Comments on: New Australian program pledges millions towards endangered aboriginal languages http://blog.longnow.org/2009/08/14/new-australian-program-pledges-millions-towards-endangered-aboriginal-languages/ The Official Weblog of The Long Now Foundation and Friends Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:43:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Brian Barker http://blog.longnow.org/2009/08/14/new-australian-program-pledges-millions-towards-endangered-aboriginal-languages/comment-page-1/#comment-7837 Brian Barker Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:20:56 +0000 http://blog.longnow.org/2009/08/14/new-australian-program-pledges-millions-towards-endangered-aboriginal-languages/#comment-7837 Concerning the campaign to save endangered and dying languages, you interested in the contribution, made by the World Esperanto Association, to UNESCO's campaign. The commitment was made, by the World Esperanto Association at the United Nations' Geneva HQ in September. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7vD9kChBA&feature=related Your readers may be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva. A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net Concerning the campaign to save endangered and dying languages, you interested in the contribution, made by the World Esperanto Association, to UNESCO’s campaign.

The commitment was made, by the World Esperanto Association at the United Nations’ Geneva HQ in September.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7vD9kChBA&feature=related

Your readers may be interested in http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva.

A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

]]> By: William Crane http://blog.longnow.org/2009/08/14/new-australian-program-pledges-millions-towards-endangered-aboriginal-languages/comment-page-1/#comment-7800 William Crane Sat, 15 Aug 2009 01:26:33 +0000 http://blog.longnow.org/2009/08/14/new-australian-program-pledges-millions-towards-endangered-aboriginal-languages/#comment-7800 For each endangered language there exists an endangered culture in which it once thrived. I would hope that projects like these will draw attention not merely to the extinction of these languages, but to the decline in cultural diversity in the presence of the current predominant world culture. Dying alongside these languages are ways of life that have existed far longer than the civilization in which we live, and I'd like to think more could be accomplished than recording the last squeak, bark or roar of a species before it blinks out of existence forever. Saving the language (through translations and creating bilingual speakers inside and outside of the culture) could possibly help the culture to merge with surrounding cultures and actually speed its demise. Save the culture and save the language. This however is a much more difficult task. For each endangered language there exists an endangered culture in which it once thrived. I would hope that projects like these will draw attention not merely to the extinction of these languages, but to the decline in cultural diversity in the presence of the current predominant world culture. Dying alongside these languages are ways of life that have existed far longer than the civilization in which we live, and I’d like to think more could be accomplished than recording the last squeak, bark or roar of a species before it blinks out of existence forever. Saving the language (through translations and creating bilingual speakers inside and outside of the culture) could possibly help the culture to merge with surrounding cultures and actually speed its demise. Save the culture and save the language. This however is a much more difficult task.

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