Submitted 1 day ago by mrdown@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-19/aboriginal-language-game-wins-global-award/105975448
cross-posted from: piefed.social/…/game-designed-to-save-dying-abori…
With only eight fluent Nyiyaparli speakers remaining, an Aboriginal group is racing against time to save its 41,000-year-old language.
I downloaded and its fun. Definitely check it out. Yankurri!
Languages are like tools, if people don’t see utility in them, they won’t use them. The only people who would go out of their way to learn and use a specific tool are experts and enthusiasts, and there aren’t enough of those around to keep a language alive. If much bigger languages like Yiddish, Romani, Bavarian, Assyrian, etc are classified as critically endangered languages and struggling to survive then these smaller languages simply have no future. I think efforts like are good at preserving the language, and there’s definitely value in that, but I ultimately think that this a doomed language.
I mean if you wanna look at it like that all languages are doomed languages
HeyJoe@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Wish them luck, but I honestly feel like this should be more about preserving a dying language over saving it. From the numbers provided in the article I would highly doubt this can save it. It can definitely draw attention and allow it to be preserved a lot easier though, which will help it be recognized easier in the future.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 hours ago
What is the distinction between saving and preserving a language?
Cethin@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
This might not be totally the right definition, but I think it is:
Latin is dead, but we still understand it. There’s no one left who speaks it really, but we know how to use it.
scarabic@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
I’m just guessing what they meant but I took it as the difference between:
saving = getting enough people to keep speaking it that it remains a living language
preserving = documenting it for posterity so that it is not utterly forgotten for all time
ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com 21 hours ago
Everyone should learn Esperanto and all other languages should be archived.
Walk_blesseD@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 hours ago
Dear heavens, no! Miss me with that masculine-as-default bullshit
KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz 16 hours ago
Even most Esperanto speakers have abadoned the ideology of Finvenkismo (the belief that Esperanto will become the primary language of the world, overtaking other languages) as it’s both unrealistic and has several flaws
Esperanto is a flawed, Eurocentric language, and we should celebrate linguistic diversity, not treat it as a problem needing to be solved
richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 12 hours ago
No. Everyone should learn Esperanto as a second language and preserve the cultural tapestry of existing languages.
All cultural loss is a tragedy.
scarabic@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
That’s the utilitarian point of view. Even though I often take this POV on many subjects, it would be totalitarian to apply it to cultural matters. Should we adopt one world cuisine that is the easiest to work with? Should we settle everyone on one musical scale and religion, too? It would be a lot more efficient and would facilitate global interaction better.
Only problem: it would erase who we are.
rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net 15 hours ago
Diversity is a good thing