Tommy Tainant
Diamond Member
Quite an interesting piece on languages at risk. It seems that the key is to award the language official status.
Welsh was saved from extinction. Cantonese might not be so lucky - CNN
Far from being on the verge of extinction, Welsh is often held up today as an example of how grassroots organizing and government support can revive a language.
This was the case in Hawaii, where indigenous language activists were facing a much harder task than their Welsh counterparts, according to Gary Holton, a researcher with the Endangered Language Project.
"Almost everywhere the language had ceased to be a first language," he said. "The break in transmission was fairly complete, it required a real effort to jump start the language again ... you had to essentially skip a generation, bring in these grandparents and great-grandparents and get them to interact with preschool-age children."
Welsh was saved from extinction. Cantonese might not be so lucky - CNN
Far from being on the verge of extinction, Welsh is often held up today as an example of how grassroots organizing and government support can revive a language.
This was the case in Hawaii, where indigenous language activists were facing a much harder task than their Welsh counterparts, according to Gary Holton, a researcher with the Endangered Language Project.
"Almost everywhere the language had ceased to be a first language," he said. "The break in transmission was fairly complete, it required a real effort to jump start the language again ... you had to essentially skip a generation, bring in these grandparents and great-grandparents and get them to interact with preschool-age children."