Let us speak!

Berlin spricht! is a project that documents the linguistic diversity in the urban area of Berlin. The goal is to support speakers of different languages in preserving their languages in Berlin and to promote contacts between language communities in Berlin and scholars.

Berlin is home to people from over 180 countries with different migration backgrounds and histories, who at the same time speak a variety of very different languages, including small and endangered languages. In addition, there are representatives of the 7 native minority languages and also some planned languages such as Esperanto are actively lived in the city. This individual and social diversity is part of the cultural heritage of mankind. Their appreciation is an essential prerequisite for successful social coexistence in urban areas.

With our language map “Languages of Berlin”, we want to make a contribution to improving coexistence in urban areas: The online map documents the urban language diversity of the Berlin area interactively and dynamically. The project is modeled on the “Languages of New York City” project.