This site uses Unicode in order to correctly display all characters that use different languages. If you want to see if your browser supports Unicode, or how to configure it, I have written a small instruction (in Spanish).
Download the book "Yo también quiero hablar"
In these pages I will transcribing, in extended form, the information will be fed into the Facebook group I created.
Why not roll all directly in Facebook?
Because Facebook does not offer specific alternatives as to enable multilingual texts or the facility to write from right to left.
Nor can edit the HTML of the pages, allowing it to be able to add alternative text to images and language to identify changes in language.
Why, then, do not just dump everything on this site?
Because Facebook can interact with other people in a straightforward way, if certain languages are spoken and not have accessibility problems.
So, I decided to use both tools (this Web site and Facebook), to complement and provide for a better job.
The world changes. Always did and always will. There are things that repeat and new things.
In this changing world that we live every day, our culture, the culture we live every day, whatever it, is that we need to be disseminated, preserved, researched and taught. Why? Because all cultures, large or small, have equal right to be valued!
And one way to enhance a culture is through its language.
So, as human groups grew, the ways to disseminate the languages were also growing. The text, media and now ... Internet.
Because the Internet is a unique opportunity to promote linguistic diversity, the variety of languages spoken in our world, because is the first time that a technology allows for communication back and forth, making people not only passively receive the information, but they can generate, allowing enrich the world's cultural heritage.
But if this world cultural heritage is actually richer, one of the things we must do is avoid giving privileges to some languages over others.
Who determines that English should be our lingua franca?
A few generations ago, the same reasons given to defend the English, were the French. And before, to defend Latin.
Will the future be used for Mandarin Chinese or Hindi?
And although there are other majority and minority languages, who determines what is being advocated more rights than others?
The Spanish has more rights than the Portuguese? Or that the Guarani, Nahuatl or Quechua?
What about languages with few speakers? Must we resign ourselves to a language dies every day because only a few researchers interested in them? What if some descendant of a people speaking a language endangered hereby reclaim their ancestral values? And if there are no stakeholders, how a student should do that by simple curiosity or academic interest, decides to base its argument on any of these languages? He should resign?
On the other hand, What problems are there if there are interested in, for example, write a poem in Charrua, extinct language of which are known only a few dozen words? Should we just leave to the experts to study the extinct languages? And people from other disciplines such as art? What if, in the same way that there are interested in a version that has a free software program in a specific language, there is any interest in rescuing a language already declared extinct?
And beyond the original language... what is the problem with fans or users of sign languages, or "artificial" languages, like Esperanto or Klingon?
But make no mistake: This is not a group of hatred towards a language or several. Any inappropriate message like "I hate the English / Spanish / French / any language!" will be friendly and immediately removed. This is a group of love to ALL languages, be it popular or not, live, endangered or extinct, sign languages, or "artificial" languages.
It has always been used as an excuse the lack of resources to defend and / or rescue the whole range of existing languages. Now that the Internet allows more people to connect and express (and defend) their own interests without intermediaries ... what is the problem if some "crazy" people want to study languages or to disclose previously were not paying attention? Movements such as the free software has shown us that in many cases the resources are limited only by the amount of interested people, not for money or materials. Against this background: Why not argue that ALL languages have equal rights on the Internet? What stops us?
Does the coding? For years people like the W3 Consortium is working on systems such as Unicode, which allows us to use different scripts on the same page, with all the advantages of "western" writing.
As in web accessibility, free software or usability, the idea is not to force anyone, but to offer alternatives for those interested.
Another small clarification: I'm not an NGO or company or government or anything like that. I'm a fan of simple languages, dissemination and study. Nothing more. I don't even have a university title! So I please you to have a little patience to wait for answers or comments, I not even live this, and I use my free time to administer this group. The rest of the time I use it to support my family and relax!
And another small thing: I am not a polyglot. I only speak Spanish and understand some English, so do not assume that I understand their language. I use automatic translators to understand other languages or to write some things. But I am open to any kind of criticism, even the toughest, if used to improve the group and its task.
I thank you very much for your understanding.
So, in summary... Of equal language rights on the Internet!
To the memory of my dad, Rafa and Deby.