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The Forum > Article Comments > Cultural death by apathy > Comments

Cultural death by apathy : Comments

By Stephen Hagan, published 2/7/2008

How about adopting a single Indigenous language as the accepted language for inclusion in the national curriculum?

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Efranke:
No, I used the word in the classical sense: I'll leave it to you to look up a meaning in Wikipedia.
Meanwhile, stand in front of a mirror and you will find one.
Posted by maracas, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 2:36:30 PM
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Stephen, what exactly do you seek to achieve with this Typical,Totally Out of Touch, Aboriginal academic Bull Sh#t?
Posted by ALB, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 9:33:22 PM
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"Meanwhile, stand in front of a mirror and you will find one."

Did you come up with that oh-so-witty retort all by yourself?

In any case, you still haven't provided a single good reason why those of us among the non-aboriginal, European Australian mainstream should be forced to learn near-extinct languages which have no cultural nor economic relevance to us.
Posted by Efranke, Friday, 11 July 2008 4:09:03 AM
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"forced to learn near-extinct languages which have no cultural nor economic relevance to us."

German, French anyone (they certainly have no relevance at all, nor are they economical)? Honestly, I think it is more about learning something of the aboriginal culture and respecting it a little bit than practicality.

No one is proposing fluency in this, much as any language introduction.

However if Australians could pseak aboriginal that would be an excellent strategic defence/military security against invasion/espionage because of it's rarity and diversity.
Posted by Steel, Friday, 11 July 2008 4:03:21 PM
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Efranke:
I gave some valid reasons in a previous post on this subject which you can access if you scroll back where I have provided the URL.

The Australian Military has considered that they have much to learn from Aborigines in learning survival techniques in the Australian bush where a number of our early explorers perished where Aborigines existed for centuries.
So much so that they conduct survival exercises with Aborigines in Norforce and what better way to absorb the information that to be able to speak the language which is far from dead but very much in every day use in top-end communities.

It is not difficult to attain a working knowledge of most languages if you are motivated to do so and respect Aboriginal people as the owners of this land and possess a very rich culture. There skills in understanding the bush environment is unsurpassed and you may even recall occasions where their tracking skills have saved people who have been lost. There is much we can learn from them and one way to do so is to make an effort to learn their language,
Posted by maracas, Friday, 11 July 2008 6:01:29 PM
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Steel,

More Australians claim German ancestry than Aboriginal ancestry. So if German has little cultural relevance to Australians, then Aboriginal languages must be even less relevant.

Economically, German is still one of the main languages of science. It is also the most widely spoken language in Europe; more people speak German as their native language than any other language in Europe.

As for French, it is an official language in 29 countries and remains an international lingua franca. Hardly an obscure language by any definition.

maracas,

The Aboriginals are not the sole owners of this land. Nor is their culture particularly "rich" by any objective standards.

To claim otherwise is to rehash the old "Noble Savage" myth.
Posted by Efranke, Friday, 11 July 2008 11:52:39 PM
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