26 February 2006
ueila
ueila is the
greeting locals use for their friends here in the
ober engadin. the native dialect is rumantsch. the
local farming families in val fex and in
sils-baselgia and sils/seglias still speak it.
of course at one end of the valley school is taught in italian and in st. moritz it’s high german. years ago the silly hotels insisted. now they all have portuguese workers it’s too late and the locals have lost their heritage.
it’s great to watch the children learn to speak two or three languages as if it’s entirely normal which it is in this valley. don’t you wish you could go back and start again ...
of course at one end of the valley school is taught in italian and in st. moritz it’s high german. years ago the silly hotels insisted. now they all have portuguese workers it’s too late and the locals have lost their heritage.
it’s great to watch the children learn to speak two or three languages as if it’s entirely normal which it is in this valley. don’t you wish you could go back and start again ...