Asturian-American Migration Forum

Claro que ye un drechu. Les autoridaes españoles nun valoren esti patrimoniu vivu n'Asturies. Munches coses poemos llograr cola oficialidá de la nuesa llingua, como lo que pasó col Guaraní, oficializáu cola Constitución Paraguaya de 1992. Una llingua autóctona del continente americanu, de miles d'años d'antigüedá, permanez viva en más de 6 millones de persones, nes escueles, nos medios masivos de comunicación y na conciencia de la xente. Foi un llogro mui grande. Lo mismo ocurre'n Bolivia cola so Nueva Constitución.

----
Trans. Is

Of course it's a civil right. The Spanish authorities do not value this legacy of Asturias, which is still alive. We can achieve many things by granting a legal framework to our language, just as was the case of Guarani [Amerindian language of Paraguay] which became an official language with the Constitution of 1992. That is how an indigenous language with thousands of years of history was kept alive in a country of 6 million. This was done by making it official in schools, in the media and through awareness campaigns among the people. It was a noteworthy achievement too. The same legal changes have taken place in Bolivia with its new constitution.

Yo sofitu l'oficialidá porque creyo que ye l'única mena de salvar esa parte del nuesu patrimoniu, peru tampocu pué unu facese munches illusiones. L'autual statu quo nun tien dal porgüeyu por da-y l'estatus d'oficial, y ya dio numberoses muestres del so refugu a la llingua. Ta tou bien acadigáu.

Sacantes los partíos piquinos nacionaliegos comu IAS o Andecha nun hai dengún utru que faiga una defensa real. IU, esi partíu bisagra, ye'l únicu de los grandes, nel mio calter, que "sofita" l'oficialidá y gana ansina la mayoría de los votos prollingua, magar que sigue siendo un puntu ensin muncha importancia dientru de les sos prioridaes, creyo yo. Sicasí, magar que la sofite na teoría, na práxis nun fai dala migaya por la llingua.

Tamién ye verdá qu'España ta fecha al mou de Castiella. Ye normal que nun heba porgüeyu por caltener vives les otres llingües, nun hai más qu'echa-y una güeyada a los problemas de tipu llingüísticu que surxen dacuandu en rellación a Cataluña o al País Vasco. La propaganda solu fai por españar les poques iniciatives asturianistes, los homes de a pie vémonos demasiau intoxicaos, lu que complica mui munchu les posibilidaes del asturianu.

Lu que pasará, de xuru, ye que nun habrá oficialización denguna y l'asturianu morrerá en una o dos xeneraciones. Quedarán delles pallabres, xiros y della caxigalina, peru nada más. Ye una llástima, pero ansina furrulen les coses eiquí.

----

My trans.

I support the officialization, because I think that it's the only way to save that part of our cultural heritage, but I think one mustn't build up hopes. The current political status quo doesn't have any interest in officializing it and the government gave many samples of its rejection.

Besides some little nacionalist parties as IAS or Andecha, there's any other that make a real defense. IU, a hinge party, is the only one of the big ones, IMHO, that supports the officialization and obtains most of the prollingua votes, even though it's a not very relevant point of its political priorities. Nevertheless, although IU supports it theorically, they don't really do almost anything for it.

It's also truth that Spain is built on a Castilian way. It's not surprising that there's not a real interest in keeping alive the rest of the spanish languages, and it's easy to check it out looking at Catalonia or the Basc Country. The linguistic problems arise often each time they try to protect their heritage. On the other hand the propaganda destroys all the asturianist initiatives; we're all too much intoxicated by the spanish media, which complicates the chances of the llingua.

What is surely going to happen is that there won't be officialization and the asturian language will die in one or two generations. They'll rest words and things like that, but nothing else. It's a shame, but that's the way things work here.

Eso sí sería un problema. Pero yo creyo que ésto depende muncho de la conciencia cultural de la xente asturiano. Conozo muncha xente que reniega tamién de la so llingua materna.
Nel casu de la llingua del mio país, el guaraní, hebo oportunidá pa la so desaparición nel momento del final de la Guerra de la Triple Alianza. Quedamos con 300 mil personas en tol territoriu paraguayu, y d'entre ellos eran 90% muyeres. Toas ellas mantuvieron viva la flama de la nuesa llingua colos pocos que quedaron, pa asina repoblar el país, renaciendo de nuevo'l pueblu paraguayu.
Ye mui interesante fablar contigo, amigu. Nun ties MSN p'asina poer prauticar el mio asturianu?

----
Trans. Is

That would be a problem. But I think it depends largely on the cultural awareness of the Asturian people. I know a lot of people who actually reject their mother tongue.

In the case of our own indigenous language in Paraguay, Guarani, there was a time window at the end of the War of the Triple Alliance, when it could have disappeared entirely. At the time, only 300,000 people were left in Paraguay, of which 90% were women. They all kept the language alive as the population found its new baseline and registered demographic growth.

It's interesting to speak with you, my friend. Do you have an MSN address so I can practice my Asturian with you?