Languages carry people’s history, culture, and identity. Some indigenous languages are at risk of disappearing and, when this happens, so too does the culture it’s linked to. In this programme, Neil and Sam talk about a woman’s effort to keep her language alive. She’s from Canada, or ‘Turtle Island’ as it’s called by her tribe.
This week’s question
The dominance of international languages, including English, has endangered other less-spoken languages. Did you know that nearly 7,000 different languages are spoken around the world? But how many of these are indigenous?
a) 3,000
b) 4,000
c) 5,000
Listen to the programme to find out the answer.
Vocabulary
indigenous
relating to the people who originally lived in a place, rather than people who moved there from somewhere else
glee
a feeling of happiness, pleasure or excitement
pass (something) on to
to give something to someone, usually in your family, who lives on after you die (phrasal verb)
bumps in the road
small problems or delays that slow down or stop something from developing (informal)
immersion
the process of learning something, such as a language or a skill, by using only that and nothing else
code-switching
changing between two or more languages when you are speaking
To download the audio and a transcript, go to: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-210923