In the Language Stories project, people tell about the languages they speak, the stories behind these languages and the role of language in their personal and professional lives.
Language lies at the heart of humanity and society. It is the foundation for the transmission of knowledge and values, communication across all domains of life, building connections, and cultural expression. Our linguistic heritage forms part of our collective histories. Language can also be key to socio-economic advancement.
When the opportunity to use a language is threatened—due to access barriers, social attitudes or political-economical pressures—individuals’ capacity to participate in society is compromised, and the functioning of communities and institutions undermined, leading to discrimination, exclusion, social inequality, lack of information, loss of academic freedom, and language death.
We film short Language Stories clips and longer Language stories documentaries. We watch the Language Stories documentaries together followed by a conversation in which address the language issues that arise from the documentaries. We are going to showcase the Language Stories clips.
Language Stories documentaries:
- VU Language Stories trailer
- Language Stories from Ghana: how do they do it?
- The story of the Okanisi language
Example of a Language Stories clip about the Welsh language