When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Sources

In Mexico, 64 Dialects At Risk Of Extinction

EL UNIVERSAL (Mexico)

Worldcrunch

MEXICO CITY - Linguistic experts have identified as many as 364 different dialects in modern Mexico, with at least 100 people speaking each linguistic variation. But this wealth of language diversity risks disappearing.

Javier López Sánchez, director of the National Indigenous Languages Institute in Mexico (INALI), says that currently 64 dialects face serious risk of disappearing forever.

During a recent visit to Boca del Río in the state of Veracruz, to celebrate the “National Day of the Mother Tongue”, López recognized that one of the main problems that they face in the efforts to try to preserve these dialects is the discrimination towards the populations that communicate in languages other than Spanish.

For example, the Kiliwa dialect from the state of Baja California is one of the dialects that risks extinction since there are only 10 speakers still alive, who may not transfer the language to their descendants.

Other examples are the Diapaneca dialect from the state of Tabasco with only 21 speakers, as well as some variants of the Zapoteca dialect from the State of Oaxaca such as the Chocholteco and the Nahual from the state of Veracruz

López Sánchez explained that according to data gathered by the National Statistics and Geography Institute in Mexico (INEGI), in the last census, 16 million people in Mexico are considered indigenous, but only 7 million of them speak a prehispanic dialect.

The Mexican Government has set up a program to help the speakers of these “almost forgotten” tongues transcribe the Mexican Constitution and their documents into their dialects.

Here's a video report about dying dialects in Mexico:

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

Why The World Still Needs U.S. Leadership — With An Assist From China

Twenty years of costly interventions and China's economic ascent have robbed the United States of its global supremacy. It is time for the two biggest powers to work together, to help the world.

Photograph of Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden walking side by side in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California​

Nov. 15, 2023: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden take a walk after their talks in the Filoli Estate in the U.S. state of California

Xinhua/ZUMA
María Ángela Holguín*

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — The United States is facing a complex moment in its history, as it loses its privileged place in the world. Since the Second World War, it has been the world's preeminent power in economic and political terms, helping rebuild Europe after the war and through its growing economy, aiding the development of a significant part of the world.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

Its model of democracy, long considered exemplary around the world, has gone through a rough patch, thanks to excessive polarization and discord. This has cost it a good deal of its leadership, unity and authority.

How much authority does it have to chide certain countries on democracy, as it does, after such outlandish incidents as the assault on Congress in January 2021? The fights we have seen over electing a new speaker of the House of Representatives or backing the administration's foreign policy are simply incredible.

In Ukraine's case, President Biden failed to win support for the aid package for which he was hoping, even if there is a general understanding that if Russia wins this war, Europe's stability would be at risk. It would mean the victory of a longstanding enemy.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest