Discover Top Posts Tagged with #language revitalisation

(English text below)

16 de setembre de 1976: obria les portes per primera vegada l'escola La Bressola, per donar una educació en català a la Catalunya Nord, on el govern només permet l'educació pública en francès. En aquell moment, van obrir amb 1 classe de 7 alumnes. Després de 49 anys, malgrat les traves del govern francès, tenen més de 1.100 alumnes a 7 escoles i 2 col·legis (educació secundària) a 7 municipis de la Catalunya Nord.

A més, l'educació en català, cooperativa i de qualitat que ofereixen és reconeguda tan pels seus alumnes com pels altres pares de la Catalunya Nord, en són prova les llargues cues d'espera per entrar a l'escola, a qui podrien oferir educació (i, per tant, la llengua) si tinguessin més recursos. La Bressola continua treballant amb l'objectiu d'aconseguir finançament per ampliar places, però França no els ho posa fàcil.

Recordem que més del 70% de població de la Catalunya Nord vol que els seus fills aprenguin català a l'escola, però el Govern francès els nega el dret a la immersió en la llengua del seu (nostre) propi país dins del sistema públic. Si voleu contribuir al futur del català septentrional, podeu fer un donatiu a l'Associació Amics de La Bressola (o podeu comprar algun dels seus productes a la botiga online).

Per molts anys, La Bressola, i moltes gràcies per la gran feina que feu.

ENGLISH:

On the 16th of September 1976, La Bressola school opened its doors for the first time. It was born with the purpose of providing education in the Catalan language in Northern Catalonia, where the Government of France only allowed public education in French. At that moment, it opened with only 1 class of 7 students. 49 years later, despite the hardships that the Government of France puts them through, they have more than 1,100 students in 7 primary schools and 2 high schools in 7 different towns of Northern Catalonia.

On top of this, the cooperative and high-quality education in Catalan that La Bressola offers is recognized both by its students and by other parents in Northern Catalonia, as evidenced by the long waiting lists to enter the school, students that the school could take in to offer them an education (and, thus, also offer them the language) if they had more resources. La Bressola continues working with the objective of achieving funding to be able to take in more students, but France doesn't make it easy.

It's worth remembering that more than 70% of inhabitants of Northern Catalonia want their children to learn Catalan in school, but the French Government denies them the right to immersion in the language of their own country in the public education system. If you want to contribute to the future of Northern Catalan, if you live in the states of France or Spain you can make a donation to the Association Friends of La Bressola (since the website is in Catalan, if you want to donate you can send me a DM and I will happily guide you through it, or you can make do with Google Translate).

Happy birthday, La Bressola, and thank you so much for all the work you do.

#catalunya nord #la bressola #llengua catalana #català #pays catalan #història #1970s #coses de la terra #educació #catalan #language revitalisation #languages #minority languages

Highlights (This Applies to So Many Other Languages)

1. The Welsh language doesn’t make sense

That’s because you don’t speak it. No language makes sense to people who can’t speak it. It’s remarkable that this needs pointing out.

2. The Welsh language is dead

Translation: you wish it were dead. People have been claiming the Welsh language was dead since the mid-19th century. It must be a vampire language, what with 600,000 people speaking it fluently!

Let’s face it, you and me, we’ll both be dead long before the Welsh language is. It’s not going anywhere, so just learn to live with it.

10. Welsh speakers are rude

No, you are. Try going to Italy and France and telling them they’re rude to speak their own language within ear-shot of you.

If we’re speaking Welsh, and you don’t, we weren’t talking to you in the first place.

And don’t give us that ‘I walked into a bar and everyone started speaking Welsh’ crap. They were speaking Welsh before you arrived and will continue to do so long after you’ve left.

Don’t like the Welsh language? Are the phrases ‘someone just mashed a keyboard’ or ‘it’s just alphabet soup’ marching with ill-judged confid

#Welsh language #cymraeg #languages #language myths #myths #educate yourself #multilingualism #multilingual #bilingualism #bilingual #celtic languages #minority languages #language revival #language revitalisation #langblr

A new French film festival will showcase First Nations films as part of the year of International Year of Indigenous Languages.

