Endangered Languages

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
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Olekander
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Endangered Languages

Postby Olekander » Tue Jul 19, 2016 3:37 pm

Salve,

I thought I'd put together an overview of what's available if people are interested in finding out more about endangered languages and where there are resources available for those language's exploration. I know a lot of you have a little space in your heart for our beloved nigh forgotten friends so let's compile some sources for offering them a hand.

On many of these websites if you scour them hard enough you will find hundreds of links to specific websites hosting a myriad of learning resources of a multitude of languages. :geek:



1) http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/

-The Endangered Languages Project puts technology at the service of the organizations and individuals working to confront the language endangerment by documenting, preserving and teaching them. Through this website, users can not only access the most up to date and comprehensive information on endangered languages as well as samples being provided by partners, but also play an active role in putting their languages online by submitting information or samples in the form of text, audio or video files. In addition, users will be able to share best practices and case studies through a knowledge sharing section and through joining relevant Google Groups.

2) http://www.ethnologue.com (Compiled by SIL)

-Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a comprehensive reference work cataloguing all of the world’s known living languages. Since 1951, the Ethnologue has been an active research project involving hundreds of linguists and other researchers around the world. It is widely regarded to be the most comprehensive source of information of its kind.

The information in the Ethnologue will be valuable to anyone with an interest in cross-cultural communication, bilingualism, literacy rates, language planning and language policy, language development, language relationships, endangered languages, writing systems and to all with a general curiosity about languages.


3) Unesco Atlas of Endangered languages http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/linguistic-diversity-and-multilingualism-on-internet/atlas-of-languages-in-danger/

-UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger is intended to raise awareness about language endangerment and the need to safeguard the world’s linguistic diversity among policy-makers, speaker communities and the general public, and to be a tool to monitor the status of endangered languages and the trends in linguistic diversity at the global level.

4) SIL International (Non secular) http://www.sil.org

-SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages, and aid minority language development.


5) http://www.ogmios.org
-1. Aims

The Foundation for Endangered Languages exists to support, enable and assist the documentation, protection and promotion of endangered languages. In order to do this, it aims:

6) Francis Boutle Publishers (http://www.francisboutle.co.uk/pages.php?cID=12&pID=90)

- An independent bookshop which helps promote, amongst other things, the dissemination of minority language press.
It sells a damn good book about the history of the Occitan language if interested! http://www.francisboutle.co.uk/pages.php?cID=10&pID=235

7) https://freelanguage.org/learn-a-language
- An incredible compilation of materials for learning minority languages across the globe. It is very accessible and has a modern interface.

8) http://omniglot.com

-I'm sure you all know this, but for those who don't. Omniglot has compiled an encyclopaedic collection of world living and dead writing scripts and some useful phrases.

9) http://www.logosdictionary.org/childrendictionary.php

-It contains a ridiculous number of languages all with simple children's vocabulary. All of it is available for comparison. You can learn a word in 100's of languages at once
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Да нет. :roll:

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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby galaxyrocker » Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:35 am

http://indigenoustweets.com

Website (and Twitter account) created by a computer scientist that lists people tweeting in minority/lesser learned/indigenous languages. Can pick a language then you'll see the most active tweeters in that language. Useful for finding material.
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Cainntear
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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby Cainntear » Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:17 am

galaxyrocker wrote:http://indigenoustweets.com

Website (and Twitter account) created by a computer scientist that lists people tweeting in minority/lesser learned/indigenous language. Can pick a language then you'll see the most active tweeters in that language. Useful for finding material.

Except that if Scottish Gaelic is anything to go by, you're likely to find a lot of non-native material.
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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby galaxyrocker » Wed Jul 20, 2016 9:13 pm

Cainntear wrote:
Except that if Scottish Gaelic is anything to go by, you're likely to find a lot of non-native material.


I'm sure it depends on the language, but it's true with Irish as well. I think it's just sadly a limitation with his algorithm.
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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby IronMike » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:56 pm

2 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
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My reading life.

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Olekander
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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby Olekander » Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:04 pm

is any one currently learning an endangered language? What level have you reached? How do you feel about the prognosis of the language?
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Да нет. :roll:

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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby iguanamon » Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:54 pm

Olekander wrote:is any one currently learning an endangered language? What level have you reached? How do you feel about the prognosis of the language?

I learned Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol/Judezmo to a high level which I estimate to be C1. It is a Jewish language based on 15th Century Spanish with influence from Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Serbian.

The language was spoken by Iberian Jews and developed further after the expulsion of the Jews by the Catholic King and Queen of Spain, Fernando and Isabel in 1492. Many were welcomed by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and settled in Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, Egypt and even Palestine. Others went to France and Italy. Still others caught a short reprieve in Portugal which expelled them in 1500 (under Spanish pressure). They are called Sephardic Jews, "Sepharad" being the Hebrew word for Spain.

