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Languages are the primary means of communication of humans, and more than 7000 languages are spoken the world over today. 41% of these languages are endangered. An endangered language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. India has 22 separate official languages , but is home to 121 languages and 270 mother tongues.Reports suggest that India has the largest number of endangered languages in the world.
Pratham has launched the HearSay portal as an effort to save some of the less spoken or disappearing Indian languages from extinction.
The aim is to create a repository of words, phrases, idioms, proverbs from different languages with their meanings and pronunciation for those who wish to learn the language.The portal is an open-source platform and will be open to contributions from viewers so as to enrich the available content.
The HearSay portal has been launched with the Konkani (Amchigali) language. There are many versions of the language spoken by different groups of people. Amchigele (meaning our language) is said to have originated in Goa and spread by the people who fled Goa to escape the Portuguese Inquisition
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Dr. Madhav Chavan
Co-Founder and CEO - Pratham
“There were times in her last days that my mother did not respond to Marathi or English. I discovered that she responded
to her mother tongue- aamchigali konkani. Although I had heard my maternal cousins, uncles and aunts speak the language,
I was too shy to speak it. It had to be spoken with a very specific lilt or an accent or you would get 'that look'.
At least that is what I thought. But when I had no choice I spoke amchgali to my mother.
Recently, I connected with my
primary school teacher - Mrs. Sulabha Koppikar, who had put together a database of aamchigali words, phrases and idioms.
At 92, her enthusiasm and her energy is simply amazing. The one thing missing in the database was the sound of the words and
phrases. So, I thought this could be a good service of my 'mother tongue' and a small guru-dakshina to my teacher.
Perhaps some shy kid will actually learn to speak the language the right way?
If this effort could be developed further to conserve endangered languages, that will be added benefit.”
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