This post is republished [1] with permission from the Indigenous Tweets blog.
Last Friday February 21st was International Mother Language Day [2], a celebration of linguistic and diversity originally created by UNESCO in 1999. This year, together with Rising Voices [3] and the Living Tongues Institute [4], we tried to encourage people to tweet in their native language using the hashtag #imld14 (#dilm14 in Spanish). We were thrilled with the response, and you can see some of the many tweets by searching for #imld14 on Twitter [5], or by checking out the Storify [6] created by Laura Morris from Rising Voices.
For fun, I looked specifically at tweets written in any of the 157 languages we're tracking on the Indigenous Tweets site [7]. In all, there were 491 tweets containing #imld14 or #dilm14, written in 31 of the 157 languages. Leading the way were Gàidhlig [8] with 158 tweets, followed by 74 tweets in Aragonese [9], 45 in Ojibwe/Nishnaabemwin [10], 41 in Malagasy [11], and 28 in Irish/Gaeilge [12].
One of the primary goals of the Indigenous Tweets project is to get people to use their language every day on Twitter and other social media sites. We hope that a few of you who did this for the first time for #imld14 will continue to tweet in your native language and encourage others in your community to do the same.
For additional inspiration, we'll close with a sampling of tweets in a few other languages. Looking forward to an even better turnout for #imld15!!
Nahuatl:
#dilm14 [13] Monequi #Nahuatlahtolli [14] ontla'totiuh telpochmachtilcalco. Yu'quin totelpopochtin a'mo quimpoloz totlamatilizhuan.
— Rodrigo Chacón (@Soyuntamal) February 22, 2014 [15]
Manx Gaelic:
@JamysJeheiney [16] s'mie lhiam geaishtagh rish @juliefowlis [17]
#manx [18] #gaelg [19] #kiaull [20] #IMLD [21]
— Chris Williamson (@FeerVaynrey) February 21, 2014 [22]
Lezgian:
ВацIун рикIелай булахар фида, гьуьлуьн рикIелай – вацIар #imld14 [23] #Lezgian [24]
— Лезги Лугьунар (@LezgiQuotes) February 21, 2014 [25]
Karuk:
. @CASottile [26] @FirstPeoples [27] Nixuti pu'thiinatihar pa'úuhyan ‘peace’ pa nanuhihaak. @JulianKaruk [28] fáat ixuti? #imld14 [23] #Karuk [29]
— Susan Gehr (@vurayav) February 21, 2014 [30]
Nez Perce:
núunim héesin titooqatímtki péelleheype híiwes. Our breath is with language everyday. #nezperce [31] #imld14 [23] #risingvoices [32] #liveyourlanguage [33]
— Phil Cash Cash (@weyiiletpu) February 21, 2014 [34]
North Sámi:
Odne lea riikkaidgaskasaš eatnigiela beaivi! Lihkku beivviin! #NorthSami [35] (International Mother Language Day 2014) #imld14 [23] @samiallaskuvla [36]
— Jelena Porsanger (@JPorsanger) February 21, 2014 [37]
Māori:
Kāore au e whakapākehātia. Mā tēnei mea pea e whakamārama taku kōrero :) http://t.co/cPm1Gmchde [38] #Imld14 [39] #Māori [40]
— K.H. (@landkatia) February 22, 2014 [41]