Language Matters with Bob Holman 1x109, 2x55

There are more than 6,000 unique languages remaining in the world, but we lose one every two weeks and hundreds will be lost within the next generation. Follow poet Bob Holman to a remote island off the coast of Australia to visit with aboriginal people who speak 10 different languages, then to Wales where Welsh is making a comeback, and on to Hawaii, where a group of activists are fighting to save their native tongue. This two-hour documentary asks: What do we lose when a language dies, and what does it take to save a language? Language Matters includes interviews with song men, linguists, and poets, including Charlie Mangulda, the only living speaker of Amurdak, an Aboriginal language once common in Australia’s Northern Territory. The film also features original music and songs in Welsh, Hawaiian, and Aboriginal languages.

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