Publications regarding the relation between minorities and States are very often based on strict and dichotomous categorizations, quite regularly in contradiction with mobility, which is rapidly developing in a globalized world. In those current changes, languages remain taboo: their repression allows the use of a lingua franca. Contemporary pressure calls for a redefinition of both linguistic rights and minorities. How can a language policy set up several decades ago take up the challenges of today’s minorities, migrants, and expatriates? In this article, Romanis and Swedish-speaking Finns will serve as examples in order to better understand different linguistic situations and rethink the concept of a minority.