Speak English, Who Cares?

America does not have an official language. Many have encouraged congress to pass a law stating that English is the official language. But ironically back in the 1700's many encouraged to ban English. The benefits of not having English as an official language is that around 97% of Americans speak English said by Dennis Barron. He also states that because English is widely spoken now that non speaking immigrants are learning the language rapidly than before. 

But what happens when we encourage people to speak English. What about over languages that are being left behind. While many believe English should be globally known language, other languages will become extinct. Studies have shown that if continue to encourage speakers to leave their native language that at least 6000 of these languages will go extinct by the century. Many blame that globalization causes countries to lose their native language. An endangered language is not just about the language but as well the local culture of it. These languages can help anthropologist find the missing pieces in history. Many of these languages are only spoke and not documents for history purposes. 

For a language to be classified as endangered/ going extinct the language must have been replaced by a modern language like Chinese, English, French, Spanish or Dutch. Some Linguist have placed old English as extinct because many now speak modern English. 

My father's side of the family are known as Otomi people in Mexico. Otomi means "shooter of the bird." Many of the Otomi people live in the eastern part of Hidalgo (where my family is from), they also live in Tlaxcala, Michoacán, and Guanajuato. The Otomi people have their own language called Otomi (known in Spanish) or Hñähñu. Hñähñu is the main language that is spoken by

Otomis. (Or as we call it). The otomi language has three types of language, Northwestern (Hidalgo, Queretaro, Guanajuato), Southwestern (State of Mexico) and Eastern (eastern of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala).  About 290,000 people have identify as being Otomis but that doesn’t secure that they speak the dialect. Otomi was recently recognized by Mexico as a national language by law in 2003 with 61 other languages. Otomi began in the 16th century, it uses some of the Latin alphabet. Otomi is a vulnerable language that needs to still be part of Mexico’s culture. Otomi is a lucky language to have been documented and have books distributed out by the government to involve the locals in Hidalgo to continue to cherish their culture and pass it down to their next generation.

  

This takes place in Danghu, Tasquillo, Hidalgo Mexico on December 24. This is located near where both my grandmothers live. At 8:45 a little girl starts talking in Otomi. At around 9:05 She talks in Spanish. Then afterward there is a small scene of the baby Jesus movie in Otomi with Spanish subtitles. In my best opinion to start at 42 mins. In the beginning they start walking at the edge of town to the church where the school children put up a show of the baby Jesus being born. From then at 42 mins in they start cradling him to sleep at midnight in a blanket. Then they light up the bull afterwards and party.

National Science Foundation

UNESCO

Wiki'

American Language

Otomi People

Otomi Language

Otomi

Britannica

Chernobyl Disaster

Three months after accident thirty-one people had died. But now the accident is still being investigated after three decades because of the long term affects and the number of linked deaths to accident is 64. The Nuclear Plant was going through an experimental safety test by a group of workers who were unfamiliar with the routine. The morning (1 am) of April 26, reactor four was unstable when it was shut off which caused a power surge that was uncontrollable. After the explosion fire fighters came to the scene but where not trained to deal with a nuclear power plant fire. There were two different accounts by firemen that describe the scene. One of stated that they were unsure of what caused the fire, they had thought it was some wiring. That they were not fully aware of the radiation in the air.

But another fire fighter said that they made an assumption that there was radiation but still decided to put out the fire because it was morally right. The almost all of the fire was put out at five with the exception of the fire that was inside reactor four. That fire lasted for days. In the meantime Citizens were unaware of the dangers of the explosion. A couple hours’ people started feeling dizzy, nauseous, and felt a metallic feel in their taste buds. But they had announced an evacuation the day after the explosion. The Ukraine government did not receive information about the explosion until later morning because Moscow authorities were in charge of the power plant. Originally the government had said that the evacuation would be temporary. They had said it would be for a couple of days. But then those days turned out to be weeks. The radius of the evacuation also increased from 10km from the plant to 30km. On April 28 the government had officially made an announcement to the world that there was an accident at the power plant. These people would never see their personal belongings or town again. Months after the environment had largely changed. The forest has been named the Red Forest because the leaves red brown.

The animals that stayed either died from the suffocation of the radiation or lived but could barely reproduce. Some animals that were nearby but that could still reproduced had animals that were mutants. The Government did not have a safety plan if there was a nuclear power disaster. They had only focused on if there was a power outage and that if the machines would still run in that predicament. 

Chernobyl

World Nuclear

Green Facts

Fact Sheets

PBS