Three years ago, the UN proclaimed that 2019 was to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL2019). The announcement came in response to a recommendation by the Permanent Forum of Indigenous Languages, which stated that 40% of the world’s languages were in danger of disappearing – that’s 2680 languages!
A small thing, maybe, but the British Council is a significant global influence, and when it says “In Scotland, our indigenous languages are Gaelic and Scots. Both are protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages”, I suppose that’s something.
