How to Say a Few Words in 10 Languages That Will Soon Be Extinct
wanyaninji najba juka kukulinya / nganbi-nyingayu yadajba kukudi
"What do you see, Grandson? I'm waiting for lilyseed, Granny." Garrwa, an aboriginal language spoken by forty people in Northern Australia.
"I am going to tell a story." Pawnee, a Caddoan language spoken by fewer than ten people in Pawnee County, Oklahoma.
pe: a:n-dE-pE-gEt jarqE pod'ol'E-gEt pojn'a:-s'i:-l tude o:Zi:-gElE jarqEdEn emej oj mi:dE c'uru:d'E
"From the bottom of the mountains, from the whiteness of the ice, our mother Jarxadan quietly carries its shining water downstream." [Listen.] Forest Yukagir, a Paleosiberian language spoken by thirty people in the Sakha Republic of Russia.
nee'ééstoonéhk bíi3néhk noh héétniini núhu' hee3éihi' ee3eihi'
"If you do that, if you eat it, then you will be the way we are." Arapaho, a Plains Algonquian language spoken by 200 fluent elders on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, and by students of the language immersion school they founded in 2008.
nyingka ngudi-na wangalk, ngoda ngumban-ju burldi-nyarr
"Don't you throw the boomerang, or I'll throw one at you." Kayardild, a Tangkic language spoken by eight people on islands off the northwest coast of Queensland, Australia.
neriki nka henowapa to ka vekon
"Nowadays they cannot speak any more." Baure, an Arawakan language spoken by thirteen people in the Beni Department of Bolivia.
jere'xwa tejāwā'wy hyhy'rwata dutu're txe'hy kahe'hy ka'heta jo'bwatsyhy ha'dytehyhyrwa'hykijāhy
"The jaguar walks in the dark, grabs wild pigs, bites and eats them, and walks while he shits, it is like that." Kwaza, an indigenous language spoken by 25 people in western Brazil.
"It's a white man's gun, you know." Lake Miwok, an Utian language spoken by three people in Northern California.
Dulumto bäsani olodo bui anči sugzäda anči
"This is the river Dulumtu, where there are neither animals nor fish." Udege, a Tungusic language spoken by forty people in Far Eastern Russia.
O:-sa:go:-hobi lamthi:-ni lo:-t-a
"I feel like hitting the road." Dumi, a Kiranti language spoken by eight people in the Khatang district of Nepal.
Footnotes: The Unesco Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger maps 232 extinct and 2,465 endangered languages. Half of the world's 6500 to 7000 languages are expected to disappear this century.
