Talk:Alan Stivell

I went to the Article Alan Stivell in English from the one in french; how can be answered "no article"?

E1

article about Alan Stivell

There are some mistakes that I will correct as soon as possible; for exemple,Breton language was not moribond in the 50s, still the more spoken celtic language, even if it was going down; "Symphonie Celtique / Tir na nOg" was out in 1979; albums as "Again" where not very experimental as said; Alan's last album is: Explore (2006);

E2

Jus what do you mean in the E1? I do notice that the interwiki is not done both ways... I'll see about it, but if you mean something more, please explain.

And begging pardon, but as a Frenchman and Breton, I can confirm that the language IS moribund now, as it is only taught in a tiny number of schools, and used as the teaching medium in even less, the number of families that use it on a daily basis is not enough to renew the speaker base, moreover, those families are breic'h atao diehards, not people who've always spoken it as their mother language... and in the 50s, is was even worse, all the young folk were learning and using French, only the old, who'd not been to school were Breton only speakers, on only very rural folk were retaining it as their main language... BTW, even hardcore revivalist still have French for a first language. Breton is dying, it's native speaker base is even smaller, and less immersed than that of Scottish Gaelic... and even Irish is in deep trouble. --Svartalf 21:55, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

I think I mistaked, sorry;

E1

If you say that Breton IS moribund now, we can speak of it; if you still say "in the 50s", I am not ok. I live in Brittany and remember that in the late 70s the sound of Breton was listened about as often as French in the small boroughs of Lower Brittany still . The term "moribund" sounds a bit to hard even now, if we consider that there are still more people speaking it than Icelandish and much more than Scots Gaelic. The official number in Lower Brittany is around 250000 speakers, around the same number in the rest of the world (total 500000). The big interest among the young generation gives hope that as soon a better official recognition will come (with Europe's help), the dying will be stopped as well as in Wales. Please don't discourage the thousands of peoples regularly marching in the streets claiming that a Breton is a human being equal to a Welsh.

E2

The sound of Breton was as common as French in the 70s? If you were in the real boonies, and dealing with people born well before WWII and without formal education... maybe, but the generations born after 1920 are primarily French speaking, and Breton speakers nowadays usually learned it as as second language. Those who speak it at home nowadays usually do so out of political or cultural convictions rather than because it's what they spoke at home as children. And where do you take those numbers from? Do 250.000 speakers mean those who have been taught some Breton at any given time, those fluent enough to speak it on a daily basis without aids, or those who claim Breton as their mother language? Because, only the first possibility does not make me feel that the claim is pure bull... 500 000 native (or native fluency) speakers worldwide... I don't believe that. The language is currently under intensive care, but it's a museum piece, not a vector of daily expression or literary creation... We may hope the trend will reverse itself, but French has done a thorough job of becoming the language for economic success and relegating Breton to a relic of folklore. And I've spent extensive periods in lower Brittany from the 70s to the 90s, and not just in cities and large towns; so if Breton were in common use as a vector language, I guess I'd know. --Svartalf 22:20, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Breton as a living language

I want to take part in the discussion about the Breton language. I agree with E2. I have not only went to Brittany a day or another, I live in this country. i know that what says E2 is true. And you can also refer to the more pessimistic studies, written by Fanch Broudig who is about the same numbers, even if he forgets that a number of people from Celtic Brittany live in Roman Brittany (Rennes/Roazhon at least); that many Breton live in Paris and the rest of France, a number of them speaking Breton, a number quoted officially in USA. To be so pessimistic, as the way you get rid of the writers, poets, artists dayly writing in Breton, having a big anser among the ausience old and young, looks as if you were helping (in what interests?) the french purpose to kill totally a part of the Human Culture.