What a spoken Latin revival might look like

An article a few days ago about the Pope's Latin account and its huge following has an interesting quote:

Pope Francis' latest Latin tweet – or as Father John Zuhlsdorf has suggested, “pipatum” – reads “Domine, largire nobis gratiam plorandi indifferentem animum nostrum necnon immanitatem quae in mundo et in nobis insaeviunt.”

It is a translation of the same day's English language tweet, “Lord, grant us the grace to weep over our indifference, over the cruelty that is in the world and in ourselves.”

The rather high level of interaction with the “pipati” counters the claim that Latin is “dead,” Noone said. He noted that he and several of his colleagues can speak the language, and that other languages which had fallen into the disuse typical of Latin have actually been revived.

He noted Irish Gaelic, which was spoken by less than three percent of Irishmen in 1922, but by nearly 40 percent today; and Hebrew, which was used only by rabbis and particularly devout Orthodox Jews, but is now the national language of Israel.

He is very right about languages like Irish that are enjoying a revival, and just last week I watched a few episodes of a documentary showing what it's like to try to do things in Ireland only using Irish, no English. The star of the documentary (No Béarla) has unfortunately too much of a chip on his shoulder about the language (he constantly says that it's dead, uses far too difficult expressions with people and even rants on the street from time to time), but the reactions from the people he encounters are extremely interesting. One could imagine such encounters in a place with a high concentration of Latin speakers (imagine something like the World Congress of Esperanto), who in the beginning would not be fluent but able to communicate in varying degrees of proficiency.

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Link roundup: 28 January 2013

Just a few links today.

--- Welsh, Gaelic, Irish and Cornish are making a comeback. I mention this frequently because it's a popular myth that small languages naturally just get swallowed up and destroyed by large languages like water sucked into a sponge, but it's simply not true: in any well-developed country with free speech and minority rights there's no reason for a small language to disappear.

--- The Pope's tweeting in Latin now. I follow that account as of yesterday, as I do any account written entirely in Latin.

--- Last night's dream had a mixture of languages again:

Knew bomber was Romanian in dream upon hearing him use the word dešimț, meaning 12.Dream was wrong, it's Lithuanian for 10 with incorrect t!
— Dave MacLeod (@mithridates) 29. Januar 2013

We knew the bomb was going to go off at 12 o'clock because the "Romanian" bomber had used the word that in the dream meant 12, but was just Lithuanian 10 with a ț and putting a ț on the end doesn't make a word Romanian (douăsprezece is Romanian for twelve). The bomber, by the way, intended to place the bomb in a fridge he claimed he had come to fix in order to keep us trapped in the 19th century.

--- Plans for Spanish to move into Asia. Another one of those woo Spanish is going to take over the world articles but also with some numbers to note:

In 2000, there were only 1,500 university students studying Spanish in the 90 universities that teach the language but now, there are 25,000. Seventy percent of requests to study Spanish are currently rejected because there are not enough Spanish teachers there to teach them. China “exports” students to 34 Latin American and 22 Spanish universities.

--- Comment dit-on hashtag en français? Mot-dièse. Ce mot me convient tout à fait car je ne sais pas exactement ce que le mot hash en hashtag veut dire... # = un hash peut-être?

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Where Latin could emulate Irish

Interesting video here:



It's an interview in Irish with Benny Lewis who speaks the language fairly proficiently, and the interview touches on two important areas in particular:

1) How to use Irish without going to the Gaeltacht, and

2) The role of the radio station in being an island of Irish in a city where it is not necessarily understood by all.

One of the tips in point 1) is to wear a shirt in the language. Those that understand it will notice it and may strike up a conversation. I've often thought about something similar for IALs (Ido, Esperanto, etc.) that could be used on a more permanent basis because we can't all wear such shirts every day: a symbol that can be worn as a ring, amulet, small logo on a shirt, etc. For Esperanto a green star would be easy.

The radio station as an island within a larger community is also interesting. Walking on the streets of Dublin one is never sure who is bilingual and who is not, but enter such a radio station and the chances increase to nearly 100%. I've written a bit on the idea of reviving Latin before by choosing a place where it is already well studied (in this case in a certain part of New York State) and turning that place into an island of Latin: city council agrees to turn the area into a tourist district and allocates funds to make bilingual signage, menus, etc., and in exchange the region would see students from abroad coming to the only place in the world where they can walk down the street and stand a good chance of finding a Latin speaker. A radio station is similar to this, but the scale is smaller and the chance of finding a fluent speaker is greater.

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Link roundup: 29 July 2012

-- Let's begin with an Italian article on the city of Serafina Correa in Brazil, where the two official languages (either permanently or for a week-long festival in the summer, not sure which) are Portuguese and Venetian. The original decree from 1988 on making the language official for that week is here as a pdf.

