Yeah, and they really refer to them as LCTLs. Why not put together some cooperative programs so that these subjects are available through distance learning? https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/03/16/vanderbilt-u-hosts-conference-on-distance-learning-for-less-common-languages.aspx
Glad to see these languages taught. They may be "less taught" but there are still plenty of native speakers. I think there are about a million and a half Nahuatl-speakers (Aztecan group) and about 6-7 million Mayan-speakers, counting all forms of the language - Quiche, Lacandon etc. My only personal experience with an extant LCTL was some Mohawk lessons at a regional Native centre a few years back. Very interesting experience. Eventually, the funds dried up for that program, grants being restricted to languages with less than 1500 speakers. They continued teaching Cayuga, another Iroquois Confederacy language, which qualified under the new rules. J.
Indeed. BTW - there's a lot of intellectually stimulating stuff in Mesoamerican LCTLs. Years ago, while taking Spanish, I somehow got sidetracked to reading translations of the poetry of Nezahualcoyotl (Hungry Coyote) the Acolhua (Nahua) ruler of Texcoco. A page on him here: Hungry Coyote J.
My wife has been studying Tibetan for the past 4 or 5 years -- a combination of a home study textbook and a weekly two-hour Skype telephone call with the teacher, who lives in the wilds of Montana (go figure). He limits it to eight students at a time on the call. I think that may be how many talking heads you can see at one time on your screen. One of my professors at Reed had done his dissertation by creating the world's first (and probably last) Wasco-WIshram dictionary, so that now writings in Wasco can be translated readily into Wishram and, presumably, vice versa. Wikipedia says there are currently five fluent speakers left.
Now that I've seen others' responses I realize this is hardly a less commonly taught language by comparison, but my eldest son, having learned Mandarin and Japanese, plans to study Korean next academic year.
From the Extinct language Wiki: "It is believed that 90% of the circa 7,000 languages currently spoken in the world will have become extinct by 2050..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinct_language That's only 34 years from now! Sad that languages can be so ephemeral. J.
Congratulations to your son on his achievements, Steve. Admirable! These are all high on the frequency list, so he'll be able to communicate with a great number of people. Mandarin - 1st in the world on the number of speakers list. English - 3rd Japanese - 9th Korean - 14th Table here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers J.
It is indeed depressing to think about how quickly languages can die and become extinct. While so many people are rushing to learn Mandarin, Spanish, English, and other global tongues, a great number of other languages are dying. For those interested in the topic, a good introductory read is K. David Harrison's work: When Languages Die. It's not an in-depth, academic text, but I have recommended it to a number of folks, even those who aren't actively involved in education or linguistics. Give it a try!