#aboriginal film #aboriginal languages #language revitalisation #author films ancestral language festival #films d’auteur language ancestrale

While talk of a new golden age of Celtic cinema might be premature, there’s no mistaking an eclectic new wave of projects making an impact elsewhere: cinemas, television and streaming platforms. Lee Haven Jones’ Welsh-language horror movie The Feast (Gwledd, 2021), shortlisted for the Sutherland Award at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival, was released in US cinemas last year. The first Breton-language drama series, Fin Ar Bed (2017-), was a major hit with French audiences. And Alastair Cole’s acclaimed Boat Song (Iorram, 2021), a lyrical portrait of the Gaelic-speaking fishing community in the Outer Hebrides, is the first cinema documentary entirely in Scots Gaelic.

With interest and investment both increasing rapidly in Irish-, Welsh- and Cornish-language films, it feels like a breakthrough moment.

#langblr #multilingualism #language #languages #multilingual #language reclamation #language revitalisation #language revival #minority languages #endangered languages #indigenous languages #irish language #welsh language #Cornish language #breton language #Scottish Gaelic #c

So the true irony of people claiming Māori has been forced upon them because it's spoken on the TV, added to the national anthem and seen in place names and used and pronounced correctly a lot more often now, is overlooking the fact that for 100 years English was literally beaten into their fellow New Zealanders at school.

Many of them were their schoolmates, it was actually, physically forced upon Māori children for generations.

COMMENT: My dad was caned at school for speaking Māori to his mate - one generation ago.

#language reclamation #māori language #te reo māori #endangered languages #aotearoa #language revival #indigenous languages #language revitalisation

What is the goal of language activists?

In respect to countries with both an indigenous population and a settler population, what is the wish of language planners and revitalisers? Is the goal to maintain the language only within the native community or for the majority of non-indigenous people to be fluent in it as well?

This is relevant to places like Australia, Canada and the United States. For instance, in education, should all children be taught the language or should teaching of the language be targeted toward indigenous-majority schools?

Regardless of the answer, I think that indigenous languages should be legally protected and that indigenous people should have the right to not only receive education in their language but also to receive public services in their language and for it to be accommodated in the legal system. I also think that bilingual signage should be standard and that there should be more dual-language schools, even for non-indigenous minority languages.

In an ideal situation in these countries, supposing that it is agreed that non-indigenous people should learn indigenous languages, the school language curriculum should be like this (excepting non-English medium schools and dual-language schools): each child must learn at least two foreign languages— a modern “foreign” language (e.g. French, Japanese) / a sign language / an ancient language (e.g. Latin, Ancient Greek) and the indigenous language of the region. I think this is only fair.

Even in places without this settler/native dynamic such as the United Kingdom, I think children should learn both a modern / sign language and a classical language. It is actually common for non-Anglophone pupils to learn more than one foreign language. Only in Anglophone countries is learning even one language seen as s challenge.

#langblr #multilingualism #language #languages #multilingual #lingblr #bilingual #language revitalisation #language revival #bilingualism #language reclamation #minority languages #endangered languages #indigenous languages #language learning #language education #indigenous people #native people

“I think people are more positive about the language than they ever have been...In the past, people couldn’t see the point, or it was seen as something for linguists and academics but as the profile of Cornwall has been raised, the culture has been greater appreciated, which carries over to the language as well.” 

The musician fighting to keep the Cornish language alive

#langblr #multilingualism #language #languages #multilingual #lingblr #bilingual #language reclamation #language revitalisation #language revival #bilingualism #minority languages #endangered languages #language learning #indigenous languages #language education #Celtic languages #Cornish language #kernewek

Internet Content in Other Languages

Previously I discussed the lack of localisation for many languages but now I think it is best to focus on creating content in non-dominant languages even if the interface itself is still in a language like English.

If you have or know of a platform in either an African language or an endangered or minority language from another continent, please share it in the comments. If you speak such a language, you might feel inspired to start something with it.

The purpose of this is to encourage youth to engage with their language in a non-academic and everyday context. Most young people spend much of their lives on the Internet and so increasing the visibility of non-dominant languages on these platforms is important. Young people who speak these languages often have no real opportunity to use them in the digital world.

I will be adding content underneath these headings as I find it.

TikTok

S4C (Welsh)

Hansh (Welsh)

TG4 (Irish)

Bloc TG4 (Irish)

Spórt TG4 (Irish)

Instagram

BBC Igbo (Igbo)

BBC Yoruba (Yoruba)

BBC Hausa (Hausa)

BBC Cymru Fyw (Welsh)