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Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place

Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.

Discover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.

A weekly programme looking at common challenges around the world and the creative ways people are trying to tackle them.

Presenter Myra Anubi speaks to reporters, experts and innovators to investigate how effective different solutions are, share their successes and inspire listeners with what is possible.

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People Fixing The World: Bringing dead languages back to life

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Bringing dead languages back to life

10/01/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - People Fixing The World, Bringing dead languages back to life

How do you revive a language with no living speakers?

Australia used to be one of the most linguistically diverse places, with over 200 languages.  Today, many of Australia’s indigenous languages are considered “highly endangered”.  

Inspired by his native language, Hebrew, Ghil’ad Zuckermann is a linguistics professor who is on a mission to revive Australia’s dead and endangered languages, painstakingly piecing them back together from historical documents. 

We speak to Ghil’ad and Shania Richards from the Barngarla community, whose language is being brought back from the brink. 

Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter/producer: Josephine Casserly
Producers: Claire Bates & Craig Langran
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Annie Gardiner
Editor: Penny Murphy

Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: Shania Richards, in the uniform of the Youth Governor of South Australia

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