How to Care About Endangered Languages
Ask yourself what your mother tongue means to you., Treat all languages as equal., Treat all cultures and people as equal., Read as much as you can about language communities, both thriving and dying., Support the learning of foreign languages...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Ask yourself what your mother tongue means to you.
Whether the language you were brought up speaking is English, Japanese, Cherokee, or Chulym, it has value to you.
It is how you see your world and it is what you are most comfortable using.
While you contemplate that, imagine yourself in a situation where you and one other person are the only two people left in the world who speak your mother tongue.
How would would you feel? Would you defend it? Protect it? What would the world lose when they lose the language you live and breathe? -
Step 2: Treat all languages as equal.
No one language is more or less important than any other. , No one person or culture is more or less important than any other.
We all have a message and something to bring the world. , You have to know about language communities and why languages are fading from the planet.
You also have to learn about what languages contain and why they are worth preserving.
A few Joe Average friendly book suggestions include:
Trip of the Tongue:
Cross Country Travels In Search of America's Languages, by Elizabeth Little.
The Last Speakers:
The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages, by K.
David Harrison.
Bastard Tongues:
A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World's Lowliest Languages, by Derek Bickerton.
Spoken Here:
Travels Among Threatened Languages, by Mark Abley.
The Prodigal Tongue:
Dispatches from the Future of English, by Mark Abley.
Outwitting History:
The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books, by Aaron Lansky. , English is not the only language spoken in the world.
Get yourself and others to dabble in at least one foreign language, be it French or Farsi or Navajo.
You don't have to be fluent, but you need to open your mind to how other human beings view the world through their languages.
If you're up for the language, teach yourself or study an endangered language.
The more speakers there are, the healthier the language will be! , This applies to all people regardless of where they live, but is especially important for those whose language is in a minority position.
You have to continue speaking your language in the face of others who think and tell you otherwise.
Languages carry your past, your present, and your future, and is an invaluable gift to give your children and those who listen to you.
All languages have value. -
Step 3: Treat all cultures and people as equal.
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Step 4: Read as much as you can about language communities
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Step 5: both thriving and dying.
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Step 6: Support the learning of foreign languages.
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Step 7: Continue speaking your own language.
Detailed Guide
Whether the language you were brought up speaking is English, Japanese, Cherokee, or Chulym, it has value to you.
It is how you see your world and it is what you are most comfortable using.
While you contemplate that, imagine yourself in a situation where you and one other person are the only two people left in the world who speak your mother tongue.
How would would you feel? Would you defend it? Protect it? What would the world lose when they lose the language you live and breathe?
No one language is more or less important than any other. , No one person or culture is more or less important than any other.
We all have a message and something to bring the world. , You have to know about language communities and why languages are fading from the planet.
You also have to learn about what languages contain and why they are worth preserving.
A few Joe Average friendly book suggestions include:
Trip of the Tongue:
Cross Country Travels In Search of America's Languages, by Elizabeth Little.
The Last Speakers:
The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages, by K.
David Harrison.
Bastard Tongues:
A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World's Lowliest Languages, by Derek Bickerton.
Spoken Here:
Travels Among Threatened Languages, by Mark Abley.
The Prodigal Tongue:
Dispatches from the Future of English, by Mark Abley.
Outwitting History:
The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books, by Aaron Lansky. , English is not the only language spoken in the world.
Get yourself and others to dabble in at least one foreign language, be it French or Farsi or Navajo.
You don't have to be fluent, but you need to open your mind to how other human beings view the world through their languages.
If you're up for the language, teach yourself or study an endangered language.
The more speakers there are, the healthier the language will be! , This applies to all people regardless of where they live, but is especially important for those whose language is in a minority position.
You have to continue speaking your language in the face of others who think and tell you otherwise.
Languages carry your past, your present, and your future, and is an invaluable gift to give your children and those who listen to you.
All languages have value.
About the Author
Jacqueline Flores
Writer and educator with a focus on practical cooking knowledge.
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