LL-L "Anniversary" 2006.01.22 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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   L O W L A N D S - L * 22 January 2006 * Volume 04
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Anniversary

Dear Lowlanders,

We are fast heading toward the completion of our eleventh year (in 
mid-April)!  (Can you believe it?)  It is therefore time to draw renewed 
attention to our anniversary presentation 
(http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/) and to arouse renewed effort.

The presentation has been attracting quite a bit of attention out there.  It 
gets numerous "hits" from all over the world everyday, having nearly 22,000 
as we "speak."  Several educational sites now link to it, which has given it 
quite a boost.

Pretty much all pages have been visited regularly.  I had assumed that 
curiosity would cause internationally lesser known language varieties to 
attract most attention.  But this does not seem to be the case.  It is more 
or less evenly spread, and old varieties get more attention than I had 
expected.

There is a noticeable pattern of people (the majority assumedly being less 
lingo-curious than most of us are) first checking out the presentations in 
their own languages and being led from there to check out other 
presentations, thus becoming acquainted with other varieties.  And almost 
inevitably they end up checking out the actual Lowlands varieties.   For 
instance, the site has been getting lots of hits from Turkey ever since I 
added the Turkish and Crimean Turkic versions, and many of those visitors 
stay on and explore other pages.  ("Who are those people? What's up with 
this Lowlands thing?")  I am also pleased to see that Sandy's British Sign 
Language pages are getting lots of hits, which makes me wish we had more 
sign language variety versions.  In a word, it looks as though we are 
generating a certain level of curiosity and education, which is gratifying, 
since this is one of the main purposes.

In the meantime I have been "prettying up" many of the pages, and I am still 
working on this, aiming at greater attractiveness, cohesion and consistency, 
among other things.

My decision to add a site map page
(http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=contents) and an 
alphabetical language sample list
(http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=a-z) seems to have 
been a good one.  People use these a lot, and a couple of visitors have told 
me that they prefer those to the drop-down menu.  (I assume that this 
applies particularly to the navigationally less adept and/or those that find 
it physically difficult or impossible to handle drop-down menus -- which is 
something to bear in mind.)  Ben and Sandy, how are we doing with regards to 
blind and deaf visitors?  Obviously, the Deaf cannot listen to the sound 
recordings, and it would be good to have more phonetic transcriptions.  But 
that is a very time-consuming task.  Nevertheless, we would happily welcome 
any volunteer efforts in this and other respects.  It does not necessarily 
have to be the International Phonetic Alphabet.  Alternatives are fine, such 
as the one our Gary uses for Estuary English at his site 
(http://hometown.aol.com/taylor16471/myhomepage/).  Also, any suggestions in 
this and other regards would be welcome.

So here is my appeal for your assistance in developing the so far successful 
presentation further.  I am confident that quite a lot of you could very 
well contribute translations or personal introductions 
(http://www.lowlands-l.net/anniversary/index.php?page=members) but have not 
yet gotten around to doing so.  If you need any advice about this, please 
write to me, and I will either help you myself or get someone else to help 
you.  Also, you might ask relatives, friends, coworkers or any other 
acquaintances to contribute translations, edit existing ones or provide 
sound files.  In the past few weeks we have welcomed people from several 
parts, among them from Texas, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, Lower Saxony, 
Eastern Flanders, the English West Midlands, Syria, Kuwait and Nigeria. 
Welcome to you!  How about helping with this project?  How about anyone's 
help and soundfiles with Tok Pisin and Maori, for instance?  (And you know 
who you are.)

Thanks to all of you who have helped already, and thanks for whatever will 
be forthcoming.  Let's keep this going!

Hold vast!
Reinhard/Ron 

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