Tristin Ralston - The Linguistic Traveler
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linguistictraveler.bsky.social
Tristin Ralston - The Linguistic Traveler
@linguistictraveler.bsky.social
260 followers 230 following 310 posts
When you travel to another country, do you usually speak English, or do you speak the language of the people there? I talk about how you can improve your travel experience through language! https://thelinguistictraveler.com
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I made a post earlier this year with some travel destinations I really want to visit. It's tough to make a short list when I want to visit every possible square inch of the planet, though!
You know, that makes sense now that I think about it!
There are so many different methods to be able to travel, and some awesome experiences you can have from it!

I've excavated Mayan ruins in Belize and taught English in Romania. That's not an experience you'd get by going for the standard tourist approach!
When I'm at home, I find myself in front of a screen a lot; watching videos, playing games, or mindlessly scrolling.

But when I travel, all motivation to watch videos or play games vanishes.

Sometimes all you need to refresh your mind is a new experience!
If you're looking for some good places to visit in Dublin, it's easy to spend a whole day looking around at the National Museum of Archaeology. The best part is that it's free!

This means that if (like me) you don't have time to see everything, you can just come back the next day!
I found out yesterday that there's a Salish immersion school near me. Kids there can become fluent in Salish in 18 months!

It's a lot of work to revitalize a language like that, but the people in charge of it have put in a lot of effort to create an alphabet and translate all sorts of resources!
There are a lot more languages out there than you might realize. Over 7,000 languages are spoken today.

The craziest part is that 10% of those are spoken in Indonesia!

Every single one encompasses its own worldviews and cultural background.
The distribution of languages around the world can tell you a lot about history. For example, Indonesia's biggest non-native language was Dutch for a long time! (Now it's English.)

Indonesian also uses the same writing script as English and Dutch!
"Vigilante language revitalization" as I've been calling it, is not really a big issue.

But dying languages are. There are good and bad ways to help with the issue. How can you tell the difference, and what makes vigilante revitalization a problem?

thelinguistictraveler.com/the-problem-...
The Problem with Vigilante Language Revitalization | The Linguistic Traveler
Why might helping to protect a dying language do more harm than good? Here's an example where even good intentions can lead to bad outcomes!
thelinguistictraveler.com
I think as an American I often don't realize how obvious my heritage can be. In Romania I met multiple people who could tell that I had Scottish, Norwegian, and Polish heritage just by looking at me.

I wouldn't even know what to look for!
Every inch of the place is so ornate! There's not a single wall, door, floor, ceiling, or piece of furniture that isn't adorned with tons of details!
Went to my first ren faire this weekend. Had a great time, even if I did accidentally break something I bought the moment I got home!

Scotland did not win the joust, unfortunately. Spain beat them!
I've had ChatGPT send people to my site before, which means it probably also took whatever else it said straight from my site.