Sorbian

There is no language census in Germany, and the last comprehensive survey of Lower Sorbian dates from 1993–1995¹.

Saxon public authorities cite about 60,000 Sorbs, including 20,000 Lower Sorbs in Brandenburg and 40,000 Upper Sorbs in Saxony; according to a Leipzig University study (2024), these figures for ethnic affiliation are often mistaken for speaker numbers¹. The latest scholarly estimate (Lewaszkiewicz, 2014) puts the number of people able to communicate actively at no more than 8,500 for Upper Sorbian and 1,000 for Lower Sorbian¹.

Lower Sorbian: the 2024 study estimates the number of competent speakers at 50 to 100, and those who learned it as a first language at fewer than 100¹. The WITAJ Language Centre in Cottbus knows of 15 families in which at least one parent speaks Sorbian to the children¹.

Sorbian rights are governed by two state laws: in Saxony, the Act on the Rights of the Sorbs of 31 March 1999⁴; in Brandenburg, the Sorbs/Wends Act of 7 July 1994, last amended on 5 March 2024, which recognises the Sorbs/Wends as an "equal part of the people of the State" and defines their traditional settlement area³. The final delimitation of that area in Brandenburg is still pending, after rulings of the Cottbus administrative court were appealed².

Germany applies the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages to Upper Sorbian in Saxony and Lower Sorbian in Brandenburg². In September 2023, the Brandenburg Landtag decided to accept 13 additional undertakings for Lower Sorbian; the federal procedure had not been completed by early 2026².

The Foundation for the Sorbian People is funded by the Federation (three sixths), Saxony (two sixths) and Brandenburg (one sixth); a fifth funding agreement is to cover 2026–2030². Since 1 May 2025, the Civil Code allows gender-specific surname forms in accordance with Sorbian tradition².

Saxony: within the Sorbian settlement area, everyone may use Sorbian before Saxon authorities, with the same legal effect as German and without costs or disadvantages; public signage there is to be bilingual⁴. The right to use Sorbian before the courts of the home districts is guaranteed, including for written applications and documents². Each of the 42 municipalities of the settlement area receives about €5,000 a year for the extra costs of bilingualism, supported by a central service office in Hoyerswerda². Since April 2025, a commissioner of the Saxon government coordinates Sorbian affairs across ministries².

Brandenburg: within the settlement area, Lower Sorbian may be used before state and municipal authorities with the same legal effect as German; public buildings, streets, squares, bridges and place-name signs must be labelled in German and Lower Sorbian³. Since July 2025, several online administrative services on the service.brandenburg.de portal (driving licences, business registration, etc.) are available in Lower Sorbian².

Saxony: in January 2022, about 2,900 pupils were learning Sorbian, 2,250 of them under the bilingual "2plus" concept (16 schools) and 650 as a foreign language (11 primary schools)⁵. The 2plus concept was evaluated by Leipzig University, and the Sorbian Institute carried out language proficiency tests with pupils in year 8².

Brandenburg: at the Lower Sorbian Grammar School in Cottbus, Sorbian is compulsory up to the school-leaving exam; from 1994–95 to 2022–23, 1,652 pupils studied it there up to the final year¹. The state programme supporting nurseries that offer Sorbian was revised in September 2025 and extended to three years (2026–2028)². The Brandenburg University of Technology is preparing a primary-teacher training course in Sorbian in Senftenberg; secondary teachers continue to be trained at Leipzig University².

Adults: the ZORJA immersion project took in its first group of 12 people in September 2023, for ten months of full-time courses¹.

Public radio and television: "MDR Sachsen – Serbski rozhłós" broadcasts 25.5 hours a week in Upper Sorbian from the Bautzen studio, and RBB broadcasts Lower Sorbian programmes from Cottbus; the "MDR Serbja" and "rbb serbski" apps bundle their Sorbian content². A member of the Sorbian people has sat on the MDR broadcasting council since December 2021². No private programme entirely in Sorbian has been licensed in Saxony².

Film: the Sorbian-German film network "Łužycafilm" receives about €420,000 until 2031 from structural-change funds².

Press: the Domowina publishing house in Bautzen publishes Serbske Nowiny, Nowy Casnik and the review Rozhlad⁶.

The Saxon media authority has supported films about Sorbian life, partly shot in Sorbian: "winterlieb – libawka", "blaubeeren – cerne jogody" and "kohle – wuhlo"². In Brandenburg, all Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg funding (cinema, TV, series, games) is open to Lower Sorbian productions².