German Versus Italian In South Tyrol

Italian speakers visiting the South Tyrol region of Italy have increasingly found it difficult to understand signage in the area. The area is supposed to be bilingual: German and Italian, with road signs in both the German and Italian language. Yet, many of the signs found near the Austrian border have only been written in the German language of late.

The organisation which replaces the signs, called Alpenverein, has been accused by Italian-speakers of deliberately putting up signs only in German in order to assert their linguistic and cultural dominance.“We feel like foreigners in our own country,” said Giuseppe Broggi, the regional president of the Italian Alpine Club.

Read more about the language spat in the South Tyrol area of Italy>>