Whether you grew up speaking a Romance language or simply admire the cultures that shaped Europe and the Mediterranean, this project is for you. If your family, region, or community speaks a regional Romance language, you have the opportunity to help preserve a unique part of your identity and pass it on to future generations. If you are a language learner, traveler, historian, or cultural enthusiast, you can discover traditions, literature, music, and ways of life that have enriched humanity for centuries.

Every Romance language and dialect is a different world. By supporting their preservation, you help protect a remarkable cultural legacy and ensure that this remarkable heritage continue to inspire, educate, and connect people around the world.

Not always. In Romance linguistics, the term regional languages refers to languages that evolved independently from regional varieties of Vulgar Latin, in parallel with better-known Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and others. They are therefore not dialects of these national languages, but sister languages that share a common ancestor. While some regional varieties are indeed dialects, many possess their own grammar, history, literary traditions, and centuries of independent development. Their classification is based on linguistic and historical evidence—not simply on political borders, official status, or the number of speakers.

Some of these regional languages also have their own dialects. In certain cases, those dialects are regarded by some linguists as separate languages because they exhibit substantial differences in grammar, phonology, vocabulary, and historical development, or because they have developed distinct standardized orthographies, or strong sociolinguistic identities. As with many linguistic classifications, there is not always complete agreement, and the distinction between a language and a dialect may involve both linguistic and sociocultural factors.

For example, The Aranese language is a dialect of the Occitan language from a linguistic perspective, yet it is officially recognized as a language in Catalonia (Spain) due to its legal status and sociolinguistic identity. As with many linguistic classifications, the distinction between a language and a dialect may involve both linguistic and sociopolitical factors.

The importance of a language is not determined by the number of people who speak it, but by what it represents. Every language is the result of centuries of historical, cultural, and linguistic evolution. It preserves literature, oral traditions, place names, customs, music, knowledge, and unique ways of describing and understanding the world. Like a historic monument or an ancient manuscript, a language is a living record of human civilization.

Protecting cultural heritage is recognized by the laws of many countries and by international agreements as an essential responsibility. As an important part of a nation’s intangible cultural heritage, regional languages deserve to be documented, studied, and preserved for future generations

Absolutely. Learning a regional Romance language gives you access to a world that is often invisible to most people. It allows you to discover authentic literature, music, traditions, local history, and ways of thinking that are rarely available in major languages. It also deepens your understanding of how Romance languages evolved, making it easier to recognize the connections between languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and their regional counterparts.

Beyond its cultural value, there is growing scientific evidence that learning another language can benefit cognitive health. Research has associated bilingualism and multilingualism with improved attention, memory, problem-solving, cognitive flexibility, and greater cognitive reserve, which may help delay age-related cognitive decline in some individuals.

Yes. Technology is transforming the future of endangered languages in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Artificial intelligence, digital archives, online dictionaries, speech recognition, machine translation, and language-learning platforms are making it easier to document, study, and teach regional languages.

AI can also help speakers and learners create new content in these languages, including stories, articles, educational materials, subtitles, translations, and even conversations. This allows regional languages to expand into modern fields where they have traditionally been underrepresented, helping them remain relevant in the digital age. Tomorrow you’ll might just tell AI to write a story, a poem, or an article in Occitan, Sicilian, Norman, Venetian and it’ll be made right away for you.

No. Throughout history, countless nations have successfully combined a shared national language with regional languages. National languages promote communication and cohesion, while regional languages preserve local history, traditions, and cultural identity. These roles complement rather than contradict one another. Respecting regional languages does not weaken national unity—it reflects a nation’s confidence in embracing the full richness of its cultural heritage. In many democratic societies, protecting regional languages is also recognized as part of respecting cultural diversity, linguistic rights, and the historical identities of their communities.

No—but the opportunity is not unlimited. While some Romance regional languages are critically endangered, many still have active speakers, dedicated communities, researchers, and growing digital resources. History has shown that languages can recover when they receive community support, educational opportunities, institutional recognition, and public interest. One example of this is the revitalization of the Breton language, a Celtic language spoken in France (Brittany) which has experienced a remarkable revitalization movement through immersion schools, cultural initiatives, and community engagement, demonstrating that determined collective action can make a meaningful difference even after decades of decline.