-- A reminder that there is an astronaut running for Congress this November.

-- Trips to the Gaeltacht are declining, from 28,000 in 2008 to 24,000 this year. Economic conditions are to blame here, and there is no reason to doubt the claim: when times are tough, 750 to 900 euros for a three-week course is probably one of the first items that one would cut from one's household budget.

-- On the Alqueva Dark Sky Reserve, in Portuguese and in English.

-- Evidence for Titan's large underground ocean: its 'squishiness' involving its shape changing by 10 metres due to Saturn's gravitational pull, which is best explained by such an ocean. Here we see one of the benefits of the long-term observation of the moon Cassini has and is continuing to carry out.

-- Why Enceladus is thought by many to be the best destination for finding life. Not that other destinations such as Europa could not have life as well, but Enceladus is the only such destination that constantly sprays these samples out onto the surface like a geyser.

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Mondial example sentences, part 7: Sport and school

Part seven of the Mondial example sentences and it looks like we have about four or five days left before they will all be complete. Today we learn how to say things like "yes, there is nothing like going shooting in the forest" (Si, nulo vala da andar chasar in le foreste).

While we're at it I'll mention two interesting articles I found today and yesterday:

This one, the first of three, on why a return to the moon makes more sense than a near-Earth asteroid. It includes the very valid point that a near-Earth asteroid really is a misnomer: they are asteroids that just happen to fly close by the Earth every decade or two, and really aren't near-Earth asteroids at other times.

This article from the Globe & Mail on Gaelic in Canada, more specifically a small area in Ontario where it is spoken by about 1000 people.

Back to Mondial: the French - Mondial dictionary now has about 1900 entries and now that the long weekend is over progression will be somewhat slower than over the past three days. Should be done in about a week or a bit more. The most recent term is dormir, so still a ways to go.

-----

Sporte -- Sport

Quel e votre sporte favorite? -- What is your favourite sport?

Yo ama avan tuto da jocar futbol (bala a mano), ma in le estate yo prefera tenis (golf) i natacion.

Ha vu un equipe de futbol a votre scola? -- Have you a football team at your school?

Si, un bon equipe, que ha ganiate multe maches. Le ultim volte nu ha ganiate con cuar metas contre du. -- Yes, a good team, which has won a lot of matches. Last time we won by four goals to two.

U vavi le mache jocate? -- Where was the match played?

Il vavi jocate in G. -- It was played at G.

Lo deva ser fatigante da jocar bala a mano? -- It must be tiring to play handball?

Si, on e obligate da curar a devante, a deriere tute le tempo. Avoltes le bala va gectate in alto i cada a baso multo lontano. -- Yes, you must run backwards and forwards the whole time. Sometimes the ball is thrown up and comes down far away.

Come rapidemente pova vu curar? -- How fast can you run?

Cente metres in duce secondes, ma ora yo non pova curar. -- A hundred metres in twelve seconds, but now I cannot run.

Por coi non? Coi ha evenate a vos? -- Why not? What has happened to you?

Yo ha fate me mal in le pede. -- I have hurt my foot.

Come altemente (lontanmente) salta vu? -- How high (far) can you jump?

Yo salta cente sexante sentimetres (cuin metres). -- I jump one hundred and sixty centimetres (five metres).

Ama vu da piscar o da cavalcar? -- Do you like fishing or riding?

Yo non pisca sovente, ma yo cavalca cuandunque yo sucesa da empruntar un bon caval. -- I don't fish very often, but I ride whenever I succeed in borrowing a good horse.

Vu non chasa? -- You don't shoot?

Si, nulo vala da andar chasar in le foreste. -- Yes, there is nothing like going shooting in the forest.



Le scola -- School

Si tu e preste, nu pova andar al scola. (Andamo al scola!) -- If you are ready, we can go to school. (Let us go to school!)

Atenda un momente, yo va prendar mi libres. -- Wait a moment, I am going to fetch my books.

Cuante tempo prenda lo? -- How long will it take?

Solo algue secondes. -- Only a few seconds.

Ha tu multe leciones hodie? -- Have you many classes today?

Si, yo ha tri le matin in cuar le dopo-midi. -- Yes, I have three in the morning and four in the afternoon.

Cuante lezones ha tu? -- How much homework have you?

Cuin lezones, i le francese e multo dificulte. Yer sera yo travaliavi a lo tute un hora. -- Five subjects and the French is very difficult. Last night I worked a whole hour on it.

Ma non trova tu francese plu interesante di latin i historia? -- But don't you find French more interesting than Latin and history?

Si. Yo non sava ancor mi historia. Yo va aprendar lo duran le recreacion. -- Yes. I don't know my history yet. I am going to learn it during the break.

Ma tu non studia matematica, fisica, quimía i biología. -- But you don't study mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology.

