Comments on: Memory loss http://blog.longnow.org/2010/03/12/memory-loss/ The Official Weblog of The Long Now Foundation and Friends Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:43:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Penelope Vos http://blog.longnow.org/2010/03/12/memory-loss/comment-page-1/#comment-18560 Penelope Vos Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:40:33 +0000 http://blog.longnow.org/?p=1816#comment-18560 Languages are neglected when their speakers run out of time to maintain them. This happens when another difficult language offers bigger or different rewards. At the moment, that other language is often English, Mandarin, French or some dialect of Spanish. These all represent huge time investment, to the detriment of Idaacha, Fulani, Tibetan and thousands of others. If we care, the solution is within our grasp. In less than 100 hours, we can learn Esperanto, a language ingeniously designed to be both simple and adaptable to any use.Our children can easily learn it before the end of elementary school. It doesn't even need specialist teachers and it provides an ideal "apprenticeship" for the learning of other languages later. Let the Fon people access the global community in Esperanto and they will have time left to maintain their culture instead of spending their six meagre years of education learning French or English. Languages are neglected when their speakers run out of time to maintain them. This happens when another difficult language offers bigger or different rewards. At the moment, that other language is often English, Mandarin, French or some dialect of Spanish. These all represent huge time investment, to the detriment of Idaacha, Fulani, Tibetan and thousands of others.
If we care, the solution is within our grasp. In less than 100 hours, we can learn Esperanto, a language ingeniously designed to be both simple and adaptable to any use.Our children can easily learn it before the end of elementary school. It doesn’t even need specialist teachers and it provides an ideal “apprenticeship” for the learning of other languages later.
Let the Fon people access the global community in Esperanto and they will have time left to maintain their culture instead of spending their six meagre years of education learning French or English.

]]> By: Clayton http://blog.longnow.org/2010/03/12/memory-loss/comment-page-1/#comment-18347 Clayton Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:55:08 +0000 http://blog.longnow.org/?p=1816#comment-18347 When I read something like this I think not only of the languages being lost, but the lost potential for myself and the rest of human society. Every language acts as a tool with many uses; description, evaluation, conflict resolution, community building, critical thinking, etc. When a language dies am I irrevocably losing a tool that could be enormously powerful in changing my life? Metaphor is a powerful tool for communicating ideas in English and creating a sense of common values amongst different people. Does some vanishing language incorporate a set of values or a perspective that could be transformative to our world? Something as simple as the wit of William Shakespeare moves through our language in so many different ways. What are we missing out on when a language dies? What blind spot in our view of ourselves and the world will be forever undiscovered when some simple quality of a unique language evaporates into history? When I read something like this I think not only of the languages being lost, but the lost potential for myself and the rest of human society. Every language acts as a tool with many uses; description, evaluation, conflict resolution, community building, critical thinking, etc. When a language dies am I irrevocably losing a tool that could be enormously powerful in changing my life? Metaphor is a powerful tool for communicating ideas in English and creating a sense of common values amongst different people. Does some vanishing language incorporate a set of values or a perspective that could be transformative to our world? Something as simple as the wit of William Shakespeare moves through our language in so many different ways. What are we missing out on when a language dies? What blind spot in our view of ourselves and the world will be forever undiscovered when some simple quality of a unique language evaporates into history?

]]> By: Andrew Zolli http://blog.longnow.org/2010/03/12/memory-loss/comment-page-1/#comment-18337 Andrew Zolli Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:51:45 +0000 http://blog.longnow.org/?p=1816#comment-18337 A wonderful piece. You might be interested in this terrific presentation by ethnolinguist K. David Harrison at PopTech: http://www.poptech.org/lldd David's call to record and preserve records of the world's dying languages was itself translated into dozens of extant languages, from Igbo to Nupe. A wonderful piece. You might be interested in this terrific presentation by ethnolinguist K. David Harrison at PopTech:

http://www.poptech.org/lldd

David’s call to record and preserve records of the world’s dying languages was itself translated into dozens of extant languages, from Igbo to Nupe.

]]> By: Liz http://blog.longnow.org/2010/03/12/memory-loss/comment-page-1/#comment-18336 Liz Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:37:21 +0000 http://blog.longnow.org/?p=1816#comment-18336 'The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in a Modern World' by Wade Davis, speaks to the legacy of humanity and what we risk as we face the loss of the indigenous cultures that have learned to adapt to, rather than to master, the landscape. Well worth the read. ‘The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in a Modern World’ by Wade Davis, speaks to the legacy of humanity and what we risk as we face the loss of the indigenous cultures that have learned to adapt to, rather than to master, the landscape. Well worth the read.

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