糖心视频

A web-based archive, launched this week, is to document, protect and support the more than 100 languages spoken in one of Europe鈥檚 most diverse cities.

Professor Yaron Matras from The University of Manchester says the site will for the first time provide detailed information on Manchester鈥檚 diverse linguistic culture.

Languages spoken in Manchester include Yoruba, Urdu, Yiddish, Kurdish, Romani, Aramaic, Armenian, French, Punjabi, Bengali, Somali and Polish.

Project co-organiser Professor Matras, who is based at the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, said: 鈥淎round two thirds of Mancunian schoolchildren are bilingual - a huge figure which indicates just how precious its linguistic culture is.

鈥淭his initiative will encourage communities to maintain their heritage languages at home and in their businesses without being compromised by the ever-present English.

鈥淕athering information about multilingualism will also help local authorities and services to take informed decisions about policies and community needs.鈥�

The archive will grow as further reports- validated by the team 鈥� are added. The public and community groups are also welcome to contribute.

He added: 鈥淪o little data on this area is available 鈥� but we do known that in Manchester鈥檚 schools, 65 different languages are spoken.

鈥淪ome 30% of secondary school pupils in Manchester 鈥� that鈥檚 7,000 people- have a language other than English as their first tongue.

鈥淎nd if you count the people who come from bilingual households, a figure of multilingual pupils may be as high as 60% of Manchester pupils.

鈥淭his project is a unique response to the challenges of a multicultural and multilingual environment.

鈥淲e hope it will help inspire others to celebrate Manchester鈥檚 cultural and linguistic diversity.鈥