Preserve Native Cultures and Languages?

Should apply to all nations and all cultures therein.

 

The only way to preserve many of these languages is to keep young people from moving from their native villages to cities. There are about 5,000 spoken languages around the world today. That's a thousand fewer than only a few decades ago. Probably 3,000 will disappear in the next 50-100 years. On the whole, it's inevitable.

One pair of my grandparents spoke a language that no longer exists. They were born in 1888 and 1892, before radio, before electrification, and before public education where they lived. However, they did what most people did - they moved away, not just to a city, but to another country. Back home, standardization of a national language, facilitated by radio, then a strong national government and standards for schools, then television. Nobody where they were born speaks the language they grew up with. It's gone.

Had they and all of their contemporaries and descendants been forced to stay there, not to go to school, not to listen to the radio, nor watch television, and in today's terms not access the internet, the language might still be spoken, but at what cost?

 

Would of been cool if despite being in a different country they insited in the home the first language the children and themselves spoke between each other was their native tounge. One of your parents would of grown up knowing that language, and any brothers and sisters they had would of also know that language. They in would of had the option of doing the same with in the home with their children. Children if born in to and spoken with in two or three languages from the time of birth and while growing up can easily be fluent in two or three languages at a early age
Ive seen this happen my self. For example with imigrants coming from italy to the uk or usa. Some chose to just speak italian between the husband and wife but only end up speaking english to their children, or speak Italian to their children but dont insist their children speak back to them in Italian too. In these cases the children are unable to speak italian and some cant even understand the language, or others can understand and speak very poor broken Italian just from the bits they picked up listening to their parents or listening to their parents talk amongst themselves in Italian. In other cases ive seen were the Italian imigrants speak mainly only Italian at home amongst themselves and their children, and on the rare occasion english, but they insists their children also talk back to them in thehome in Italian. The children learn fluent english at school and from socialising from young and being around english tv and radio and news. These children are able to fluently speak and understand both Italian and English with no issues. This is how some languages are lost and some survive. If you come from a foreign country with a different language dont let that language die out with you, please pass it on and teach it to your children if possible. If children are born into you speaking that language at home it will become just the same as eating and walking to them, and they will just as easy learn the language others around them speak on the tv, news, radio, and at school.

 

Awesome thread

 

History and cultures are in grave danger of going extinct! We should be treating this like we do endangered animals or more!

 

My Father's people ,the Comanche, were numbered and our Native status is measured in Blood Quantum / percentage system.
Same with my Mother's people, the Tarascans .

Under traditional standards, before the Big Genocide ; Comanche's lineage that mattered the most, was of that of the Father.
As for my Mother's people, it was determined by the Mother's lineage.

 

A few years ago, our dozy government thought that the problem of us being surrounded by countries all having different languages, making it difficult to decide which ones schools should teach, could be solved in an instant by teaching our entire next generation Chinese.
That foreign secretary soon bit the dust.

 

European Colonial doctrines were based on Roman Colonial doctrines.
The myth that Pontus giving the Jewish people the choice of choosing Jesus or the killer of that Roman soldier was a myth to blame shift the Roman's role in his murder .

 

Preserve old fashioned values

 

I'm thinking on this problem, earth need universal language for better communication with peoples around world, today international language is English, lets children's learning English in schools like second after own... this is better way to socialization this planet.

Cultures lets be cultures...

 

Yes. Agree

 

I am Mètis, an Aboriginal person from Canada. Our language is Michif and it is dying. Our Federal government is paying lip service to the fact of the very close extinction of Michif. A lnguage defines a culture, its way of thinking, being and living. With the death of Nichif, we as Mèis will soon to follow...One less land claims that the federal government need to worry about.

 

That would be a living tragedy. I pray that never happens. Chode

 

Unfunny, many cultures and languages are vanishing gradually. New internet technology is the main reason of changing dramatically both culture and language. I remember when I was at elementary school, writing was a course, actually writing is an art like painting in many languages, but now, because of the most connection are done by type writers or computer or cellphone practically no body pay attention to hand writing, and even if they like to hand write officially deny by any official communication.