LL-L "Language promotion" 2009.12.29 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 29 December 2009 - Volume 04
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language promotion

Folks,

Mostly in Low Saxon (Low German), our Marcus and Marlou (and to a certain
extent Hannelore and I) have been brainstorming about more prominent media
presence of Low Saxon, utilizing up-to-date multimedia technology, such as
web-logging, including video blogging. If I understood him correctly, Marcus
seems to fantasize about a type of media presence that needs not be
specifically and laboriously sought out by the public and by virtue of this
attracts or recruits potential users of the language or at least makes the
language acceptable and interesting to a larger section of the public. (I'm
not sure if this is realistic since everyone must make some sort of effort
to access any type of media outlet, but perhaps Marcus meant something that
quickly turns into a household name, something that even people that are not
language activists would want to tune into because it's a place to be.) Our
Hanne cautioned the two M's, saying that an undertaking of this type and
magnitude requires a lot of careful planning, that it can't be put together
overnight, and that especially maintenance of momentum and quality is an
aspect that requires serious consideration.

Honestly and personally speaking, I agree with all of them to some degree. I
feel that such possibilities ought to be looked into but that at the same
time any type of venture ought to be extremely well planned so as to prevent
what in Australia is called a "fizzogh" (as in a fireworks rocket heading
for the sky with "Fzzzzz ..." and then the disappointed public calling "Ogh
..." because the promising rocket just fizzled out without the expected
bang).

As usual, it pays to look across our Lowlands fence to see what is being
done on behalf of minority languages similarly endangered.

For one thing, I recommend taking a look at the new video section within the
Web presence of *Forverts* (פֿאָרווערטס), the Yiddish counterpart of the
newer English-language *Forward*, an American Jewish weekly that has been
around, first as a daily, since 1897, based mostly on the then German Social
Democratic newspaper *Vorwärts*.

http://yiddish.forward.com/forverts/video

Since all of it is in Yiddish, most of you will understand little to nothing
(though more experienced German speakers will at least catch the general
drift). But you will probably understand the format used here. It consists
mostly of a mixture of documentary reports and video-taped interviews. For
instance, at the moment the first video is about the 100th anniversary
Yiddish Congress in Jerusalem, the second one is about Yiddish-inclined
visitors from Paris, the third is about an assassinated Jewish Soviet
writer, the fourth about the inauguration of the *Forverts* Association, the
fifth about a Yiddish book fair, the sixth about a meeting of a Yiddish
authors’ association in New York City, the seventh a conversation with
Shmuel Atzmon, the current director of YidiSHpil (a Yiddish theater in Tel
Aviv), the eighth a talk by Alex Dufner from Australia, and the ninth about
a Yiddish theater festival.

Anyway, this is one of the efforts put forth on behalf of Yiddish. Perhaps
it inspires.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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