2021级民乐系古筝硕士研讨生张雪莹结业音乐…来自ZhUEYnG-微博(2021民乐新年音乐会)

??原题：the struggle to preserve regional languages

go to the basque country of spain and, linguistically, you feel you are entering not just another country but perhaps another continent. familiar world languages—spanish and french—suddenly give way to the otherworldly-seeming basque, with its proliferation of x’s and k’s, and alien-looking words of tongue-twisting length. basque (also known as euskara) is unrelated to the indo-european family that includes almost all european languages.假定前往西班牙巴斯克区域，单从言语层面上讲，你就感触来到了另一个国家，甚至可所以另一个大洲。在这儿，像西班牙语和法语这样耳熟能详的全球通用语俄然让位于完全不一样的巴斯克语。巴斯克语单词中大多具有字母x和k，拼写看起来新鲜，长度足以让舌头打结。大有些欧洲言语都归于印欧语系，但巴斯克语（basque，也被称作欧斯卡拉语euskara）却不在此领域。its survival has not been assured. the dictatorship of francisco franco from 1939 to 1975 relentlessly centralised the state and insisted that citizens “speak christian”—that is, spanish. public use of basque was forbidden. when franco died, the basque-speaking population was mostly old and rural. for a language, this is usually a terminal diagnosis.巴斯克语的生计境况也并非安靖无虞。1939年至1975年间，西班牙独裁者佛朗哥（francisco franco）对西班牙采纳严格的集权控制，指令公民“有必要用基督教的言语说话”，即西班牙语。大众场合阻止运用巴斯克语。佛朗哥去世时，讲巴斯克语的民许多为日子在村庄的晚年人。对一种言语来说，这无疑是“大期将至，命不久矣”的前兆了。

against all odds, since the 1980s the number of speakers has grown by almost 350,000, out of a regional population of 2.1m. education has been crucial. in 2021 two-thirds of pupils were studying in schools where basque was the language of instruction, up from around 14% in 1984; 87% of ten- to 14-year-olds are reckoned to know the language. this is why, in the most recent big survey, the basque-speaking population (41%) almost matched the non-basque-speakers (44%). the other 15% are said to understand basque but struggle to speak it.尽管困难重重，自20世纪80年代以来，讲巴斯克语的人数仍添加了近35万，而该区域总人员仅为210万。获得这一作用，教育功不可以没。2021年，三分之二的大学生在以巴斯克语为教育言语的学校读书，而在1984年，这一比例仅为14%。我们估计10到14岁的儿童傍边能说巴斯克语的人数约占87%。这也就说明了为啥迩来的一次大规划查询闪现巴斯克语人员（41%）与非巴斯克语人员（44%）的数量近乎旗鼓恰当。剩下的15%的人能听懂但难以用巴斯克语表达。

for those who follow language revival, this is a galloping success. the world is filled with regional minority languages whose few fluent speakers are old. being able to halt a death spiral is considered a victory. to increase the number of speakers is a triumph.在重视言语复兴的我们看来，这现已是大跨过式的成功。区域性少量民族只剩少量老一辈还能流利地运用本族言语，这种情况在全球各地举目皆是。因而，若能停下言语消亡的脚步，便获得了初步成功；若能添加该言语的运用人数，则是期间性成功。

but there is another side to the story. in the basque country just 376,000 people have the language as their first, transmitted to them in the home. basque is weakes

t in the three provincial capitals, where the population is dominated by people from spanish-speaking homes. as one basque parliamentarian puts it, even as the knowledge and prestige of the language are growing, outside schools actual usage still seems to be shrinking.但成功不和亦有缺憾。巴斯克区域仅有37.6万人将巴斯克语作为第一言语，他们在家里便能学得此言语。而在（巴斯克区域所辖的）三个省会城市，因为绝大大都当地人来自说西班牙语的家庭，巴斯克语处于最弱势的方位。正如一位巴斯克区域的议员所言，尽管我们关于巴斯克语的认知和认可度都在前进，但其在学校外的实践运用率如同仍在不断降低。

