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FaerieGirl - My Blog
My take on linguistic dilemma #2
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

(This blog post was written to complete a step of the International Year of Languages Quest on YMEX.org, and it addresses linguistic dilemma #2 from http://www.slideshare.net/FaerieDevilish/why-languages-do-matter-presentation/ )

I chose this dilemma in specific because I consider that it goes beyond the borders of linguistic problems and is an analogous form to most dilemmas involved in the making of cultural policies.

On one side, by investing in the preservation of languages we are keeping linguistic and cultural diversity in general alive. By doing this, we are at the same time keeping the heritage of all past generations alive so that we and the future generations are able to have access to it, and are leaving doors open for exchange, innovation and creativity -- which, at the same time, leads to development. So far, so good.

However, it is argued many times that cultural issues are not as immediate as issues like starvation or political crisis. "Nobody dies due to his or her lack of knowledge of x language". If we didn't invest money in this cultural development, we could spend it finding ways to feed people or help communities stand up from the big trouble they're in.

If I could make the decision, I would make sure that hunger and crisis relief were part of the yearly budget, but at the same time I would look for a space for culture in it as well. UNESCO operates on the premise that 'as wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed", and I agree with it.

Conclusion: presence of linguistic policies and policies for hunger/crisis relief in the budget, even if that means there will be limited resources for both.

September 20, 2008 | 11:36 PM Comments  0 comments

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