Eleven of the world's languages have at least one hundred million native speakers. The biggest are Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, and Hindi. Next come Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, Japanese, French, and German. The United Nations says these eleven languages are the mother tongues of half the world's population. But the world has close to seven thousand languages. Linguists predict that as many as half of these may be at risk of disappearing by the end of this century. That would mean another language dies every two weeks. Members of the Siletz Indian tribe in the northwestern state of Oregon take pride in their language. Their language, they say, "is as old as time itself." But today, very few people can speak it fluently. Mr. Harrison and a researcher in Oregon have mapped areas of endangered languages. One is the Pacific Northwest in the United States. Others include the upper Amazon basin, Siberia, and northern Australia. In Canada's Far North, the Inuit people are struggling to preserve their native language, Inuktitut. Part of the effort involves Microsoft. The company is translating terms in its Windows operating system and Office software into Inuktitut. Gavin Nesbitt is the project leader. He says the programming group had to invent new words to include all the terms in some Windows and Word document menus. But he says the effort is worth it. "So many people will spend their entire day sitting in front of a computer. If you're sitting in front of your computer in English all day, that just reinforces English. If you're now using Inuktitut, it is reinforcing that this is your language." Microsoft has also worked with language activists in New Zealand, Spain, and Wales to translate its software into Maori, Basque, Catalan, and Welsh. In Oregon, Siletz language teacher Bud Lane says technology alone cannot save endangered languages. "Nothing takes the place of speakers speaking to other speakers and to people who are learning. But this bridges a gap that was just sorely needed in our community and in our tribe." He points to one sign of progress: Young members of the tribe are now texting each other in Siletz.
全球有11 種語言各有至少一億人口使用。其中最多人使用的語言包括中文、英文、西班牙文、阿拉伯文，和印度語。其次是葡萄牙文、孟加拉語、俄文、日文、法文和德文。據聯合國指出，使用這11 種語言作為母語的人，超過全球人口半數。 但世界上存在將近七千種語言。語言學家預測，約有半數語言將在本世紀結束前瀕臨絕跡，也就是說，平均每兩週，就有一種語言因再也沒有人使用而失傳。 奧勒岡州西北部的印度裔Siletz 部落以他們的語言自豪。該族人表示，他們的母語就和時間一樣悠久，但現在只有極少數族人能流利使用該語言。 哈里遜先生和其他奧勒岡州的研究人員，繪製出數個瀕臨絕種語言的地圖。其中一個就在美國西北太平洋沿岸區，其他瀕危語言則位於亞馬遜盆地上游區、西伯利亞，以及澳洲北部。 在加拿大極北端，紐因特族人（the Inuit）正試圖努力保存該族母語紐因特語（Inuktitut）。微軟也參加其母語保存運動， 透過將Windows 操作系統和Office 軟體的操作指令，轉換成該語言。該計畫由嘉文．紐斯比（Gavin Nesbitt）主導。 他指出，該團隊必須要自創新字體，才能將Windows 系統和Office 軟體的操作指令，轉化成該語言，但這些努力都是值得的。 「很多人常在電腦前一待，就是一整天。如果你用英語操作電腦一整天，就只強化了英語。但若用紐因特語操作電腦，就能強化這個語言的使用。」 微軟也找紐西蘭、西班牙和英國威爾斯等地的語言保育人士合作，將軟體轉換成毛利語、巴斯克語、加泰隆語，以及威爾斯方言。 在奧勒岡州，教授Siletz 語的老師巴德．蘭（Bud Lane）表示，若單只有科技，是無法延續這些瀕臨絕跡的語言。 「語言需要有人實際使用它來溝通，以及有人學習，這是讓語言存續的唯一辦法，也是我們這個社群和部落的當務之急。但科技的協助至少建立了橋樑，讓語言有機會被使用。」 他指出現在部落裡的年輕人會用Siletz 語傳簡訊了，這個跡象說明用科技保存語言的努力，的確有了成效。 | 
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