China, UNESCO jointly protect endangered languages (fwd)

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China, UNESCO jointly protect endangered languages

www.chinaview.cn 2005-07-21 21:40:35
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-07/21/content_3250194.htm

    BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhuanet) - Bouchenaki Mounir, assistant
director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said here Thursday that China and
UNESCO are now jointly protecting the endangered languages in China.

    At the on-going World Chinese Conference, which opened here on July
20, Mounir said more and more languages in the world were endangered,
including Shui Shu, a Chinese language specially used by the local
women in south China's Hunan Province. Some languages have a large
population of speakers while some have few, therefore the native
speakers for the less-spoken languages are no longer willing to use
them.

    Statistics from the UNESCO showed there are 6,000 languages in the
world. China's 56 ethnic groups speak more than 70 languages, among
which mandarin holds the largest number of speakers totaling more than
one billion. And the Chinese speakers also speak in 100-plus dialects.

    "The UNESCO is dedicated to promoting local people's consciousness
of using their native language," Mounir said. To this end, a joint
project between UNESCO and the Chinese government has been launched in
south China's Yunnan Province in an effort to help the local minority
ethnic groups compile specific textbooks, and cultivate their own
teaching staff.

    According to Mounir, the UNESCO is now collecting information of
endangered languages worldwide, marking them on the map on-line and
showing them to the public. The UNESCO also joined hands with TV
stations and Discovery channels to record endangered languages.

    "Language is the carrier of the human intangible culture, and we
should attach much importance to the protection of them," Mounir
concluded.

    The two-day conference, with the theme of "the Development of
Chinese in a Multi-cultural World", attracted nearly 600 government
officials, Sinologists and Chinese learners from 67 countries and
regions, among which more than 350 came from overseas.