Ladin Wikipedia on the incubator

A week ago I received the following post (in German):

Hallo Sabine,

da Du Dich ja mit "less resourced languages" befasst, wollte ich fragen,
ob Du vielleicht ein paar Leute aus Südtirol, dem Trentino, der Provinz
Belluno oder sonstwoher kennst, die gerne Artikel auf ladinisch
Schreiben würden. Die Wikipedia liegt schon seit einiger Zeit im
Inkubator, aber keiner will dieses Ei ausbrüten.

Da die Ladiner in vielen Vereinen organisiert sind, habe ich mir
überlegt, in nächster Zeit eine davon Anzuschreiben, so z. B. die
ladinischen Feuerwehren und die Grupa per la defendura di uciei
(Vogelschutzbund). Falls Du auch ein bisschen Werbung machen kannst,
währe ich Dir dankbar :)

Liebe Grüße
Andi

Actually Andi asks me if I can help with recruiting people who help with the Ladin Wikipedia which is still on the incubator. Well, I am on one hand part of the LangCom and I am not sure if I should do this ... but on the other hand I am the CCO of Vox Humanitatis which actively promotes less resourced languages and the related projects. Well, Wikipedias in these languages are projects to be promoted and helped. Therefore I would like to ask anyone who is reading this to help to connect me/us to people speaking/writing Ladin so that I can connect them with the right people from my side. I am also going to write a number of associations that maybe can help. (E-Mail: s.cretella [at] voxhumanitatis.org).

Please note that we will actively support your help requests, but please consider that we only have a certain amount of time, so whatever needs to be done is going to be done even often it will take some days until we actually can move. Our to-do list is quite long :-)

Thanks for helping to spread the word!

Technorati tags: Wikipedia, Vox Humanitatis, Ladin

Blogger's code of conduct

Actually I wanted to write this blog some 10 days ago, but like so often things just get crazy around you and time just gets too short ... but maybe it is good that there is some time in between, just to make people aware of it again.

Approx. two weeks ago there were some people who IMHO did not behave correctly. I mean: by blogging and by being connected to various organizations we also have a certain responsibility. What we need to be aware of is that often a simple statement, sometimes maybe joking around with friends, can be misunderstood and lead to really ... ehm ... not so nice results.

On Wikia the Blogger's Code of Conduct was published (as much as I understood it came about thanks to the co-operation of Jimmy Wales and Tim O'Reilly). I would like to ask you all, of the various foundations, associations and of course also all individuals who read this, to have a closer look and to adopt the Blogger's Code of Conduct when writing your blogs.

Thank you!

Cooking and languages???

There is one strange thing that lately happens to me and I am wondering why that is. Up to some time ago I mainly cooked Neapolitan style, that is the way I learnt to cook when I came to the Amalfi Coast. Then you simply could not find many ingredients, but anyway: I had never learnt to cook how my mom and my grandma did. The strange thing is that it is some time now that I am considering my original language, the one spoken in Rodach, that is Mainfränkisch (well, a dialect of it). And its some weeks now that I am changing way to cook ... without even knowing what I do, I mean it is automatic. And the taste, well my family confirms this, is exactly the same the things my mom and my grandma cooked. Well yes, I saw my grandma hundreds of times doing things and in the past I already did some stuff I learnt from her like marmelades, peas in glasses (don't really know how you call this in English - well: vegetables that are treated to be there in winter when you don't have other stuff).


Now I am wondering why I am changing my way of doing things. Yes, I am changing myself, that's true as well, but: is it the dealing with that language that brings things back? Or could the reason be another one: it's almost two years now that I saw my mom for the last time - well this Saturday it is two years now. Now: there's nobody around anymore who can cook that stuff in my family. Do I automatically do it? Or maybe is it a combination of both, my mom not being here anymore and the language?

Ravello ... concerts ... once upon a time ...

it was really difficult to get a ticket for one of the concerts in Ravello ... today it seems as if they were an everyday mass product: 84 concerts in one season starting on 1st of March ... don't know when they will stop, but let's say the end of October. This means 8 month, that is approx. 240 days ... this means approx. each third day a concert ... uhmmmmmm .... and they had difficulties to get the message out last year (at least as much as I understood).

Now when it comes to tourism marketing in that town they work with elite guests. But 84 concerts is not "elite production" but "mass production". This simply doesn't match. You can have the best artists for the whole of the year, but this concept simply cannot work with high level customers. They want the extraordinary, they want stuff nobody can easily have. That's why they are the elite. They can afford to pay high prices and they don't care about paying as long as they get premium service. Premium services are rare and not mass products. I mean 84 concerts like these in a city like Las Vegas (yes, I know what I talk about, I was there even if only for two days and over 25 years ago) can work, but not in such a small tourism centre on the Amalfi Coast in Italy .... I am really wondering how this season will work out for them ... in the end: or they will have to change their program for the future or they will need to change their tourism ... and in the worst case: they will loose both and that would be really sad.

