This article concerning languages caught my attention recently. It is important to understand that language is the vehicle for the transmission and preservation of culture. Without our language, our way of looking at the world, the shared wisdom contained in our community could not exist, nor be passed along. So I wanted to share with you an article from Intersect, the newsletter of Cross-Cultural Communications. Here’s CCC’s description from its website:
Cross-Cultural Communications (CCC) is the only international training agency in the United States for medical and community interpreting, and cultural competence, with over 400 licensed trainers in 43 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Guam and six other countries (Argentina, Canada, Panama, Thailand, Spain and Qatar). In addition to training, we provide technical assistance, consulting and course development.
From “About Us”, CCC Website
The newsletter brings to the attention of language practitioners (interpreters, translators, signers, educators), other disciplines (law, religion, government) where language plays a significant role, and the interested public the launch of the United Nations project to preserve indigenous languages, which are disappearing at an alarming rate. I have attached here the notice that appears in Intersect. If you want to follow up on topics like these, you can request your own subscription to the newsletter at the CCC website, http://www.cultureandlanguage.net.
| Protect Language, Protect Culture Indigenous communities amount to less than 6% of the world population yet claim 60% of the world’s languages. But by the end of the 21st century more than half of all languages will be lost. In response the UN launched the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. Finally. “Addressing a global pool of advocates and Indigenous representatives, the president of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, explained, ‘With each Indigenous language that goes extinct, so too goes the thought: the culture, tradition, and knowledge it bears. That matters because we are in dire need of a radical transformation in the way we relate to our environment.’” |
Though not endangered in any way, the languages that are featured in my mini-articles are discussed focusing on numerous issues where language and its usage affect how we understand ourselves and others, and the way we go about our lives. If you are curious, click on the tab, Cogitata, in the menu bar at the top of the page.
It is worth the trouble to contemplate what life would be like without language to communicate, record, store, and transmit the days of our lives. And it is likewise worth it to respect and preserve all human languages, each a unique vehicle by which we make sense of the world.
Richard L. Marrash 