with different proportions, the outline of this narrative can be seen elsewhere. ireland’s constitution names irish as the national and first official language. a requirement that all youngsters study it has halted its decline: it is another great victory that 30% of the population claims to be able to speak it. the fact is, though, that few actually do—just 1.7% on a daily basis outside school, and only another 2.5% weekly. a similar tale could be told of welsh. rising numbers can speak it, and it has a prominent public presence on signs and in government. but daily use is mostly confined to small pockets of the country.尽管程度有所差异，但在其他当地也能看到与巴斯克语类似的情况。爱尔兰宪法中将爱尔兰语列为国语和第一官方言语，需求一切青少年都有必要学习，这一做法止住了爱尔兰语降低的气势：全国30%的人员声称能讲爱尔兰语相同也是一场巨大的期间性成功。不过，实际却是当地人在实践日子中却很少运用爱尔兰语。在学校外每天都在运用爱尔兰语的人员比例仅为1.7%，每周运用的也不过2.5%。威尔士语的境况也迥然不一样。尽管能运用威尔士语的人数在增加，公共标识和政府机构也广泛运用威尔士语，但其在往常日子中的运用仍首要捆绑于威尔士的小有些区域。

such strategies are nonetheless being imitated. in new zealand, the decline in maori may be ending. the age groups most likely to speak it are the old (who learned it at home the traditional way) and the much younger, probably thanks to recent immersion programmes. the new zealand government aims to raise the number of speakers to 1m by 2040, out of a total current population of 5m. this will require many non-maori to learn it; increasing numbers are doing so. this is all to the good—but those who have learned it as a second language, maori and non-maori alike, are far less likely to use it in daily life.尽管如此，有些区域却仍在仿效这种战略。在新西兰，说毛利语的人数降低趋势可以得到遏止。说毛利语比例最高的人群要么是年事已高的老人（他们经过家庭这种传统方法习得），要么是年岁很小的学生——这可以要归功于迩来的沉溺式（言语学习）方案。新西兰政府的方针是到2040年将毛利语运用人员添加100万，而当前新西兰总人员才500万。这就需要许多非毛利人学习该言语；而正在学习的人的确也越来越多。这当然是件功德——但不管是毛利人还对错毛利人，将其作为第二言语学习的人根柢不可以能在往常日子中说毛利语。

what would it take to get people to live in these languages, as opposed to merely acquiring them? some basques say ruefully that in a mixed group in which just one person is uncomfortable in basque, the rest quickly switch to spanish. they say that in catalonia, a similar group is more likely to insist on continuing in catalan (which, for this and unrelated historical reasons, is far more widely spoken in its territory than is basque). insisting on irish, meanwhile, would border on the absurd, as manchán magan showed in a television mini-series, “no béarla” (“no english”). in it he tries to carry out daily tasks—buying a bus ticket, finding a mechanic—in irish only, with comical results.如何才干让我们在日子中运用这些言语，而不只是只是学会就好呢？有些巴斯克人沮丧地说，在一群人傍边，只需有一自个对巴斯克语不伤风，其别人很快就会转而说西班牙语。而在加泰罗尼亚，类似的集体更可以坚持持续说加泰罗尼亚语（因为某些不有关的前史缘由，加泰罗尼亚语在其疆域上的运用比巴斯克语在巴斯克区域的运用广泛得多）。与此一起，坚持说爱尔兰语则会显得有些荒诞，就如曼查?梅根（manchan magan）在迷你剧《no béarla》（即《回绝英语》）中所体现的那样。在剧中，他企图在往常作业中只说爱尔兰语，比方买车票、找机修工，但成果却很诙谐可笑。

activists typically want their language to live, even predominate, not just survive. but that might mean shaming those who abjure it. governments might have to force shopkeepers to address customers in it. such coercion would be unpopular and illiberal.活泼人士一般期望他们的言语可以连续下去，甚至占有主导，而不只是是存活下来。但这可以意味着要让那些扔掉说这些言语的人自觉惭愧。政府或许还得命令规则让店东用这种言语与顾客攀谈。但这种强行办法必将不得人心，也侵略了我们的安适。

a rosy view is that basque-type situations are the best of all worlds. people can take advantage of the opportunities offered by a major language while keeping the traditional one going—an invaluable link to the past, preserved in adversity. that is success indeed, if bound by painful, possibly inevitable limits.一种比照旷达的观念是，像巴斯克语这类的情况是最佳的成果了。我们既可以使用首要言语带来的机缘，一起也坚持传统言语的打开——这种与曩昔的联络可谓无价，其在窘境中得以保存下来。尽管可以仍然存在各种困难，有些疑问也无法避免，但关于言语的连续可以做到这种程度，这现已是一种成功了。

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—— the economist

?文章来历：《经济学人》????????????????????????????????????????????????????????