Language Maintenance Quotes

While a people preserves its language; it preserves the marks of liberty.

When I came back from Bolivia, my Spanish was in some ways as good as my English. I am rusty today. But I am comfortable talking in Spanish. I am not flawless or fluent, but I am comfortable. It takes me a day or two speaking a lot of Spanish to get back into a rhythm.

Languages are not owned by nations but by the people who use them and make them live.

Bilingual-education advocates say it's important to teach a child in his or her family's language. I say you can't use family language in the classroom - the very nature of the classroom requires that you use language publicly.

There were about 6,000 languages spoken on this planet at the beginning of the 20th century, there are probably only 600 still widely spoken at the beginning of the 21st century. Together with biodiversity, cultural and linguistic diversity are fading fast.

I think it's about the feeling more than a language. And I think that we and every culture in the world has to keep their own language just to bring something else, something different, and show a different vision of the world, actually. And that's why I'm trying to keep my language.

My parents did not want us to lose our culture and our language. And that was a good thing.

At home we always converse in Oriya.

Russian is such a tough and complex language that I am happy enough to understand everything and read most things pretty well, but, without constant practice, my speech is not what I wish it was, and I would sooner write in crayon than write a letter in Russian.

I still speak Czech with my parents because I was born there.

I spoke English at school and Spanish at home, and I'm always eating Dominican food, listening to Dominican music.

The Hawaiian language needs to be studied globally as a language of life.

My Mandarin is slowly getting worse.

It's a falsehood to state that francophone communities are thriving.

Within a language, you have your roots, your culture, and I think and dream in Bassa. We have 260 languages in Cameroon, but the official ones are French and English.

I have a few close friends with whom I can practice speaking Italian, but I mostly maintain fluency through reading.

Even though many Indians can read or speak English, for most, it is not their first language. At the office, we speak in English, but we consume our culture in our own language.

Bilingualism is a great asset for any individual, but it has perilous consequences for a nation.

I want to keep talking about my people and my country in my own language.

You know, now there is always half of the new Quebecers who are going to the English CEGEP. After that, often they are going to work in English. So for us, that is so important. We are a real minority in North America. Two per cent of the population are French-speaking. We have to protect this reality.

Languages like English, Spanish, and Chinese are healthy languages. They exist in spoken, written, and signed forms, and they're used by hundreds of millions of people all over the world. But most of the 6,000 or so of the world's languages aren't in such a healthy state.

I have a high regard for Native languages and the pivotal role they have played in our nation's history.

I grew up speaking both languages, and for me that's really important.

I speak Farsi, German, Dari, and I understand Turkish, but I haven't used it since 1985, so I'm a bit rusty.

My father had barely any education. He could hardly write or count. But his great pride was that he was perfectly bilingual. In the household, he entertained this idea that we had to speak both languages.