Gregory Maxwell wrote:
On 10/24/07, Yann Forget <yann(a)forget-me.net>
wrote:
I think that Jon is quite right here. For
example, for many languages,
because of lack of resources, there are no teacher on a subject, no good
books (or no book at all), so people have to use another language,
usually English, as a medium. So the vocabulary on that subject is not
used and not taught.
That's how a language progessively disappears.
So our mission is to now pay teachers and teach people to speak dying
languages to preserve them?
Where has anything been said about paying teachers of any sort?
I'm imagining people playing by the seaside.
They've built a beautiful
sand-castle. Later the tide begins to come in and wash their work
away.
Some people are suggesting to the local volunteer art gallery that
they boil the oceans to prevent the loss of the seaside art.
After all, the gallery's mission is to help the public enjoy art...
The Navajo
accept that their very lovely sand-paintngs are not meant to
last. The Haida accept that their totems will eventually fall and rot
away. Respecting the cultures of others does not mean that we are acting
as preservationists. It still takes people who understand the language
to do the work.
Ec