Breton loses half of its speakers in six years
In Brittany, the population that speaks Breton very well or quite well is 2.7%, three points less than in 2018. Today it is 107,000. The speakers are younger. The number of Welsh speakers has also decreased, but not at the same rate as the Breton language.
This is the second time that sociolinguistic research has been carried out in Brittany to study the knowledge and use of the Breton and Gallo languages. Thus, the results are comparable and do not provide much opportunity for joy or relief.
Between August and November 2024, 8,336 Breton citizens were interviewed by telephone by the TMO institute, which conducts opinion polls and studies. Given the answers they gave, 2.7% of Britons say they are able to speak Breton very well or quite well. In the 2018 study, 5.7% reported this response. If there were 214,000 speakers six years ago, today there are 107,000. This is knowledge of language.
The speaker is, on average, younger than six years ago. If the average was 70 years in 2018, the 2024 average was 58.5 years. Rejuvenation has occurred due to two events that go in the opposite direction: on the one hand, speakers over 70 years of age have decreased due to deaths, and on the other hand, the number of speakers between 15 and 24 years of age has increased and the number between 25 and 39 years of age has remained.
They learn the language at school
The family transmission continues to decline. From 2018 to 2024 it fell by ten points. Instead, children are learning Breton in schools. It has increased by ten points over a six-year period. When asked about their adherence to the language, the result remains the same: 64% say they feel an attachment to Breton. 49% believe that the use of the Breton language will continue or increase over the next ten years.
In 2019, journalist Jonmikel Intsausti interviewed the director of a school called Diwan, which teaches in the Breton immersion model. In this interview, director Marc’harid Bouffaut-Merdy clearly explained the disruption of family language transmission and the effort to revitalize language through school: “90% of the students’ parents are not Breton speakers.”
The Gala is slowing down
In Brittany, galo is another language spoken in addition to Breton. It currently has 132,000 speakers, 3.3% of the population. Since 2018 it has fallen by 1.8 points. If this figure is taken into account, today there are more Galo speakers than Breton speakers, as Breton is known to 107,000 people. Galo speakers, as has been the case with the Breton language, are on average younger than six years ago. It has dropped from 60 to 56.5 years.
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