VOA慢速英語:Togolese Academics Fight for Linguistic Heritage

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語教育報道。

Experts estimate that by the end of the century, half of the 6,000 languages spoke on our planet will have disappeared. In west Africa, academics in Togo are trying to protect the small country's rich cultural and language heritage.

專家們估計到本世紀(jì)末，地球上6000種語言中的半數(shù)會消失。在非洲西部，多哥的學(xué)者正試圖保護這個小國家豐富的文化和語言遺產(chǎn)。

At the University of Lome, Professor N'bueke Adovi Goeh-Akue shows a visitor some video groups of Gen cultural ritual. The Professor is a cultural heritage specialist, he is also himself a Gen, one of many ethnic groups in Togo.

洛美大學(xué)教授N'bueke Adovi Goeh-Akue向一位訪客展示了格恩族(Gen)文化儀式的一些視頻。該教授是一名文化遺傳專家，他本人也是格恩族人，格恩族是多哥眾多民族中的一個。

He is making films of Gen cultural customs with financial help from the United States. He says the Gen have an important place in Togo's history and culture. Gen rituals show how its people see their world; the interaction between the living and the dead, the seen and the unseen."

通過美國的資助，他正在拍一些格恩族文化習(xí)俗的影片。他說，格恩族在多哥的歷史和文化中占有重要地位。格恩族儀式展示了族人如果看待世界，如果看待生和死，可見與非可見之間的相互作用。

The Gen believe in numerous voodoo deities. But today Professor Goeh-Akue says fewer and fewer Gen children go through voodoo initiation ceremonies. He says that increasingly the new generation does not recognize the importance of these cultural traditions.

格恩族信奉為數(shù)眾多的伏都神。但Goeh-Akue教授表示，如今越來越少的格恩族兒童完成了伏都教的入教儀式。他表示，越來越多的新生一代未能認識到文化傳統(tǒng)的重要性。

He says formal education and the spread of Christianity have reduced their influence. Many young people think traditional practices are uncivilized. And while the Gen language is widely spoken in the capital Lome, The Professor says it is not taught in schools.

他說，正規(guī)教育和基督教的傳播降低了它的影響力。許多年輕人認為傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗不文明。Goeh-Akue教授表示，雖然格恩語言在首都洛美被廣泛使用，學(xué)校卻不教這門語言。

Gen is one of about 39 languages spoke in Togo. A specialist in the UNESCO endangered language program says, by the end of the century, more than half of Africa's languages will be gone.

格恩語是多哥通用的39種語言之一。聯(lián)合國教科文組織瀕危語言項目的一位專家表示，到本世紀(jì)末，非洲半數(shù)以上的語言會消亡。

The specialist Anahit Minasyan says a language needs speakers, preferably people who speak as their mother-tongue or first language. But she says a language at least needs people who can speak it as their second language.

Anahit Minasyan專家表示，一門語言需要使用者，最好是作為母語或第一語言的使用者。但她表示，一門語言至少需要將其最為第二語言的使用者。

If they are tiny, she says , a language is extinct. She says languages can die as a result of an increasingly globalized world.

她表示如果使用者極少，一門語言就會消亡。她說，語言還會因為世界的日益全球化而消亡。

"People switch to a language or they raise their children in a language which they think will provide for a better economic opportunity in the future."

她說，“人們會轉(zhuǎn)向或教孩子一門他們認為未來能夠提供更好經(jīng)濟機會的語言。”

Ms. Minasyan says in Africa, for example, people often switch to larger African languages — not necessarily to English or French, instead, people might switch to Hausa or Swahili or Wolof, these are more speakers and provide more economic opportunities than their mother tongues.

Minasyan女士表示以非洲為例，人們通常會轉(zhuǎn)向更通用的非洲語言，不一定是英語或法語，相反人們可能會轉(zhuǎn)向豪薩語、斯瓦希里語或沃洛夫語，這些語言有很多使用者，比他們的母語提供了更多的經(jīng)濟機會。

Socio-linguist Komlan Essizewa says that today many young urban Togolese switch among several languages, these include the Mina language spoken in cities.

社會語言學(xué)家Komlan Essizewa表示，如今許多多哥的城市年輕人轉(zhuǎn)向了若干種語言，其中包括城里說的Mina語。

"As a linguist, we have to be very worried about it. Because today, even when people move back to their village, they don't use the language of the village as it is."

他說，“作為一名語言學(xué)家，我們必須對此嚴(yán)重關(guān)注。因為如今，人們即使搬回他們的村莊，也不說該村本來的語言。”