Guernsey Language Expert Marie de Garis ...

The BBC has announced that Marie de Garis, an expert on the Guernsey language and culture, passed away on Tuesday, a little over a month after she reached her 100th birthday.  According to the BBC’s obituary: “Mrs de Garis was highly respected as one of the leading authorities on the Guernsey...

Native Americans Gather for Plains India...

From August 12th to August 15th, Native Americans from several different Plains Indian tribes will gather at the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana to create a record of a language that is rapidly going extinct: Plains Indian Sign Language, also known as “hand talk.”  Although today...

Eyak Language May Get a New Lease on Lif...

In 2008, an 89-year-old Alaskan Native woman named Marie Smith Jones died. The Eyak language died with her, as she was the last living speaker. Now, a young French student with a passion for languages is considering helping to resurrect the language. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Guillaume...

Laz Language on Decline in Turkey...

Turkish is the only official language of Turkey, but it is far from the only language spoken there. Unfortunately, many of the minority languages are on the decline. Some, like the Laz language, are slowly but surely moving toward extinction. Laz is a South Caucasian language that is spoken by anywhere...

Vermont Artist Highlights Endangered Alp...

All over the world, languages are vanishing. On average, 10 languages disappear for good each and every year. Many of these are spoken languages only, without an alphabet of their own. However, even languages that are written down are in danger of disappearing, taking their alphabets with them. Tim Brookes,...

Amidst Hand-wringing, the French Languag...

For decades, France has been extremely concerned with preserving its language and culture and protecting it from excessive foreign influence. French conservative Éric Zemmour argued in his best-selling book French Melancholy that the French language is on the decline, and in an article published in...

An Island’s Endangered Language...

Off the coast of Yemen, the island archipelago of Socotra is changing. One of the most noticeable changes is in the languages that the inhabitants speak, as more outsiders have moved to the island in recent years. For centuries, the people on Socotra spoke a Semitic language called Socotri. The archipelago...

Can Syria Save Aramaic?...

Aramaic, famous for being the language spoken by Jesus himself, had a brief moment in the sun in 2004, when Mel Gibson released the Passion of the Christ. However, outside of Mel Gibson movies, the language is declining. According to the Christian Science Monitor, most of the last remaining Aramaic speakers...

Day Care Aims to Teach Cornish to Toddle...

Cornish toddlers can now learn the Cornish language through a Saturday day care program at Cornwall College in Camborne. The program teaches the tots language through play while their parents take an adult Cornish language class. So far, according to the BBC, seven children have been registered for...

Bremen, Germany Hosts World’s Firs...

Bremen, Germany is holding a “Festival of Languages” which started on the 18th September. The festival celebrates all of the world’s 6,500 languages. According to this article it is the first of its kind in the world and will last 21 days. So, what does one do at a “Festival of Languages?”...