New Britain herald., 1930-07-25
MINORITY GROUPS
 B0THER|NG ITALY
Austrians, French, and Slays All Constitute Problems

Rome, July 25 UP3-There are three regions of Italy where a large proportion of the population speaks another language than Italian; the South Tyrol,> or Upper Adige; the ex-Slav provinces of Gorizia and Po- la and the Val d'Aosta.
 The 100000 Germans of the South Tyrol speak their original German, the Italian citizens of Slav stock in the region of Julian Venetia, com prising the provinces of Gorizia and Pola, speak either Croat or Slovene, but chiefly the former. In Val d'Aosta. the inhabitants speak French as we'll as Italian. There are also one or two districts in Calabria where the inhabitants speak Alban- ian, there being old Albanian colon- ies at San Demetrio Corome which maintain their old national dress and costumes.
 Italy moreover, is extremely rich in dialects. There are score of principal ones, and many sub-divi- sions. So different are these dia- lects that it is practically impossible, for instance, for a Sardinian peasant to understand countryman of Pied mont. A townsman of Bologna would find it difficulty to talk with a native of the interior of Sicily, un- less both were educated people and spoke Italian in addition to their native dialect.
 These are hardly language prob lems though, and the lattar may be summed up in the position of the 100000 Austrian origin citizens of the province of Bolzano in the South Tyrol and the folk of Slav stock, numbering about 100000 in the provinces of Gorizia and Pola.
 With passage of time, the problem of dual languages in the Italian Tyrol or Upper Adige. as it is off, cially called here, and in the Slav provinces of Julian Venetia has be- come inevitably less acute.
 The position take up by the Ital- ian government with regard to these two provinces containing citizens who passed under the Italian flag as a consequence of the Treaty of St. Germain,in September, 1919 is simi- lar both in eX-Austrians- and ex- Slavs.
 In the elementary secondary and middle schols, the lessons are given solely in the Italian language, and the use of German or Slav is not per mitted. Until 3. few years ago, & mid way course was taken for these citizens of non-Italian stock. The Italian education was partly helped out with a limited use of German and SIav in the case of children to whom Italian was completely non- understandable The necessity for this now practically has passed, and, as a general rule. itnay be said that the inhabitants of the Upper Adige living in the province of Bolzano, the Bozen of Austria, are mostly bi- lingual. In the heart of the country and among the lonely mountain vil- lages of the South Tyrol, there are many cases where, owing to the age of the inhabitants, little Italian is spoken, but in the towns the use of the two languages is everywhere customary.
 The same state prevails in the Slav province of Julian Eenetia where the use of Italian among the former subjects Of the Austrian En- pire was more general before the war than the use of Italian among the inhabitants of the South Tyrol,
 Just as among themselves, the German families of the South Tyrol speak German, so the Slavs of the provinces of Gorizia and Pola con- tinue to speak their old tongues among themselves.
 All public acts, that is court docu- ments. birth, death and marriage certificates are now exclusively is sued in Italian both in the South