Wolfestone Translation Blog

In the age where English comes to dominate the planet, the fate of smaller languages spoken by lesser numbers is often forgotten.  At exactly the same time as we debate the pros and cons of English taking over the world, other languages which have been spoken for tens of thousands of years are rapidly dying.  One such example occurred last week, when Boa Sr, the last remaining speaker of the Bo language, died.

With her death, a language amongst the very very oldest spoken by mankind – some 65,000 years old – passed into history.  An expert on the languages of the area said that her loss was tragic as it robbed us of the chance of discovering how languages evolve.  Indeed, there are only a few dozen Great Andamanese tribespeople left.  When they leave us, another 10 languages will be consigned to history.

At a human level, there is the fact that for the last 30 years of her life, there was no-one left with whom she could converse in her mother tongue.  She adapted by speaking Hindi and a colloquial mixture of other Great Andamanese, but not everyone can master another language.  Even those who can will never quite be at their ease using a second language.

That said, not every minority language is doomed to die out altogether.  If the decline can be checked in time, a minority language can be preserved, and, given time, brought back to the rudest of health.  One such example is the Welsh language.  At one point, it was considered simply a matter of time before Welsh would die out.  However, certain steps were undertaken – the key one being its reintroduction as a language used in schools – and it is now estimated that one in four Welshmen can speak the language to conversational level.

Indeed, many of these pupils achieve near-native fluency in the tongue despite having monoglot English parents and family.  Quite frequently they become indistinguishable from those whose mother tongue is Welsh.  This is proof that no language need ever die out if the will to preserve it is there.  It is simply a matter of having this desire to save a living language.

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