A battle is underway on Twitch to keep minority languages alive
According to Sanseido's
The Twitch streamers fighting to keep minority languages alive --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/16/22533319/twitch-streamers-minority-languages-basque-gaelic
Most of the minority languages are spoken in rural areas where the population is aging. Generally, 'a language spoken by less than half of the country's population' is defined as a minority language. According to National Geographic , there are about 7,000 languages on Earth, but one language is lost every two weeks, and it is estimated that half of the languages will be unavailable to anyone by the end of the 21st century. It seems that it has been done. Minority languages are often forgotten by young people and obsolete, but with some game distributors now speaking minority languages, the focus is on minority languages.
Since there was no tag for minority languages on Twitch, distributors using minority languages were distributing on Twitch with the tag 'Other'. However, since various distributions are lined up on the 'Other' tag, it seems that it was difficult for a minority speaker to find a distribution using their own language on the tag.
Meanwhile, on May 21, 2021, Twitch announced that it would add more than 350 new tags related to gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, abilities, mental health, and more.
Celebrate Yourself and Your Community with 350+ New Tags | Twitch Blog
https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2021/05/21/celebrate-yourself-and-your-community-with-350-new-tags/
However, the Basque community, a language spoken in the Basque Country that spans Spain and France and is also known as one of the oldest surviving languages, has missed the opportunity to add a dedicated tag.
A community of Basque-speaking distributors launched a campaign called '# 3000Twitz ' in December 2020 to make the Basque-speaking content on Twitch clearer. .. The campaign has gained overwhelming support on Twitch UserVoice , a forum for gathering feedback from Twitch users, more than the same Spanish Catalan petition made on Twitch to get a dedicated tag. Despite successfully collecting the number of votes, we have not yet obtained a dedicated tag.
'ARKKUSO ', which distributes in Basque, is one of the founding members of # 3000 Twitz. 'It's very important for Basques to have a presence online or on social networks. If you're not on the internet today, you don't exist. The same is true for languages. I think it's important to use Basque on the Internet. '
ARKKUSO argues that if Twitch doesn't prepare a special tag, there are few Basque-speaking creators, and we are working to increase the presence of Basque on Twitch. We describe all the distributors who are 'activists'.
ARKKUSO --Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/arkkuso
Eneko, a Basque speaker and Twitch user, said, 'At first, we don't have a dedicated Basque tag, so we know if there are more Basques, or if it's just hard to find by searching. I didn't. After that, I wanted to deliver in Basque, but I ran into an obstacle. The obstacle is that 'no one knows that I'm delivering in Basque.' Said.
He added, 'Many of us currently speak multiple languages, so narrowing down to one language will not reach many people, so we tend to tag multiple languages. However, if that happens, there will be two choices: the minority language will disappear digitally, or the minority language will be used for distribution that no one can see on Twitch. ' Eneko talks about the current situation.
'We are still a small community, so we want to continue to create a variety of content in Basque and continue our efforts to reach more people. At the same time, we have a dialogue with Twitch. To that end, we would like to work with the Basque government to add Basque distributors who can get a lot of followers to achieve their goals, 'said the official tag. I am planning to continue my activities.
There is also a Teleomaori community used by New Zealand's indigenous peoples. Despite 15% of New Zealand's population being Maori, only a quarter of Maori speak Teleomaori, and according to the 2018 census, only 4% of New Zealand's population speaks Teleomaori. I'm not talking.
Rangiora, who is broadcasting on Twitch under the name 'Pride Landz', is a person who has spoken Teleomaori since childhood. 'Teleomaori helps me connect with culture, ancestors, families and communities and navigate the world I live in, but because I haven't had a Teleomaori speaker around for the last five years, I realized that I didn't speak this language very much, but now that I'm broadcasting in Teleomaori, I have more opportunities to share and practice this language, 'he said. He talks about the significance of delivering in a language.
Rangiora is playing with his own translation of what it would look like to translate the words that appear in modern games into Teleomaori in his distribution. Rangiora's distribution seems to be open content for everyone, including those who are interested in the culture of Teleomaori and those who want to learn about Teleomaori, 'I will deliver it completely in Teleomaori. I'm not, but I'm trying to share as knowledge the Teleomali language that viewers can easily use, such as 'Words of the Week' and 'Specific Phrase'. Maori language due to past colonization and oppression. I know that people who speak this language are not confident in this language, so I hope more people can be confident in Teleomaori and encourage them to speak this language. In fact, watch every time you broadcast. There is a feeling that people are learning something, 'Rangiora said.
In addition, Rangiora seems to be aiming to launch a Maori e-sports organization with the support of the Discord community 'Ngati Gaming' where Maori distributors gather.
PrideLandz --Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/pridelandz
The Welsh word 'Yn Chwarae', which means 'playing', is a group of Welsh-speaking distributors. Before the pandemic of the new coronavirus, Yn Chwarae met frequently every month to play and chat in Welsh. However, since the pandemic, we have been communicating completely online. 'I feel it's important to be able to express myself in the language that I feel most comfortable with. For Welsh as a language to grow faster, we need to be able to do everything in Welsh. That includes the digital realm, 'says Morgan, a member of the group.
Despite the gradual increase in Welsh speakers over the last decade, there is still more work to be done to maintain this language. 'Many people can't use Welsh at work, so delivering in Welsh on YnChwarae is a good way to use and remember Welsh. It's useful. '
Gwen is the only Twitch user to broadcast in the ancient Breton language in the Brittany region of northwestern France. Not only is Breton rarely found on the Internet, it has lost about 800,000 speakers since 1950. As a result, even France is largely unrecognized and receives little support in the media or public services.
'There are a lot of young Breton speakers, and they use things like Discord, Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram that young people use. It's important to grow a minority community on these platforms. I think, 'he said about the significance of activities on the platform for young people.
'Yunitex,' a Twitch channel that broadcasts in Irish, said, 'I use Irish as I do in my daily life. I'm lucky if that's what makes people interested.' He explains that unlike the people in the world, he does not distribute as an activist, but only distributes in Irish as one of the features.
yunitex has partnered with the language learning app Duolingo to deliver live and sketch sketches of the FINAL FANTASY series in Irish. However, yunitex seems to think that minority language distributors cannot be at the forefront of language revitalization, saying, 'Many times people like me, fluent speakers, individual teachers and translators. As I've seen, they can't be treated equally. I'm not a teacher, I'm me. It's not that the community depends on one person, but that people work together to keep the language alive. I think it's important. '
yunitex --Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/yunitex
Foreign media The Verge said, 'With or without formal support from Twitch, those who deliver in minority languages do the important job of encouraging their mother tongue to be spoken among young people. I will. '
Related Posts:
in Note, Posted by logu_ii