Ladin, still spoken in Northern Italy, is the oldest language in the central Dolomites
For a long period of time, Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language, was dismissed as dialect. Nowadays, however, it represents the third official language in South Tyrol, besides Italian and German, and is approved in Italy as a minority language. There are different publications as well as radio and television broadcasts in Ladin, in order to maintain and promote the language. Moreover it is spoken at school in the Val Gardena and Val Badia valleys.
Ladin can be differentiated into five idioms:
- Maréo/Badiot (Val Badia valley, South Tyrol)
- Gherdëina (Val Gardena valley, South Tyrol)
- Fascian (Val di Fassa valley, Trentino)
- Anpezan (Ampezzo, Belluno)
- Fodom (Livinallongo, Belluno)
And how do you say…?
- good morning = bon dí
- good night = bona nuet
- how are you? = co vala?
- what are you doing today? = ce fesa ncuei ?
