TCPL Partners With The Phoenix Language Project to Spotlight Endangered Languages
Right now along the Avenue of the Friends, outside Youth Services you will find an assortment of children’s books written in languages that are endangered and in some cases on the verge of extinction.
The books, which are free to borrow like the rest of our collection, are part of a collaboration with The Phoenix Language Project, a nonprofit organization and resource to help protect, preserve, and raise awareness of endangered languages. The partnership’s goal is to allow outreach to a larger segment of the population, especially to those who may be unaware how many world languages are at risk.
From the Phoenix Language Project:
The UNESCO World Atlas of Languages currently recognizes 8,324 languages, approximately 7,000 of which are still in use. Experts estimate that 50% to 90% of these languages will be seriously endangered or extinct by the year 2100.
That means that in the worst case, only about 700 of the world’s 7,000 languages would survive the next 75 years!
With the loss of each language, we lose important medicinal knowledge, zoological and herbal information, history, and culture.
Most of the books included in the Library Partner Project are children’s books written in endangered languages by native speakers that include many illustrations so they can engage all readers.
Languages represented in the TCPL collection include: Quechua, Romansh, Cornish, Biri, Hawaiian, Yiddish, Gurindji, Cherokee, N|uu, Ishkashimi, Western Armenian. and Inuktitut. Below is a list of the titles available.
| Title | Author | Language(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Am I Small? | Phillip Winterberg | Quechua, Romansh |
| An Pennsevik Byhan / The Little Prince | Antoine de Saint-Exupery | Cornish |
| Goggine: The Black Cockatoo | Jill Dodd | Biri |
| Harry Potter a me ka Pōhaku Akeakamai / Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | J.K. Rowling | Hawaiian |
| One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish | Dr. Seuss | Yiddish |
| Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji County | Briony Barr | Gurindji |
| The Apple Tree -- A Modern Day Cherokee Story | Sandy Tharp-Thee | Cherokee |
| Tortoise and Ostrich | Katrina Esau | N|uu |
| Two Ishkahsimi Tales | Husniya Khujamyorova | Ishkahsimi |
| What is Your Name?: A book about Inuit naming practices | Multiple | Inuktitut |
| Մամեծին տաղերը : Armenian Nursery Rhymes | Mamedzin Dagheru | Western Armenian |
TCPL is grateful for Ruby, the founder of the Phoenix Language Project for leading this collaboration. You can learn more by visiting www.phoenixlanguageproject.org.