To quote from that report "out of the 6,700 of the world's identified languages, nearly 2,500 are deemed at risk according to UNESCO, the UN's cultural body"
The chart here shows that close to 180 languages in India are either 'unsafe', 'endangered' or 'highly endangered' ..
[This chart shown here is taken from the same Economist article]
Doesn't come as a surprise as most of us hardly converse in the language/dialect our parents/previous generation use to speak. Some of us even ridicule people speaking those languages/dialect. Remember the last time when you rolled your eyes when you heard some one in Banarsi 'ka ho bhaiya paan khaiho ka' or someone from Kanpur yelling at you ‘bahuuuu mauj aarahi hai’
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thanks for sharing..I ahd no clue about this particular report..sorry I know its a serious topic but the 'ka ho bhaiya paan khaiho ka'
ReplyDeletebrought back memories of childhood vacations and Banaras railway station :D LOL!
and I love that language..I am always on the lookout to learn new ones:)
yeah so totally get what you are saying...
I had to go back to reading and relearning hindi coz I was forgetting the maatras and all!:((
Will do a post on it..:)
Regional literature should be encouraged...for sure...but like you said we are the culprits coz how many of us even speak in our languages?forget picking up a book?
SO yes we all have to change some habits for sure...
there is some brilliant literature in regional languages -- unfortunately i am a product of "english" that crucified the many languages of india... though i can understand many but cannot read any ! but hindiand marathi
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