Multilingualism in Alsace

"Le multilinguisme en Alsace"
French C1 writing exercise

Find out which languages are spoken in Alsace.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "multiligual/multilingualism", "to keep [a concept] alive and well", "so much so that...", "Alsace/Alsatian", "a peculiarity", "a factor", "uniquely", "to foster the development of...", "a dialect", "eventful history", "to alternate between...control", "sovereignty", "to take place (study)", "to state [something]".

Written by qualified French expert Céline Pickard PGCE, BA
Last updated: 2023-08-03

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise
How the test works
You’ll practise: Le Passé Composé (Indicatif), Article, Pronom d'objet direct

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

Did you know that the Alsace region has been multilingual for many centuries? Indeed, although French became France's official language in 1539, Alsace has kept its multilinguism alive and well, so much so that German and the Alsatian language are still spoken there to this day. This linguistic peculiarity can be explained by several factors. First, Alsace is uniquely situated on the border between France and Germany, which gives it a strategic position that has fostered the development of multiple dialects in the region. Moreover, throughout its eventful history, Alsace has alternated between French and German control. These changes of sovereignty have directly influenced the languages used by the population. As for the Alsatian language, according to a study which took place in 2012, 43% of the inhabitants stated that they spoke this dialect and 32% said that they understood it, whereas only 25% of Alsatians don't speak it at all.

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