Group Uses Web to Create Modern 'Rosetta Stone'

Thanks, Abdiah,

I wonder whether there is an opportunity here for somebody to build bridges online among these languages, mapping similarities and differences.

It seems remarkable that places have so many languages. It has to be because of travel and trade patterns and because some national borders are relatively recent constructs, compared to the creation of the languages.

Thanks, RamonAntonio,

I hear you. The genius is as much in the application as in the creation.

Given the interest we have seen here, I will keep an eye open for Rosetta Project developments.

Thanks again.

Unfortunately, it was not easy to navigate. However, I counted a few Ghanaian languages (at least ten that are indicative of the extent of coverage - because they usually get missed in other presentations on Ghanaian language)

I would love to be able to compare the content of the information presented in the languages 

Hey Joe, you got it right again. Keys are the Key to preservation. In this case, success depends on the ability to tie the Rosetta project with its meaning and that's a key.

If the project doesn't convey a key to its use, its meaning, it will be useless. Thus, the development of a concise key is indeed critical for success.

We can contribute to the success of this effort by publishing periodically, as you have done, the whereabouts of the project. That way, the existence of the project and its purpose will be prevalent within a broad base of references, thus, improving the chances that someone gets a clue of its existence. This must be done because if the project is not mentioned elsewhere, its own existence may be obscured by history.

In that case, your article has become a key for the project.

abdiah,

Please write more about what you found. How many Ghanaian languages? Was it easy to navigate the database?

The Rosetta Projct people say on the site that they need help building an open dataset of language information in Freebase. Is what they have navigable?

abdiah and Princess_dascho:

Good point. How much time do we spend covering the same ground in so many different areas of our lives when the roads less traveled hold more of the secrets that can help us survive and succeed?

Will we use the Internet to put everyone on the same page, have them eatngthe same foods and listening to the same music, or will we use it to ensure the diversity of thought that leads to so much creativity?

Thanks, magneticnorth. (I love the handle.)

You sound so excited about this. Could some of the smart folks on Internet Explorer come up with a good project for a dispersed but interconnected group to create? Maybe something off the back of someone's workbench ...

Thanks for a dash of inspiration, RamonAntonio. Now I don't feel so grim.

When I think of projects like these -- either the Rosetta Stone or the Rosetta Project -- as well as research into DNA and of networks -- I can't help but visualize keys. They are small, but they can open tremendous secrets.

Even though it may take a lot of work to make these little keys and we might not even know what they will open, it is important to cut them while we can. A lost language is like an extinct species and it is foolhardy for us to stand by and watch them vanish, figuring they must not be important or that we can somehow revive them later.

Preservation is so much more efficient and authentic than reconstruction.

Thanks for your post.

Yes, the preservation of languages for future generations would be a great legacy.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of Ghanaian languages that have made it on the the "Rosetta Stone".

Thumbs up to them.

I agree abdlah,

It is a good way to preserve local languages in many remote parts of the world. There is a great concern that people tend to abandon minor languages to embrace the so-called official (or intellectual) in those areas. But with this project future generations could be able to trace back what kind of "tongues" their ancestors used to communicate.