No, ma yo studia german, englese i filosofia. -- No, but I study German, English and philosophy.

Le profesor de matematica ha date nos un grande lezon. Yo ama melio gimnastica i desin di tute le altre materias. -- The mathematics teacher has given us a lot of homework. I like gymnastics and drawing better than the other subjects.

Yo ha anque un composicion da scribar. -- I have a composition to write, too.

I yo ha un proba de matematica i un tema englese. -- And I have a test in mathematics and a translation into English.

Yo decovra que yo ha ubliate un libre in casa. Il non e in mi porta-folie. -- I find that I have left a book at home. It isn't in my satchel.

Ha tu multe camarades in tui clase? -- Have you many boys and girls (classmates) in your class?

Si, nu e triante eleves, octece garsones i duce filies, ma plures e absente, car li e malade. -- Yes, there are thirty pupils, eighteen boys and twelve girls, but several are absent because they are ill.

Yo tima que nu arivara tro tarde al scola. -- I am afraid we shall be late for school.

Oh no, tu ha torto. Come tu e stulte! Nu ha bastante tempo. nu sera la in dece minutes, i le scola comenza solo in un cuarte de hora. Tu non besonia curar. -- Oh no, you are wrong. Don't be silly! We have plenty of time. We shall be there in ten minutes, and school does not begin for a quarter of an hour. You need not run.

In le estate yo sola andar al scola a biciclete (motociclete). -- In summer I usually go to school on my bicycle (motorcycle).

Dopo le scola nu pova jocar futbal algue tempo avan returnar a casa por le diner. -- After school we can play football for a while before going home for dinner.

Si, lo seria amusante. Yo atenda te fuor le scola, ma yo deva andar che le dentiste cil dopo-midi. -- Yes, that would be fun. I'll wait for you outside the school, but I have to go to the dentist's this afternoon.

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Google Translate now available in 51 languages

Great news, especially since many of the languages included there are languages that are written about quite a bit here. One of the new languages is Icelandic. I wrote a post back in July that Icelanders should pester Google to add it but it looked like they were already working on the language, so good for them.

Another big one: Afrikaans.

Two Celtic languages have also been added: Welsh and Irish, so this is definitely big news for them considering how they have just started to thrive again over the past decade or so.

And the big surprise: Yiddish.

Wow.


In honour of that, here's the previous post automatically translated into Yiddish.

גרויס נייַעס, ספּעציעל זינט פילע פון די שפראַכן אַרייַנגערעכנט עס זענען שפראַכן וואָס זענען געשריבן וועגן גאַנץ אַ ביסל דאָ. איינער פון די נייַע שפראַכן איז איסלענדיש. איך האָב געשריבן אַן אַרטיקל צוריק אין יולי אַז יסעלאַנדערס זאָל דערגיין די יאָרן גוגל צו לייגן עס אָבער עס לוקט ווי זיי זענען שוין ארבעטן אויף דער שפּראַך, אַזוי גוט פֿאַר זיי.

נאָך גרויס איין: אַפֿריקאַנס.

צוויי סעלטיק שפראַכן האָבן אויך שוין צוגעלייגט: וועלש און איריש, אַזוי דאָס איז דעפאַנאַטלי גרויס נייַעס פֿאַר זיי קאַנסידערינג ווי זיי האָבן פּונקט סטאַרטעד צו טרייוו נאכאמאל איבער די פאַרגאַנגענהייט יאָרצענדלינג אָדער אַזוי.

, און די גרויס יבערראַשן: ייִדיש.

וואַו.


So what does that say? Let's feed it into here.

Gruiß nieַeß, ßpeziel sint pile pun di schprachn arieַngerechnt eß senen schprachn woß senen geschribn wegn ganz a bißl do. Iener pun di nieַe schprachn is ißlendisch. Ich hob geschribn an artikl zurik in iuli as ißelanderß sol dergien di iorn gugl zu liegn eß ober eß lukt wi sie senen schuin rbetn uif der schprach, asui gut far sie.

Noch gruiß ien: afrikanß.

Zwie ßeltik schprachn hobn uich schuin zugeliegt: welsch un irisch, asui doß is depanatli gruiß nieַeß far sie kanßidering wi sie hobn punkt ßtarted zu triew nchml iber di pargangenhiet iorzendling oder asui.

Un di gruiß iberraschn: iedisch.

Wau.

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Publication of the first Irish (Gaelic) - Spanish dictionary

See, here it is. I had assumed that a language like Spanish would have already had a dictionary to and from Irish, but it seems not.

The image is a bit small but it says Diccionario irlandés-español / Foclóir Gaeilge-Spáinnise.

And the dictionary can be purchased...hmm, not exactly sure where. The price is 15 euros though, and it has a total of 19,000 entries so it's more of a pocket or student dictionary.

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