A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

Re:A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe lang... by kiba on Monday April 20, 2020 @12:53AM (#22921200)

Is there any evidence of this common claim that obscure languages "may contain some of the most critical solutions to the problems we face as humans"? What kind of problems is he talking about there? Has it ever happened before?

Does it need to? If a language interest a community, then it's reason enough to learn it.

Anyway, if you're a deaf person, a sign language is going to be a hell lot more useful than a spoken language, since the deaf can effectively communicate in say...ASL, as opposed to spoken English. They do still need to learn English, if only to interact with the larger community.

And ASL is interesting because you can some ideas communicate ideas more effectively than you could do through spoken words. ASL has a lot of opportunity for iconicity.

I learned it because I am curious about the language with no practical application in mind, but hopefully one day in the future, I will use it to communicate with the deaf and that will be one of the coolest way I will ever help a person.

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Re:A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe lang... by lmm on Monday April 20, 2020 @01:25AM (#22921354)

> Does it need to? If a language interest a community, then it's reason enough to learn it.

I've nothing against people voluntarily choosing to learn a language. But most language learning is done by children who are heavily pressured if not outright forced into it by their parents (who usually, hypocritically, do not put the same time into language learning themselves). That's cruel in my book.

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Re:A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe lang... by mchaver on Monday April 20, 2020 @04:25PM (#22928106)

I think it is cruel that their language was taken away from them, but I find it inspiring they are trying to rebuild their linguistics community. Not every child will like what they are taught, but if they can create an environment where the language is used, the kids are likely to follow. I hardly see how that is cruel.

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Re:A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe lang... by lmm on Monday April 20, 2020 @09:25PM (#22930888)

Were you ever made to learn a useless language? It feels even worse than a waste of your time because it's also taking up space in your brain. Just judging by my own experience of Welsh.

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