#125: Wia Ma Bi Üüs Red.

Today was the first time I heard the expression «language keepers». Its meaning is obvious as it describes «those who keep languages».

What an honorable task!

Documenting and recording a language spoken only by a few is the only chance to pass such cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Success thereby depends on the dedication and effort of a few individuals.

Hear. Understand.

Look. See.

It is the same. Just by looking at something, you don’t necessarily see anything. Similarily, hearing is one step towards understanding, but it isn’t enough. That is why having a reference telling us what those words and expressions mean is so crucial. That is what the language keepers put their energy into.

«She wanted to teach us the language so that she would have someone to talk to.»

Listening to episode four of the podcast series gave me a sense of what it takes to go through such a process. The women express their frustration. They cry. And yet, there is also lots of laughter. Language is like soil. It represents life, shows what was before and what could be next.

«If we lose our language, it’s like we don’t exist anymore.»

Extinction is a scary concept. What is gone for good will never come back. Plants. Insects. So many other living beings. How could we possibly imagine that we would stick around while the world around us disappears?

It would be a shame if all that was left was the saying «I wished».

Not only the laughter would be gone then.

It would be us.

Gone.

NB: «Wia Ma Bi Üüs Red» is German in the Liechtenstein dialect and means «how you speak where we live». Our dialect is only spoken and nobody writes in his/her dialect other than teenagers whastapping each other. Each of the two boxes on the photograph contain a booklet and a CD with stories in the dialect of Vaduz, where I grew up, and the dialect of Ruggell, where my wife grew up. The two villages are 14 kilometers apart.