Publisher Pledges US$1.26 Million for Endangered Languages (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Wednesday 7 September 2005

Publisher Pledges US$1.26 Million for Endangered Languages

VICTORIA, British Columbia, OXFORD, England and GABORONE, Botswana,
September 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Global Effort Needed to Halt Loss of Priceless Cultural Knowledge
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=153069

Over 6,500 indigenous languages around the world are severely
endangered. With the last remaining native speakers of many dialects
dying each year, one publishing company is pledging over US$1.26
million to help in the global race to document and teach these
languages to youth.

The donation by Trafford Publishing was announced last week to delegates
from over 80 countries gathered at WITFOR 2005, a conference in Botswana
held to discuss how technology could help the developing world.

Have them write books, urges Trafford Publishing, an innovative company
which revolutionized the publishing industry when it created a process
known as "on-demand publishing" ten years ago. Now over 3,000
independent authors publish their books each year with the company
whose main offices are in Victoria, Canada and Oxford, England. Books
are printed 'on-demand' one at a time to fill orders from bookstores
and individuals, with most orders placed on the Internet.

Trafford is pledging to underwrite US$1,266,850 in publishing costs over
the next ten years. The programme will make available primers for school
children, dictionaries and local stories -- one book will be published
in each of 650 endangered languages.

"When a native language dies out, we've lost forever our chance to learn
cultural truths," says Trafford CEO Bruce Batchelor. "Philosophy,
lifestyle, science, healing -- all the nuances are tied up in the
grammar, vocabulary and way of speaking. It is a tragedy if a language
that encapsulates tens of thousands of years of a group's culture is
lost forever. It's like standing by watching the destruction of the
ancient library at Alexandria, without trying to put out the fire."

Batchelor hopes the magnitude of Trafford's pledge will bring attention
to the situation and encourage donations from other companies.

"Some communities really need a few key tools to document their language
and then plug into the best revival practices. An iBook, iPod,
microphone, digital camera, solar battery charger, a week's on-site
technical training -- those would be part of the most basic linguistic
rescue kit," says Batchelor.

"It is ironic that most of these languages have been almost wiped out
because of 'modern' culture," notes Batchelor. "Now we can use
innovations in publishing and technology to enable and empower locals
to document and then teach their languages."

Trafford Publishing (www.trafford.com) is a one of the world's most
prolific publishers, used by independent authors from 105 countries.
Its books are sold through major distributors and retailers around the
world, with printing done in Canada, USA, Germany and UK. Trafford uses
'green' power from solar and wind for its own print shop, which uses
recycled paper. Some titles are available as eBooks.

Trafford has published primers in 10 Canadian aboriginal endangered
languages, and is sponsoring urgent work with the Khwedam language
spoken by the San Bushmen of the Kalahari.

International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) hosted the
second World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) in Gaborone,
Botswana from August 31 to September 2, 2005. The meeting addressed
using information/communications technology in fighting HIV/Aids,
poverty, access to education, environment, as well as social, ethical
and legal consequences of IT.