Street sign for Fford Pen Llech, said to be the world’s steepest street, with text in English and in Welsh. Approximately 20% of Wales residents are fluent in Welsh, and the goverment is striving to increase that percentage.“
Wikimedia
Media accounts on endangered languages abound, but they don’t always explore how to materially help native speakers. Peer-reviewed research shows that such efforts don’t always have positive effects.
Tzeltal Maya women attend a mass wedding celebration in Zinacantan, Mexico, in March 2023.
SL-Photography/Shutterstock
Sociolinguists suggest that within the next century, 90% of the world’s languages will disappear, due largely to colonial languages dominating economies, education and governance.
The drama series Rough Cut on Netflix follows a group of misfits as they try to pull off a diamond heist.
S4C
Welsh place names often reflect local legends, fauna and topography. The coining of English names to replace them has sparked an ongoing campaign to protect them.
Language policy in Canada suggests misunderstanding among government officials and the general public about language use, international language rights and their implications.
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Canada’s population is more diverse than ever, with many different languages represented. Government policy must reflect that diversity and offer meaningful support to minority languages.
Despite being French-speaking, CSIS Deputy Director of Operations Michelle Tessier, Director David Vigneault and Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre Executive Director Marie-Hélène Chayer testified in English only before the Rouleau Commission in November 2022 in Ottawa.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Anne Levesque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
The almost complete absence of French at the Public Order Emergency Commission does not come from a subservient reflex on the part of French speakers so much as their fear of being scorned.
The Hebridean island of Scalpay, near Harris, where around 80% of locals are Gaelic speakers.
John Peter Photography / Alamy
Scottish Gaelic psalm singing is an important part of the language and culture, but this centuries-old tradition is now becoming endangered.
New immigrants to Canada, including Syrian-born Tareq Hadhad (centre) who founded the company Peace by Chocolate in Antigonish, N.S., swear allegiance at an Oath of Citizenship ceremony in Halifax in January 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith
Following the Sept. 20 federal election, an important question must be asked: How is the Canadian electoral process accommodating the country’s increasing linguistic diversity?
Gaelic is traditionally spoken in Scotland across the Highlands and the Hebridean islands, such as Skye.
Skye Studio/Shutterstock
Welshman Edward Lhwyd helped bring togethr Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish and Breton to show how language could connect people on a deeper level.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen with Québec Premier Francois Legault in December 2018 at the opening of a first ministers’ meeting. Legault has accused Trudeau of insulting Québecers because of the federal Court Challenges Program.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Anne Levesque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn’t mean much if it can’t be enforced. That’s why the Court Challenges Program is so important — no matter what the Québec premier says.
Usually, a minor language will adopt words from a dominant language, but NZ English bucks this trend. It has been borrowing a growing number of Māori words, not always to add meaning but to mark identity.
Andrew Foster with students from the boarding school for deaf children at Mampong-Akwapim, Ghana, about 1961.
Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives
Ghana urgently needs an official Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) policy. Such a move has the potential to humanize education for people who are Deaf and alleviate the linguistic discrimination they face.
Ydych chi'n siarad Cymraeg?
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