2018! Mother Language Day was founded to promote and celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity around the world, with a special emphasis on indigenous, minority, heritage, and endangered languages. Your Challenge: Join the movement and participate by creating an original meme in your mother language, add a hashtag, and share with others around the world. [More info] Dedeadenn meme ar yezh vamm
Kas war-raok ha lidañ liesseurted ar sevenadurioù hag ar yezhoù war internet dre ar mediaoù sokial. Pedet oc’h da gemer perzh en dedeadenn nevez ha plijus-se, etre ar14 hag an 21/02. Lidet vo Devezh Etrebroadel ar Yezh Vamm 2017 an UNESCO d’an 21/02 da zont. Krouet eo bet Devezh ar Yezh Vamm evit kas war-raok ha lidañ liesseurted ar yezhoù hag ar sevenadurioù dre ar bed a-bezh, en ur lakaat ar pouez, dreist-holl, war ar yezhoù bro, minoret, kontet evel glad, hag a zo en arvar. An difi : Deuit ‘barzh ar jeu ha kemerit perzh en ur grouiñ ur meme dibar en ho yezh vamm deoc’h-c’hwi, ouzhpennit un hashtag hag eskemmit buan hag aes gant tud all dre ar bed a-bezh.  Fañch, born 11 mai 2017 in Quimper (Finistère). (photo credit: Florence Malésieux / FRANCE 3) A young couple from Brittany, France could never have imagined the breton name they'd chosen for their newborn would create such a judicial firestorm. The use of the name "Fañch" was banned in September by a tribunal in Quimper stating that the letter "ñ" was incompatible with French law. A decision that has prompted the Regional Council of Brittany to petition the Minister of Justice of France to allow the name. Brittany, the western most peninsula of France, has long had a tradition of un-French sounding names and places names due to the extensive use of the Breton, a celtic language native to the area. French policing of names has lighted since a court ruling in the 1966 allowing Breton names to be officially used administratively. The court ruling in Quimper on September 13th was surprising to many as Breton names have become very popular throughout Brittany. The bewildering ruling forbid the use of the letter ñ stating, ""would be tantamount to breaking the will of our rule of law to maintain the unity of the country and equality without distinction of origin"*. The letter ñ is common in Breton language but also Spanish, Basque, Galicien, Asturien, Guarani, Tagalog, Hassanya, and Wolof. The court's ruling also stated that ñ was not part of the French language, a reason for it not being used in names. A theory debunked a few days later by Bernez Rouz, President of the Culture Council of Brittany, when he presented numerous official French documents highlighting the use of the letter ñ for centuries, proving it in fact to be part of French orthographic tradition. The Region Council of Brittany voted this week to solicit the Minister of Justice to ask for the authorization of the diacritical sign and stating that its use in no way threatens the national unity of France. The September 13th court decision is currently being appealed but the affair seems to have many in France questioning why only one official language is recognized in a Republic.where many others are native to the country.  Film retraçant la tournée des 7 villes américaines de la Breizh Amerika Collective La tournée "BREIZH ON THE ROAD ... AGAIN" a présenté des spectacles à Detroit, à St Louis, à Chicago, à La Nouvelle-Orléans, à Lafayette, à Scott et à Arnaudville, en s'engageant et créant des liens avec des organisations et des acteurs locaux afin de développer de nouveaux réseaux et de nouvelles relations pour sensibiliser le public autour de la question la culture et de la langue bretonne qui sont sévèrement en danger, et pour promouvoir la Fête de la Bretagne à travers les USA. L'initiative «BREIZH AMERIKA COLLECTIVE» réunit des musiciens innovants de Bretagne et des États-Unis, sensibles aux traditions menacées, pour collaborer sur la création et à la production de nouvelle musique, tout en développant des liens transatlantiques durables de coopération et de compréhension. Breizh-Amerika en breton signifie Bretagne-Amérique (l'UNESCO énumère la langue bretonne comme gravement en danger). Film retracing the 7 city USA tour of the Breizh Amerika Collective The "BREIZH ON THE ROAD...AGAIN" tour performed shows in Detroit, St Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, Lafayette, Scott and Arnaudville engaging and partnering with local community organizations and actors to foster new networks and relations while growing awareness for endangered Breton culture and language, and promoting the Fête de la Bretagne across the USA. The "BREIZH AMERIKA COLLECTIVE" initiative brings together innovative musicians from Brittany, France and the United States of America to collaboratively work to create and produce original music, bring awareness to endangered traditions, while developing durable Transatlantic links of cooperation and understanding. Breizh-Amerika in Breton language means Brittany-America (UNESCO lists Breton language as severely endangered).  Krouiñ liammoù etre ar gwellañ embregerezhioù ha startups eus Breizh hag Amerika eo pal pennañ ar c'henstrivadeg "Breizh Amerika Startup". Kavet e vez dija e-barzh ar jeu, 'kostez an Amerika, pennoù bras bed ar startups hag an teknologiezh gant renerien Venture kapitalist evel FF Venture Capital et DFJ Gotham Ventures pe kevelerien gant startups hag embreregezhioù evel VentureOut, Skaled, CommonBond, Google, Etsy, Tech Meetup ha kalz a re all ouzhpenn. Fonnus e vo ar program met un degouezh kaer e vo evit pep embregerezh pe startup breizhad prest da greskiñ d'an daou lamm ruz war ar brasañ marc'had zo er bed Evit lakaat hoc'h anv evit ar genstrivaded : Etre ar 1añ a viz C'hwevrer hag ar 17 a viz Meurzh Kasit dre internet ho toser enskrivañ ! Evit piv eo ? : Digor eo ar "Breizh Amerika Startup Contest" : d'an holl embregerezhioù pe startups staliet e Breizh (29, 56, 22, 35, 44), gant m' az int bet nevez krouet (abaoe 5 bloaz d'ar muiañ). Youl ha startijenn ganto da labourat er Stadoù-Unanet. DIBAB : Studiet e vo pep doser war ar renk gant ur juri ; embregerien, CEO ha renerien embregerezhioù breizhad hag amerikan ennañ Peur ?: "ACCELERATEUR" e NEW YORK CITY* evit an 3 embregerezh/startup loreat. Adalek ar 8 betek an 13 a viz Mae |
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Breizh Amerikais an organization established to create, facilitate, promote, and sponsor wide-ranging innovative and collaborative cultural and economic projects that strengthen and foster relations and cooperation between the United States of America and the region of Brittany, France. 
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