Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg


The Public Office for the Breton Language was established on 15 October 2010 as a public institution, with state and regional cooperation and funding, to promote and develop teaching and use of the Breton language in daily life. It is an example of language revival efforts for minority languages in France.

Mission

One of its missions is to collect and distribute socio-linguistic data, in order to approach language revival with a basis in science and facts. It must collect data on the Breton language and publish it, and advise communes on bilingual signage and place names.
It supports TermBret, the cooperative terminology service which publishes glossaries. In addition, it assists individuals, administrations and businesses who want to use the Breton language.

History

It was established to replace the Ofis ar Brezhoneg/Office de la langue bretonne, created on 1 May 1999 by the Region of Brittany. That office had a similar mission and worked mostly to promote use of Breton in daily life. In 2001 it initiated Ya d'ar brezhoneg, an effort to encourage businesses to adopt use of Breton and provide bilingual resources, as well as to encourage communes to establish bilingual signs and tourist materials.

Finance and organisation

The Office is now an Établissement public de coopération culturelle, a public institution run by a board of directors. They represent local authorities and the French state. It is presided over by Lena Louarn, a councillor elected in the Regional Council of Brittany. The Office is based in Carhaix, where its director Fulup Jakez works. The Observatory of the Breton Language, led by the deputy director Olier ar Mogn, is located in Rennes.
Before October 2010, the OPB was an independent regional association, led by Lena Louarn between 1999 and 2010. Its budget of €1 million was primarily funded by the Brittany Region.

Breton language

The Office participates in the promotion of Breton courses for adults. It has published data on participation in and centers for Breton courses for adults:
In the year 1998-1999, 9,300 adults followed a course. Of those, 1,200 were in Upper Brittany. At the time, a total of 165 organizations organised evening courses in Brittany and 28 outside Brittany.

In 2003, the Office prepared and published a road map of Brittany in the Breton language..