Losing language – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

From Indigenous languages to how migrants stay connected, mother languages are becoming the norm. (Shutterstock)

March 2, 2020

How a child’s first language includes more than words

Shannon Ward, University of British Columbia

On International Mother Language Day, Canadians can celebrate multilingual heritage by recognizing flexible uses of languages.

Far fewer Americans speak a second language than in most other developed countries – and the problem starts in the classroom. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

August 2, 2017

The true failure of foreign language instruction

Catherine Snow, Harvard University

Whether it’s due to native language loss or unsupported high school curricula, the lack of bilingualism in the US is notable. Why can’t more Americans speak another language? How should that change?

A billabong on SBS website My Grandmother’s Lingo, which takes viewers on an interactive journey through the Marra language. My Grandmother's Lingo

October 5, 2016

Taking Indigenous languages online: can they be seen, heard and saved?

Greg Dickson, The University of Queensland

A beautiful interactive SBS online documentary puts the spotlight on Marra, an Indigenous language spoken fluently by just three people.

Jamie Milpurr translates archived stories told by his grandfather Frank Ambidjambidj with help from his grandmother Margaret Marlingarr. The stories were told in Kun-barlang, a language spoken on Goulburn Island with 20 speakers remaining. Steven Bird

June 14, 2016

Computing gives us tools to preserve disappearing languages

Steven Bird, The University of Melbourne

A clever proces similar to Google’s image search is helping to preserve some of the world’s 7,000 languages that are at risk of disappearing.

John Z'graggen’s tapes from Madang. Nick Thieberger

March 21, 2016

The race to digitise language records of the Pacific region before it is too late

Nick Thieberger, The University of Melbourne

There are hundreds of different languages spoken in the Pacific region that could be lost. So it’s important to safeguard what recordings we have in a digital archive available to all.

Every language contains a unique, and irreplaceable, worldview. Reuters

March 1, 2016

We wouldn’t be mourning lost languages if we embraced multilingualism

Rachel Nordlinger, The University of Melbourne

Malcolm Turnbull’s tears have drawn attention to harsh truths about the loss of Indigenous culture. As a nation we should embrace Indigenous languages.

Members of the Chitimacha language team (from left to right) Sam Boutte, Kim Walden and Rachel Vilcan use the new language software for the first time.

July 27, 2015

Renaissance on the bayou – the revival of a lost language

Daniel W. Hieber, University of California, Santa Barbara

In the face of war, disease and outside cultural pressures, the Chitimacha language has survived – and now thrives.

Literary translation has occurred for centuries (the Bible is a prime example). And with Nobel Prize winners like French author Patrick Modiano, it’s unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Wikimedia Commons

February 5, 2015

Absorbed in translation: the art – and fun – of literary translation

Juliet Winters Carpenter, Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts

I recently stumbled upon a post that describes the process of literary translation as “soul-crushing.” That’s news to me, and I’ve been engaged in literary translation for the better part of four decades…

How much Chinese will these adopted babies remember? Adrian Bradshaw

November 20, 2014

When adopted children forget their birth language, it may not be lost without a trace

Monika Schmid, University of Essex

How robust are languages learned in childhood but disused later in life? A new study by researchers at McGill University and the University of Montreal has found that the forgotten birth language of adoptees…

Articles on Losing language

Displaying all articles