The language was written in a Hebrew script called Rashi (printed) and a cursive version called Solitreo. At one time Salonika (Thessaloniki), Greece was majority Sephardic and Ladino speaking, as was the island of Rhodes and a substantial community in Izmir, Turkey; Monastir, Macedonia and Istanbul. The Sephardic Jews thrived under Ottoman protection (and segregation) for four centuries. At that time, the Ottomans applied their interpretation of Islam to mean respect for "people of the book"- Jews and Christians (Dhimmi), but not allowing them to assimilate into the larger Muslim community without conversion. They had their own communities, school system, synagogues, and legal system with rabbinical judges- separate from the majority muslim culture. So that's how the Sephardic culture was able to survive and maintain its language for so long.

The fall of the Ottoman Empire ushered in the downfall of the Sephardic community. The Sultanate ended. Turkey became secular. The Turkish government emphasized using the Turkish language in daily and national life. Greece and the Balkans gained independence and emphasized their own cultures. The Sephardic Jews have often been described as having been more Ottoman than even the Turks. They were the "last Ottomans". The resultant new-found nationalism in the new nations that emerged led to the assimilating factors of national languages and a desire for the new nations' citizens to "reclaim" their lost lands and cultures. A Sephardic diaspora began to leave for safer shores around the world.

World War II and the Holocaust decimated the remaining community in Greece and the Balkans. Ninety percent of the Jewish population of Greece were exterminated in the death camps by the Nazis. This had a devastating effect on the remaining population after the war. They spread in a diaspora all over the world. Sephardic Jews often found that their Jewish identity was questioned by other Jews because they didn't speak Yiddish and their customs were different from the Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews. In the meantime, religious persecution in Turkey increased. Israel became one of the destinations for the Sephardic diaspora but Israel wanted to create a national identity of its own based on a reborn modern Hebrew language (which ironically took its pronunciation from Ladino) and there was no room for Ladino (or Yiddish, or Judeo Arabic). Communities were intentionally dispersed so that there would be no identifiable ethnic neighborhoods.

All of these factors had a devastating effect on the Djudeo-espanyol language. It stopped being transmitted to the young. The unique factors that created the language ceased to exist. It limps toward its final resting place with about 70,000 native-speakers left and maybe 200,000 who can understand some Ladino. It is listed as a critically endangered language by UNESCO today.

How do I feel about it? I learned Ladino because I was curious about and attracted to a culture that preserved its language and identity so far from its origin for five hundred years. Having already learned Spanish and Portuguese to a high level helped tremendously in my learning. There is enough admixture from other languages to keep things interesting. I taught myself how to read in Rashi script; Hebrew Square script (Meruba); Modern Hebrew script and Solitreo (Cursive Rashi)... and I'm not even Jewish.

I am not "saving" the language by learning it as an outsider. The language is beyond "saving". As I said, the unique factors that sustained the language no longer exist and cannot be recreated. The future of Ladino rests in preservation. Teaching the language to younger Sephardim, discovering and gathering (and preserving) the literature and audio archives for future generations so the culture, lives and wisdom of their ancestors does not pass into oblivion.

I can use the language in reading, writing (there's a forum, social media, email) and listening. Someday, I may actually get to speak it with more than one person! It is one of my most rewarding languages and brings me a lot of joy. I am very glad I made the effort and took the time to learn it.

edit: spelling
Last edited by iguanamon on Thu Oct 03, 2019 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cèid Donn
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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby Cèid Donn » Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:05 am

Olekander wrote:is any one currently learning an endangered language? What level have you reached? How do you feel about the prognosis of the language?


Yes. The ones I'm actively working on right now are all Celtic languages.

Scottish Gaelic: I'd say I'm C1-ish in it. I've studied it for nearly 12 years, including 4 online classes and one summer trip to Cape Breton, with a couple of significant breaks over the years, largely due to profound discouragement, not in my progress, but in whether this language is worth this much effort.

Irish: wobbly B2 level. Been studying on and off for the past 6 years and been studying it more consistently and seriously in the past year.

Breton: a very rusty B2. First got into Breton about 8 years ago. I put a lot of work into it and then been neglecting it ever since. Am currently doing an intensive review.

Welsh: A decent B1 on a good day. Started 4-5 years ago with Duolingo and then moved on. Very slow progress, largely because I study too many languages concurrently.

I don't know how valid my prognosis for the future of any of these languages are, as I'm an outside learner for all of them. Each of them face similar challenges yet at the same time, circumstances that are unique to each. I am of the same mind as iguanamon in that as an outside learner, my role in preserving the language is negligible. It's up to the community, because it's only within the community that the language can survive as a living tongue. I can only be a supportive voice from afar to the efforts of these languages' communities in reviving and preserving them.

