Are we selfish? (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Are we selfish?
Tags: Endangered Language
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

zerrubabbel Senior Member United States Joined 4600 days ago 232 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin	Message 25 of 26 11 December 2012 at 4:29pm \| IP Logged
	I dont mean this arrogantly, but many people dont see the value in learning another [any] language, let alone one on its last generation... the point of this is not that we as language learners are better in some way, but that learning a language is done of free will [in most situations] we already know that students sitting in required classes aren't there of their own interest, so how could a so called obligation to learn a dying language of no interest be much different? it can't. on a somewhat related note, I like languages I can use to talk to people with, not one thats going to waste my time and be a language I just carry around and never use 1 person has voted this message useful
Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7156 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish	Message 26 of 26 11 December 2012 at 5:43pm \| IP Logged
	This discussion is making me think more of this one where mandatory instruction in the minority language (in this instance Komi) doesn't seem to be providing the desired effect. What's also telling is that the language itself is deemed by UNESCO to be definitely endangered (i.e. children are not introduced to it as a native language at home) even though it has about 200,000 speakers. zerrubabbel and others have it right in my experience on the dubiousness of glossika's call for idealistic polyglots or more generally outsiders to contribute to revitalization or total revival when there's a stark mismatch between idealism and reality. As the proverb goes: you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. 2 persons have voted this message useful

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