Yet, all the same, only 3% of France's schoolchildren today receive any teaching in their regional languages.

ECONOMIST: How multilingual is France?

The European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages was set up to try and oversee policies on regional languages.

BBC: Minority language statement

The commentary would be in Urdu and English languages at the beginning and later regional languages will also be introduced for the benefit of visitors.

UNESCO: NATURAL SCIENCES

The second was the recent refusal by President Jacques Chirac to change the French constitution to give recognition to regional languages such as Corsican, a dialect closer to Italian than French.

ECONOMIST: Corsica

The EU funds projects to promote regional minority languages, such as the European minority language song contest , and participation at the UN forum on minorities.

BBC: Minority language statement

After all, it was only three years ago that Mr Chirac came out in favour of endorsing the regional-languages charter adopted by the Council of Europe in 1992.

ECONOMIST: The French language

As Catherine Trautmann explained last year, when she was culture minister, it was in France's interest to ratify the Council of Europe's charter that protects regional and minority languages.

ECONOMIST: How multilingual is France?

Innovation comes in a variety of forms and one of the tough ones is new market entry, negotiating local and regional cultural differences and new languages.

FORBES: Baidu Says No To Google Glass But Does Have New Horizons

CNN, still the only broadcaster to make money in the pan-European market, has launched a European regional channel, and is starting to broadcast in European languages.

ECONOMIST: Unsnoozing the continental news

State education was to be conducted in both languages and the use of Catalan made compulsory in regional-and local-government offices.

ECONOMIST: Catalans versus Hollywood