Lightning talks - Polyglot Gathering 2015

Lightning Talks are a chance for anyone to give a quick presentation (up to 5 minutes) about a topic they're interested in.

The 2015 Polyglot Gathering is brought to you by Italki.

Become fluent in any language.

[Slovakian?]

French, is it fine?

Be welcome.

Here we go on with the Lightning Talks.

You have another occasion

to speak about a topic you are interested in.

That means that everyone has three minutes.

Five? – He gives five? Who has more?

Well, everyone has five minutes to

speak about anything he wants.

We can use … No? – We have nothing to use.

I agree. We will just speak.

Who will begin? – Thomas.

I will have a look at the watch and will give a sign.

I will use the International Language.

I am going to speak about Faroese.

It’s a finding when I learned Icelandic.

Icelandic and Faroese are in the group
of Insular Scandinavian languages.

Faroese has 44,000 speakers on the Faroe Islands themselves.

It is a group of islands between Norway and Iceland.

It’s an autonomous part of Denmark.

There are perhaps from 60,000 to 100,000 native speakers.

In 2000 a hundred seventy book were published,

between them 66 translations from foreign languages.

One book per 325 inhabitants.
That’s a record.

From 1538 on there is no more written language,

because everything was written in Danish.

But the Faroese preserved their language
by dancing – chain dances.

One takes the hand of another
and forms a great circle.

And one dances stepping four steps to the left and two steps to the right.

Well, this way they preserved more than 40,000 verses.

And the whole language was reconstructed
out of those verses in the 19th century.

In the 20th century they got autonomy
after World War II.

And they began to drive out the Danish language.

Now in the beginning they learn Faroese only,
and Danish not before the third class,

but up to a native speaker’s level,
at least written

in order to have the possibility to study
in Copenhagen or elsewhere in Denmark.

I thought that it was worth learning the language,

because it is interesting in history
and you have a lot of books and music.

The best known group is Týr,
who make rock music, metal rock music,

in Faroese, in Danish and in English
and also in German.

The most famous dance and ballad is
“Ormurin langi.”

That’s “The Long Snake.”

Thank you!