Quote:
Originally posted by Lucern:
A simple example of what I am talking about in Wellard's part of the world. Is it generally more advantageous to speak an indigenous language in Australia or English? It'd be nice to know both, but that won't happen in enough people - the society won't put the languages or those who speak them on equal footing.
There are practical reasons for what people do (including arts and music in English), but there are cultural consequences, whether they're intended or not. *Closes anthropology book*
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The failure of Aboriginal languages in Australia is mainly (but not solely) down to the fact that there are hundreds of them and they vary wildly across the continent. Ernie Dingo, a well known Aboriginal TV star down here, made a most telling comment once when he was talking to some white folk about our ignorance of aboriginal speech. He asked this large group of white Australians to say yes or no in as many languages as possible, People responded in French, Russian, Italian, German, Spanish etc, then he asked them to say yes or no in just one Aboriginal language..... Not one person could [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img] Sad really.