But here's my observations from over the years:

Scottish Gaelic's prognosis is anyone's guess. The Scottish Gaelic community has made some important progress, especially with slowing the rate of decline in its speaking population and getting younger people and parents interested in using it in their daily lives, but it also faces a number of obstacles, from a lack of clear leadership within the community to cultural and political opposition to technological hurdles. There are also problems within the speaking communities were there are considerable differences in ability with the language from one group to another, like between L1 and L2 speakers, or between older speakers who never really learned to read and write in Gaelic as opposed to younger speakers who attend Gaelic-medium schools, and so on. These sorts of problems threaten the overall cohesion of the speaker community and impede speakers from simply interacting with each other, and there aren't many ideas right now in how to overcome these kinds of issues.

Irish is clearly at its own crossroads. The Irish-speaking world in changing a lot and very quickly and not everyone is happy about it. Like with Scottish Gaelic, there are different groups of speakers that struggle to speak to one another, or simply don't want to, so there's that same kind of fragmentation. However, Irish gets far more support from its respective government (Republic of Ireland, that is--it's a different story for Northern Ireland) than any of these 4 languages, and it's the only one that is an official language of the EU, so there's that. It is also the only one with an official standard, which despite its shortcomings, gives L2 speakers a solid starting point. And while there are many lamentations over the ongoing decline of the traditional Gaelic-speaking areas and dialects, there is some good news in terms of student enrollment in Irish-medium schools and overall interest and pride in the Irish language within Ireland. Irish, I personally believe, will survive, but it will largely do so via significant changes that reflect the changes in its speaking population. As I said, some are not happy about that, but the alternative seems to be to let Irish die, so hey.

Breton's major obstacle appears to be resistance and lack of support from the French government, which has steadily forced policies on Brittany that erode the Breton language, cultural identity and unity, but its speaking community is very engaged from what I can see from social media. Of these four language communities, Breton speakers seem to have the strongest sense of history regarding their language and culture, and perhaps thanks to the influence of their Basque and Catalan neighbors, they are easily the Celts most willing to take to the streets in protest for their language and culture. I admittedly admire them for that. I have encountered some very pessimistic Breton speakers over the years, but they are easily in the minority, at least online. So in short, Breton has a hard road ahead but its community is far from giving up.

The Welsh community is a little harder for me to get a good read on, but one thing that strikes me is there is a lot more cohesion among Welsh speakers than with speakers of Scottish Gaelic or Irish, and that is a real positive for the future of Welsh. Wales also has a pretty solid Welsh-medium school system. But like with Scottish Gaelic, the UK government isn't very supportive and British politics in general has bred some ugly bigotry and opposition to the language, even among anglophone Welsh people. So it's far from ideal. Despite this, interest in Welsh seems pretty steady and Welsh speakers, in my experience, are very enthusiastic about using their language in their daily lives and supporting Welsh-language media. Those sorts of things are really promising. EDIT: Also, Welsh speakers appreciate their living poets--many Scottish Gaelic speakers do too with their own bards, but not like the Welsh. I personally think this is a major plus for Welsh. ;)
10 x
Note from an educator and former ESL/test skills tutor: Any learner, including self-learners, can use the CEFR for self-assessment. The CEFR is for helping learners progress and not for gatekeeping and bullying.

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Olekander
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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby Olekander » Thu Oct 03, 2019 1:04 pm

thank you kindly for both of your replies! both insightful and highly interesting and motivating.

I think there is often a constant with language learners of minority language and that is that against rationality they above all learn languages for the enjoyment that it brings and not the utilitarian use that it brings. I found the post about Ladino extremely interesting, and whilst I knew about its existence and rudimentary origins I found the description fascinating and insightful. Particularily so because you are not of a Jewish background either.

I also have a huge soft spot for the Celtic languages, being British myself and a minority language enthusiast I passively promote their use and their continuance. As I understand it you are from America? I've read a lot of information about language revival efforts in the past, and the prognosis for Welsh looks very bright! the impression I got about Irish Gaelig is bleak, and the prognosis for Scottish Gaelic is extremely bleak. I would love for the Gaeltacht to expand but I think that unfortunately is unrealistic. As someone who has learnt them and is actively learning them, I'm glad to hear or some optimism with regards to both Scottish and Irish Gaelic.
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Да нет. :roll:

: 1000 / 1000 1,000 Russian words: started 15/06/2016 :)
: 15 / 365 365 scriptorium transcriptions: started 19/06/2016
: 2 / 1010 Russian books: 4/06/2016
: 3 / 2121 units of Parla.cat

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Re: Endangered Languages

Postby DaveAgain » Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:05 pm

Cèid Donn wrote:... the UK government isn't very supportive and British politics in general has bred some ugly bigotry and opposition to the language, even among anglophone Welsh people.
    1. I don't agree with that assessment.
    2. The Welsh Assembly is more relevant here than the UK government.
1 x


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