EU countries - borders

[Hhgsac]

Something I've been wondering about when 2 EU countries border each other, in the border towns/cities is there anything interesting with the languages and the dialects spoken? Like is a hybrid, are there loan words?

I know, I’ve always found this interesting where each country speaks a different language!

I don't know about all of them but definitely heard Alsacienne being spoken (if that's the correct name for the language) when in Alsace.

Yes European languages have hybrid versions on the borders—there's Swiss German and Swiss Italian. Galician is basically Portuguese. Catalan and Occitan have elements of French and Spanish. Lots of other examples.

No idea. However, what I found weird was when we went to Geneva, we just walked over the border into France. We paid in Swiss francs in Switzerland and then Euros in France, all just by crossing the road!

In Scandinavia, near the border for instance between Norway and Sweden and Sweden - Denmark. Languages would be more similar, for instance I am from mid Sweden and would understand certain Norwegian dialects very well as we could have a normal conversation, I am struggling with Danish though but if I was living in the south of Sweden where the dialect is different I could understand Danish much better. So the nearer the border the more align are the languages. This does not apply to Finland as their language is from a totally different language root than scandinavian languages. I am not sure how they do it, there are minority languages up there that would be spoken and lots of Finns used to be forced to lean Swedish.

There is this interesting town between Belgium and the Netherlands, where the border goes right through the town, I would assume that they would understand each other

Very interesting

We spent a few days in Tallinn and ran across a few Estonian-Finnish friend groups who spoke English to each other rather than either native language.

Galatian and. Catalan are 2 very old official languages. Not a hybrid, although they are simular to Portuguese and French.

Here in Wales many people speak Wenglish.

There are train stations with multiple names. Aachen and aux-la-chapelle I think from memory

and Belgium / the manager you speak depends where you are - I think it’s French in the south

Estonian and Finnish are related and have many similar words, but they're not the same and a Finn would not understand a conversation in Estonian.

Listen to the language evolve from the Scottish Borders down to Newcastle and Yorkshire / although the Scot’s is considered a language and Geordie a dialect that

Yes this, but it is dying off a bit with older generations.

Yes I was being simplistic calling them hybrids, they are their own languages. Point is around the borders there are a lot of unique dialects still, and the concept of standardised national languages is fairly modern. A century or so ago there would have been a noticeable gradual change in the dialects if you travelled through e.g. Southern Europe, with neighbouring regions mutually intelligible.

I live in Basel Switzerland that borders both France and Germany. Basel is Swiss German speaking, but does borrow some French words, like people will often say merci for thank you. And across the border in France, Alsatian is still widely spoken by the older generation - it's a German dialect, not French.

My experience is the same as @Sweetleftfood. I live in the Netherlands on the German border and the local dialects are similar. We can speak our own languages and understand each other perfectly well. Some words are the same, and the vowel pronunciations are similar.
Funnily enough, my son had to repeat a question 3 times when we were in the north of the Netherlands as the girl didn't understand him. He spoke with his usual dialect and had to switch to 'proper' Dutch.

The town criss-crossed by the border is Baarle-Hertog/ Baarle-Nassau.
It's a very odd place!

🤔 I think often the local population speaks both languages or a dialect that represents both.

However, I grew up mear a border, speking both languages although much more fluent in my native language.
There is a 3rd language, which is unique to the area but it's not really spoken anymore but I believe past generations were able to speak and understand on both sides of the border. (It's a bit like Welsh in the UK without the drive to preserve it.)
To this day it's very clear that you leave X and entering Y country through road signs, shops and names of towns and villages This is, despite being in the heart of Europe. But then, maybe I am more aware of it through growing up in the area.

I live on a border of two countries. Everyone speaks both languages

Thanks for also sharing this interest!

We noticed on holiday in Perpignan and Beziers - near the French/Spanish border - that while French was the main language, Spanish was used more. So for example we went to a wine festival in Beziers and the band played popular songs in English, French and Spanish and there is a local chant (sung it seems at all civic and sporting events in Beziers) that goes "Aqui! Aqui es Beziers". In Perpignan agua limon rather than citronnade or citron presse was advertised everywhere.

Also in the train stations and on trains some information and announcements were in French, Spanish and English - however I noticed this on the RER in Paris as well so it may be a more France wide thing post Olympics perhaps?

I was amazed stepping over the border between Germany and the Czech republic - no overlap what so ever. Language and money changed completely in about 6 feet!

There are three languages spoken in Italy's Tyrol. German, Italian and Ladin. The latter is a language similar to Latin and only spoken in that region. I think most countries where borders have shifted back and forth over the centuries will have fairly significant linguistic and historical ties with each other.

Assuming it's the part of Belgium where they speak Flemish rather than French, then yes, they would.

What I would like to know is whether kids who live in this town have to go to school on their side of the border.

The one that got me (even thought I know about the rather fraught language restrictions) is Belgium. We got a train from Brussels (mainly French speaking but everything in French and Flemish) to Leuven (Flemish speaking) and in the space of 30 minutes we went from French but with bilingual announcements and signs to only Flemish - no French whatsoever. In fact we found out very quickly the locals preferred to speak English to you if you (like many non Belgian people!) don't speak much Flemish.