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I really want to also offer an open library of resources on these languages and the general topic I found during my research, and local art, with original links and other links to prevent them from dying. Besides language learning ressources I want to offer on the topic with thoughts and summary, would it interest people? Would it be disrespectful to share papers?

I'm asking because I know make a shit ton of money while gatekeeping research and knowledge access

@pitrouillesque why not do it if you feel like doing it. Besides, language lovers are a small community, you never know where you meet one.

@tg9541 it's true, I'm scared I would take hours to scream in the void but I want to contribute to the language community so badly because of this

@pitrouillesque 20 years ago I contributed to an on-line language community. That went on for several years, learning resources, forum, IRC, real-life-meetups... Eventually FaceBook took over and drowned the personal relations in nothingness.

Today I have moved on, too. Languages still matter for me but to tell the truth, it's mostly mutual communication in English, and consuming books, etc., in a variety of languages.

@tg9541 yup, me too and that bothers me. I used to have a ton of blogs but now content is getting lost in privatised websites that are not referenced in search engines nor guaranteed to stay online and accessible long term. It has pretty much killed complex debate and exchanges with its format and limitations and the will to create blog pieces in my case. But I'm tired of being nothing but a consumer recently, I am feeling the urge to yell my very specific useless things to the world.

@tg9541 I don't know if that's what you were mentioning though. To me that's also contributing to décentralisation

@pitrouillesque ... I hope I gave a satisfying answer to your question in the other post :-)

@pitrouillesque what I did was opting out of seeing the world through the lens of my native language... learned what matters to people in, say, Honduras. Learned about the neuroses of, say, the Norwegian mainstream. Witnessed cultural changes in Belgium and in the Netherlands. This made my view of the world a little bit wider and deeper. But there are other dimensions worth exploring, and that's what I do now.

@tg9541 oh, sorry, I didn't understand the scope of what you were saying! I totally understand what you mean. That way languages and their dynamics structure one's world view is fascinating, and that always made me want to learn more. It's not only getting to understand more people, but about unlocking a different perception of things. I wish its benefits in terms of world understanding and empathy were more highlighted - people always ask me why I chose a less useful language. This is sad.

@pitrouillesque I believe that most people don't have the disposition to understand the virtues of cultural immersion through language learning. There is literally no way for them to break out of the norm of communication, of the reality, they are part of. As I mentioned, there are other things to explore, e.g., the social through time (e.g., history), art, philosophy...

@tg9541 I totally agree, for me it's part of the package. That's why a lot of people are failing language classes and don't understand why or think it's on the teacher/that too much is expected. Picking up a language is also picking up a culture and a set of values, it isn't something light. Some already struggle with immersing themselves in their own national culture, with empathy, complex understanding or reading comprehension, so it's a lot to add. Especially in the US/France.

@tg9541 sorry to complain to you but I hate how market value is applied to culture - we do not gain anything out of smaller things disappearing. We're loosing a whole part of our humanity and a way of understanding thing. It's tragic. (I want to write something on how the fact that Breton but not Elsässer/Alsacien is mentioned on germanic languages ressources despite being still alive demonstrates French govt efficiency in erasing territories/identity to promote a united one)

@tg9541 (and the role of individual engagement/institutional valorisation and promotion of a certain language vs globalisation and perceived attractiveness/transnational identities and soft power in language preservation but I'm afraid of public humiliation and it might as well be a thesis)

@pitrouillesque You'll see more of that in the future. Acceptable automated translation means that even more will be presented in a standardized but shallow way. Yes, few global technology-based cultures with powerful normalizing top-down relations means that the social gets very very impoverished, flat, and shallow.

@tg9541 yep, we're failing our kids and our own culture with that. I'm open to progress, but I'm afraid of what has been happening lately. I feel it's part of a whole with the rise of facism again.

@pitrouillesque We'll see. I read Jacques Ellul a bit. It's a good key to this new reality. History doesn't repeat itself - what we see now has a very different texture. There are analogies, though, worth exploring.

@tg9541 I like what you say a lot. I feel you say what I think but in a better way. What's coming is necessary different and it's why it's so scary to me. I'm not sure of what we will be fighting. I'll read that, it sounds super interesting.

@tg9541 what worries me is also the collective diminishing of reading capability and centralisation of means of communication with no apparent social unrest about the erasure of minority sub-cultures and it's members from social discourse, as well as the deshumanisation of anything foreign and anti-intellectualism. We're loosing freedom of existence, of speech, and everyone is cheering. Some acquaintances explained to me I should not care people are thinking I should be locked up and stop voting

@tg9541 I am "only" audhd with mental health issues and an addiction. Humanities are seen as a menace, learning useless, empathy a weakness. I used to be told I was worrying for nothing in like 2015, and I wish sometimes I could just ignore it, but it's everywhere. I keep returning to this and it annoys me too. Sorry

@pitrouillesque Then, I guess it's time for going deeper, to understand what makes humans behave like they behave. We won't change them. Those in power will, until they won't because they messed up.

There is no point in hopelessness - life and experiencing being alive is too short, too precious. Sometimes we can make difference, and then we should.

It's more likely, though, that something lifts a seemingly stable system out of balance. We won't know what it is before it happens.

@pitrouillesque also see my other answer. Beware the juggernaut.

@pitrouillesque
Ellul was a prolific writer - and a very clairvoyant one at that...

Ellul, Jacques. "Le fascisme, fils du libéralisme." Esprit (1932-1939) 5.53 (1937): 761-797.

Propagandes, Paris, Economica, 2008, 3e éd. (1re éd. 1962 Armand Colin), 368 p. (ISBN 978-2-7178-1848-2).

Ellul, Jacques. "The “autonomy” of the technological phenomenon." Philosophy of technology: The technological condition 2 (2003): 430-41.

@tg9541 bookmarking thank you. And he's French, I might find it for cheap (I'm French). How did I not come across this guy during my studies and general research?

@pitrouillesque Ellul is one of the best kept secrets of our times, it seems. I learned about him when studying Anticipatory Systems by Robert Rosen.

Also have a look at Elias Canetti "Crowds and Power".

@tg9541 thank you, will do! Did you read Citton's Mediarchie and Debord's La société du spectacle ? Those are the ones I started. Bookmarking this again.

@pitrouillesque Interesting - I took a note. There would be a lot to read - but in the meantime I get a sense of what a voice has to say, and then there are humans that sometimes are quite easy to understand, easy to exploit... As I said before, that's something to keep in mind as someone who is outside of that normality. Don't get burned, don't get in the way of the juggernaut.

@tg9541 but I get you, you can't stay focused only on one thing. I've noticed I couldn't read as much because of the time it genuinely takes and even my reading in the languages I took the time to learn for this purpose is suffering from it/getting neglected. Writing too. Different things for different times, Et cetera.

@pitrouillesque I used audio books and radio features or news. Made a habit of it. This works, too, gave me a good grasp of several related languages, e.g., Spanish and Portuguese. This method has its own limitations, of course.

@tg9541 I do that too! Each one has, it's why one is not enough

@tg9541 I do that before bed, but at that time it is only forgettable books.

@pitrouillesque

I'm an interested layperson, so probably no contributions from me, but like to read about this topic

@soonix it's all I need honestly, thank you for your kindness 🫶 I were wondering if a "lay person" might be interested in something that would allow them to learn a few facts without diving into learning themselves or getting into the full topic ‼️