Language Death: Why Save Europe's Endangered Voices

Did you know that every fortnight, a language disappears?

Of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, half will be gone by the end of the century. When a language dies so do its traditions, its sounds, and the way of living and thinking about the world it brings to life. This means entire cultures could vanish without a trace.

Raising Voices is ENTR's series on endangered languages: we're meeting their last speakers and the young people working to save them from extinction.

#endangeredlanguages #extinction #languages #grammar #culture

[learnsicilianwithnick]

Neapolitan is called a "dialect" in Italy, but it is really a language! All of the regional languages of Italy are at risk (especially the languages of the North), and they deserve episodes as well!

[myhal-k]

Carpatho-Rusyn is one such language, and it's rapidly dying out even in the countries where it is in fact recognized and supported by the respective governments. But sometimes official recognition in the country by itself is just not enough to underdo the damage caused by previous assimilating policies of the XX century.
You can find some basic info about this language and people on my channel.

[giuseppedelfino]

As a L2 Grecanico speaker, I am very happy you've talked about it, and about endangered languages in general.

[knitted_sweater_near_fireplace]

I'm from Ukraine, western region. We have our dialect, which is called karpato-rusin. Because russians had influence on Ukraine in culture and language many young people thought speaking Ukrainian dialects is not "educated" or "sophisticated". It's sad to see people use russian words instead of our own. But nowadays I have hope that new generation will embrace our culture and language

[ajgrhbjkthyd]

Hi, I think it would be worth to dig into the Livonian language. There are a very few native speakers, however two Latvian parents learnt the Livonian so they could raise their daughter Kuldi as a native speaker.

[Item]

Being a native Hebrew speaker, I know the importance of a language as a part of someone's identify. I think Hebrew is a good example that even if a language dies, it doesn't mean it won't be spoken anynore. Language revival exists and should be implemented on other dying/dead languages

[fillebubben]

I recommend you do a video on the sami languages and also elfdalian which is not even recognised! Great videos here! ❤

[dinispaco]

There are 3 really small languages in Portugal, Barraquenho, Minderico and Mirandês. The last one is the one with more speakers and 2nd oficial language of Portugal but almost no-one speaks it

[tepodmabkerlevenez]

Ni a gomz brezhoneg. N'omp ket niverus ken, gwir eo. Trugarez deoc'h evit bezañ meneget ar brezhoneg, bruderezh eo evidomp !

[bernezBzh]

Did you know that hello in Breton is a very recent word? Indeed, in Breton, we never say Bonjour and, moreover, even in French, I use it very little. It's part of our culture. The word hello marks a form of distance. So, we only say hello to people we don't usually know, As in administrations, doctors, or when you meet a stranger. Just not polite. But if we know the person, we will tell him something else, ask him if he is well, talk to him about what he is doing or something else. The word demat was invented only because foreign politicians coming to Brittany asked how to say hello in Breton.I also very much regret that we gave in to this fashion of "hello", for convenience, rather than teaching them another twist.

[MatteoFogale]

I am a native Friulian speaker. Friulian and Sardinian are two of the main officially recognized minority languages (Law 482/99) by the Italian State, yet they are clearly endangered languages with situations quite similar to those of Breton or Occitan in the French State. This means that the commitment of the Italian Republic to their protection is largely insufficient, and that linguistic equality, which should be guaranteed by Article 6 of the Constitution, is still far from being a reality.

[michaelchen]

What kept and fostered these now dying languages was a lack of electronic mass, media and social, geographical isolation

Especially in Europe, when people were doing manual labor, and maybe never going 10 km from where they were born then they develop Dialects that were like languages like Neapolitan

As soon as you have a central government, say we’re gonna have a standardized language, and they started paying teachers to teach a standard language that was the definition of a lot of dialects and unique small population

Now, if someone wants to learn, even a prestige dialect language, like Sicilian, they have to strive to learn it because modern Italian, as what is being taught in English language opens doors, businesswise

I am an English speaking, American, and I have to fight just to learn a Chinese major language, let alone the prestige dialect language of Cantonese

My wife speaks fluent Spanish, so does my daughter and my wife speaks fluent French both prestige world languages

I’d have to go seek out a human language group who speaks Cantonese this is a tall order where I live

[Grandiloquence]

كيف حالك؟? ✨
こんにちは、どのようにしてやっていますか? 🙂
¿Cómo estás? 😉
Hey, jak děláte? 🌞
Hvordan laver du? ✌
Λοιπόν, πώς κάνετε? 😘
Hey, wie geht's dir? 😆
Hej, hur gör du?
Kiel vi fartas? 😄
Как дела? 🖖

[loc]

this is a brilliant idea! try Scottish gaelic