Summary and Prospects

Language Policies

Currently, the national government recognizes Romansh as one of its national languages. Also, it is recognized as an official language in the Canton of Graubunden. This means that for citizens of Graubunden, legal documents, laws, and ballots must be available in Romansh.

Language Promotion

In order to promote the Romansh language, it is taught in both Romansh and Bilingual schools to pass the language on to children. In addition to this, Lia Rumantscha provides access to learning materials, dictionaries, books and media, and information about special interest grouos that support the use of Romansh in politics. 

Schooling Environments

In the school environment, there are schools that identify as Romansh and Bilingual. In Romansh schools, children are typically taught in Romansh up until their later school years, when they are taught in both Romansh and German typically (Prout, 2001). In Bilingual schools, children are taught in both German and Romansh, although more commonly in German(Gross, 2017). The Romansh community is split on their opinion as to whether children should exclusively be taught in Romansh in order to keep their language and culture alive, or whether to introduce them to German from an early age to give them better economic opportunities.

Media Resources

Since Romansh is widely used by older generations, there is not a lot of modern media for younger generations to learn from. However, Lia Rumantsch is working to create cultural, visual, and audio media to share within the community. Some examples of this are books, songs, and plays all in Romansh. Lia Rumantsch helps to fund members of the community with projects such as these in order to increase access to it (Lia Rumantscha).

Writing System

All dialects of Romansh have a writing system, as their language is both spoken and written. Their literature is typically older materials such as the Bible and old historical accounts. There has been a challenge to incorporate it into newer media materials (Omniglot, Romansh (rumantsch)).

Resources On The Web

While looking on the web, it is hard to find a lot of different resources for the Romansh language. There are some youtube videos about Romansh speakers, as well as the online resource Lia Rumantsch, which has many resources for Romansh people to access (Lia Rumantscha).

Prospects

If the Romansh- speaking communities do not create more need to use Romansh in their younger speakers, the language may not survive. With social media, they could encourage the younger generation to use Romansh more than just with their parents and grandparents. If they can accomplish that, then the language will have a much better chance of surviving.