Crikey Reposts a Paradisec post.

In Deeply depressing news from the North – the slow death of bilingualism in remote Northern Territory schools, Bob Gosford reports on a post by Jane Simpson on the Endangered Langauges and Cultures blog, bringing the issue to a broader audience

Gosford states (about Simpson and her post):

She knows what she is talking about, so when she writes in such dramatic terms we should all sit back and listen.

ABC Reports on Indigenous translation of National Anthem

In Kutju Australia, our land is girt by red dust
, ABC reports on a new translation of the Australian National Anthem into Loritja Pintupi.

The translation was undertaken by "politician Alison Anderson and musician Ted Egan", "to increase awareness about the language of Australia's first people."

The article claims that it is the first translation in to an indigenous Australian language.

FastCompany reports on LiveAndTell

LiveAndTell, A Crowdsourced Quest To Save Native American Languages

FastCompany reports on the LiveAndTell Project. Originally set up "as an efficient, easy-to-use way to pass the Lakota Sioux language (and others) from older generations to younger ones", with a goal of "just lowering the barriers and the costs for everybody"; and described in the article as " an attempt to preserve endangered indigenous dialects such as Lakota and Ho Chunk"

The author comments that although there is plenty of learning material available in Spanish, French or German, "For Native American languages, there's a scarcity of learning materials,”. The article contrasts the organic, crowdsourcing nature of LiveAndTell with the scientific approach of Rosetta Stone.


Other projects mentioned in the article:

• Livemocha
• Rosetta Project
• Rosetta Stone Endangered Langueages Project