Dying Alaskan Language Kept Alive By A Children's Book

A dying Alaskan language called Tlingit, is being saved through the publication of a children's book. It is the first ever publication of a children's book in the endangered language.

The book entitled ‘The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse’ or Aanka Xóodzi ka Aasgutu Xóodzi Shkalneegi, was translated from the original English version into the Tlingit language.

There are only around 500 people today who speak Tlingit. 'As far as we know, this book is the first to be originally written in English and then translated into the Tlingit language," said Hayes, an English professor at the University of Alaska. "People who learned Tlingit as their first language learned to read English and never learned to read Tlingit'.

Read more about the endangered Tlingit language and how it is being kept alive by a children's book>>