remained, most of them supporting the partisan movement. After the war, Gottscheerish was forbidden. Today there are only a few speakers left, most of them in Moschnitze valley (Črmošnjiško-Poljanska dolina) between Kočevske Poljane and Črmošnjice, others today mainly know standard German. Recognition Gottscheerish and German, though autochthonous to Slovenia, have no official status and are not protected by law. Czech and Slovak Czech and Slovak, which used to be the fourth largest minority language in Slovenia prior to World War II (after Italian, German, Hungarian, Croatian and Serbian), is now the native languages of a few hundred Slovenian residents. Foreign languages Historically, German was the lingua franca of Central European space and was perceived as the language of commerce, science and literature in Slovenia. Consequently, German used to be the first foreign language taught in schools. With the formation of Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croatian became the language of federal authorities and the first foreign language taught in school. Slovenes pick up Serbo-Croatian more easily than other foreign languages due to its relative linguistic similarity to Slovene, as both form the South Slavic dialect continuum. Nowadays, English has superseded it and is taught as the first foreign language throughout the country from pre-school onwards. German has, however, retained its strong position as an important language and is the most common second foreign language in high schools. According to the EU, Slovenia has the highest competence in German of any non-Germanic country, with only Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Denmark being higher. Other second foreign languages are Italian, Spanish, French and Hungarian. Among the five subjects in the Slovenian finishing exam (Matura), one foreign language—most commonly English—is compulsory. As a consequence of different foreign languages having been taught at different times, there is no prevailing foreign language knowledge in Slovenia. Younger generations know English and Serbo-Croatian well enough to communicate, whereas elder generations speak Serbo-Croatian better. There are also regional differences, especially among the knowledge of a second foreign language, with German being more frequently taught and used in Styria region, whereas residents of the Littoral region have better familiarity with Italian. Notes References