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International Fund for the Alsatian Language (IFAL)
Join us to save Lady liberty’s mother Language, the strongest element of the Alsatian identity and heritage, she shares with Marlon Brando, Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmermann), the Marx Brothers, William Wyler, General Pershing, Lawrence Welk, Firestone, Mime Marceau, Nobel prices Albert Schweitzer, Alfred Kastler, and Hans Albrecht Bethe, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the Amish and Yiddish community and more…
In April 2002, the program "Friejohr fer unsri Sproch" (A spring for our language) was launched in Alsace to revive the Alsatian language which according to a recent study is now spoken by fewer than 5% of Alsatian children under the age of 10. According to the latest census, 548,000 people still speak the language, out of a total population of 1,700,000. This program aims at mobilizing the energies of citizens, associations and organizations to promote and expand the use of our language. Since its inception early this year, the initiative has generated more than 300 exhibitions and other events in Alsace.
Recently, the Language Fund made its first impact. Benoit Meister, Vice-president of L’Union Alsacienne brought a check of $7200 to the Alsatian bilingual school of ABCM Bindernheim-Muttersholtz, which gathers 52 children from both sides of the Rhine (see article in French). The donation will be used to help open new facilities in Muttersholtz.
Read more about the History of the Fund.
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