I’ve been coming here for over 35 years and I’m still discovering corners of Prague that are completely new to me.
I’ve been coming here for over 35 years and I’m still discovering corners of Prague that are completely new to me.
Yub nub for Dub Dub!
Fancy sunset last night
My morning workout: climb the stairs. (I still say if you’re going up they should be vzchody.)
I’ve been in the Czech Republic, mostly in Prague, since the beginning of May. More on the whys and wherefores later — for now, a few obligatory photos.
The US Department of the Interior has awarded a grant of $900,000 to aid the Cherokee Nation in preserving and teaching the Cherokee language. Funds will be used to support immersion schooling, teacher training, and curriculum and teaching material development. MultiLingual Magazine has more details.
It’s not just the diversity of languages themselves, but also that of the writing systems that express and preserve them, that is endangered around the world. Tim Brookes, founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project, estimates that some 85% of the world’s scripts are close to extinction. To encourage the study of written language within the discipline of linguistics and to support indigenous communities struggling to revitalize their unique scripts, Brookes and the Endangered Alphabets Projects are organizing a free online event for World Endangered Writing Day on January 23, 2024. MultiLingual Magazine has more details and a registration link.
I am horrified by yesterday’s mass shooting in my beloved once-and-future “third home” of Prague (report in English, in Czech). I took Czech classes in my first summer language program in the very building where it happened. My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and the people of this beautiful city.
As I reboot my business (more on that in a later post), I'm committed to making a positive difference in the communities we serve that goes beyond our day-to-day work with clients. Since the diversity of human languages is at the very heart of what we do, there's no better avenue for realizing that commitment than to support organizations working to sustain and promote endangered languages — and no better time than Indigenous People's Day to make an initial donation.
Language preservation is of paramount importance for indigenous communities, serving as a fundamental pillar of their cultural identity and heritage. These languages are not mere tools of communication; they encapsulate centuries of wisdom, traditional knowledge, and a unique worldview intricately tied to the land and environment. As globalization and modernization continue to exert their influence, indigenous languages face the risk of extinction, with many already on the verge of disappearing. The loss of a language equates to the erasure of a distinct way of understanding the world, impacting social structures, spiritual practices, and the transmission of ancestral wisdom. Language preservation is a crucial step towards maintaining the rich tapestry of diversity in our global cultural landscape, fostering a sense of pride and self-worth within indigenous communities, and facilitating intergenerational continuity. Efforts to safeguard and revitalize these languages are not just linguistic endeavors; they are acts of cultural resilience and resistance against the forces that threaten to homogenize the world's cultural mosaic.
This year we begin with a donation to The Language Conservancy, the foremost organization working with endangered languages in North America, working in partnership with dozens of communities to revitalize their languages.
Since "Swift Passage 2.0" is still in its infancy, this year's contribution is more of a symbolic gesture, but I intend to increase the percentage of profits donated to The Language Conservancy and allied organizations each year as long as we're around.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