Today, the outlook is more promising than ever. Digital technology, social media, and especially artificial intelligence are making it possible to create dictionaries, educational materials, translations, literature, subtitles, websites, and other content in regional languages at a scale that was unimaginable just a decade ago. What once required years of work can now often be accomplished in hours.

Absolutely. Romance regional languages are not only part of Europe’s heritage—they are part of humanity’s shared cultural legacy. They preserve centuries of history, literature, music, folklore, architecture, legal traditions, and knowledge that have influenced civilizations far beyond Europe. Understanding them provides a richer picture of how languages evolve, how cultures interact, and how societies develop over time.

Moreover, the Romance linguistic heritage extends well beyond Europe. Regional Romance languages and varieties continue to be spoken in many parts of the world, including the Americas. Examples include Talian in southern Brazil and Chipilo Venetian in Mexico, both of which preserve linguistic traditions brought by European immigrants and have developed their own unique histories outside Europe.

Whether you are interested in history, linguistics, literature, travel, or simply the diversity of human cultures, these languages offer a unique perspective on one of the world’s most influential civilizations. Preserving them is not only about protecting Europe’s past—it is about safeguarding a living part of humanity’s cultural and linguistic heritage that continues to evolve across continents.

Romance regional languages are living historical records. They preserve traces of ancient migrations, Roman settlement, medieval kingdoms, trade routes, cultural exchanges, and centuries of linguistic evolution that are often no longer visible in modern national languages. By studying them, historians and linguists can better understand how people lived, communicated, and interacted across different periods of history.

Many regional languages also preserve archaic words, grammatical features, and pronunciations that have disappeared from larger Romance languages, providing invaluable evidence for reconstructing the evolution of Latin and the development of the Romance language family. In many cases, they also preserve local traditions, place names, oral histories, and cultural practices that have survived for centuries.

Understanding Romance regional languages therefore means understanding not only the history of a language, but also the history of the people, societies, and civilizations that shaped Europe and, through migration, many other parts of the world

Absolutely. History shows that many successful language revitalization movements began with the determination of a relatively small number of people. The revitalization of Basque (Euskara), for example, was made possible through immersion schools (ikastolas), language standardization, supportive public policies, and the dedication of local communities. Today, Basque is used in education, the media, public administration, and everyday life, demonstrating that long-term commitment can reverse decades of decline.

Language diversity enriches humanity by preserving different ways of thinking, solving problems, and understanding the world. Every language reflects centuries of history, scientific knowledge, traditions, literature, philosophy, and cultural experience. Together, they provide a broader and more complete picture of human civilization than any single language could offer.

Just as biodiversity strengthens ecosystems, linguistic diversity strengthens human knowledge and culture. It encourages creativity, expands scientific research, deepens our understanding of history, and promotes mutual respect between cultures. Studying many languages also helps linguists reconstruct the past, trace human migrations, and better understand how societies and languages evolve.

Where there is community interest and sufficient resources, yes. Schools can play an essential role in preserving regional languages by giving new generations the opportunity to learn an important part of their local history, culture, and heritage. Teaching a regional language does not mean replacing the national language, but complementing it with a deeper understanding of the region’s identity and traditions.

When the last native speaker dies, a language usually ceases to exist as a living means of everyday communication. However, it does not necessarily disappear forever. If written records, dictionaries, grammars, audio recordings, or historical texts survive, it may still be studied, documented, and even revitalized.

The Dalmatian language is a well-known example. It became extinct as a native language with the death of its last known speaker, Tuone Udaina, in 1898. Although it is no longer spoken as a community language, it continues to be studied by linguists, and modern enthusiasts have even attempted to reconstruct and revive aspects of it using historical documentation

Today, digital technology and artificial intelligence make such efforts more achievable than ever. Historical texts can be analyzed, dictionaries expanded, educational materials created, and new stories, translations, and learning resources generated in languages that once had little or no modern content. While nothing can fully replace an unbroken tradition of native speakers, preserving documentation today greatly increases the possibility that future generations may once again learn, study, and even help revive these languages.