Uhmmmm .....

Ketten ...

Ich habe heute einer Freundin auf eine Mail geantwortet ... bei Ihr sieht's im Moment nicht so toll aus ... vor kurzer Zeit habe ich über ähnliches mit demjenigen gesprochen, der mir am nächsten steht. Ich möchte beiden dieses Gedicht widmen – ihr, weil ich hoffe, dass das Gesagte hift, ihm, weil es ihn gibt.

Es ist seltsam: auch hier muss ich jede Zeile mit dem "Gegenstand" beginnen – es geht nicht anders ...

Ketten

Ketten ... wir alle haben sie
Ketten ... sie binden und doch lassen sie frei
Ketten ... machmal werden sie schwer
Ketten ... und dann sind sie wieder ganz leicht
Ketten ... können die Seele zerstören
Ketten ... können sie retten
Ketten ... sind nichts anders als Bänder
Ketten ... sind Beziehungen
Ketten ... sind Leidenschaft
Ketten ... bedeuten Vertauen
Ketten ... bedeuten sich aufgeben
Ketten ... bedeuten sich festzulegen
Ketten ... versperren uns manchmal die Sicht
Ketten ... kann man sprengen
Ketten ... sind Geborgenheit
Ketten ... haben Schlösser

Ketten ... an dem Tag, an dem wir sie als Last empfinden, sie uns weh tun, dann sollten wir daran denken, dass wir selbst sie sprengen können

Ketten ... solange sie Geborgenheit und Sicherheit geben, dürfen sie auch verlangen, oft mehr als sie zugeben vermögen

Ketten ... sind Teil unseres Lebens, wir müssen nur lernen, richtig mit ihnen umzugehen

Ketten ... wir sollten den Schlüssel zum Schloss unserer Ketten, nur denjenigen geben, die sorgsam damit umzugehen wissen, denn sie sind es, die Einfluss auf unser Leben selbst haben

Ketten ... ich habe meine kennengelrnt – und Du, kennst Du Deine?

African Music

Well, for now I call it African Music ... it is just: we don't know enough about this huge continent here in Europe and I suppose also in the rest of the world and so it is hard for us to feel the differences ... why don't they tell us more about the rest of the world???

It's been some weeks now that I met Outi who is Finnish and married with Ismaila Sané who is from Senegal. What I still find so strange is that I chose some people to contact by chance and ... well ... she's another one wanting to change the world :-)

We believe in local languages, in local culture and that they need to be maintained. We want our kids to learn the languages of the various families, simply because it is the only way to really connect them with their original cultures and give them their very own identity.

How many of us are out there? I mean: are you, who are reading another one like us? If so: just join us :-)

For now I would like to have you listen to the song Outi sent me today - I like it.

Wasser ...

Ich schreibe eigentlich nie Gedichte ... nur irgendwo muss ich es doch von meiner Großmutter geerbt haben, denn manchmal muss ich einfach schreiben.

Dieses hier habe ich vor ca. 10 Tagen geschrieben - ob es gut zum Veröffentlichen ist, weiss ich nicht ... aber es ist für jemand ganz besonderes ...

Wasser

So wie Wasser sein

Die Räume ausfüllen, die man ausfüllen kann, die sich öffnen

So wie Wasser sein

Die Räume verlassen, wenn sie sich mit anderem füllen

So wie Wasser sein

Wasser ... Unendlichkeit ...

Wasser ... kann Felsen sprengen
Wasser ... kann Flächen glätten
Wasser ... kann einen tragen
Wasser ... spendet Leben
Wasser ... kann es nehmen
Wasser ... ist der Ursprung allen Lebens
Wasser ... umgibt uns
Wasser ... ist in uns
Wasser ... ist wie ein Spiegel
Wasser ... und doch sieht man hindurch

Wasser ... kann einen untergehen lassen
wenn man nicht gelernt hat, damit umzugehen

Wasser ... sich treiben zu lassen
Wasser ... darin schwimmen lernen
Wasser ... Deine Wellen ...
Wasser ... Du streichelst mich

So wie Wasser sein

Die Räume ausfüllen, die man ausfüllen kann, die sich öffnen

So wie Wasser sein

Die Räume verlassen, wenn sie sich mit anderem füllen

Doch ist es nicht so, dass wir nicht mehr sind, wenn das Wasser, die Essenz des Lebens nicht mehr da ist?