RC Passage 2 Explanation
Paragraph Summaries
- The number of indigenous languages in North American has shrunk, and many surviving languages face extinction. Bad U.S. policy forced Native Americans to speak English. But, languages are undergoing a revival. In particular many indigenous communities have setup radio stations.
- Indigenous cultures have strong oral traditions, so radio works well. The radio stations keep communities together, share community news, and preserve languages.
- The internet is causing problems, as community members tend to use the internet in English. To succeed, radio should “resonate with the living oral traditions” of the communities.
- Radio works better in communities where English is the second language. In communities with English as a first language, Indigenous language lessons are often boring and detached from everyday life. In these communities, radio should feature fluent speakers, as well as word games mixing English and native languages. Combined with printed lessons in the local newspaper, this may work.
Analysis
Note that the article is from 1996. That’s why it refers to things like local radio and local newspapers, and why it treats the internet as a strange phenomenon. In the mid 90s, local radio and print newspapers were quite popular, and few had internet access.
This passage is basically saying there is a conflict between native languages and English. Native languages have been in decline. People are reversing the trend with radio.
However, in places where English is already dominant, it is more challenging to make native language use engaging. This is covered in paragraph 4, and it’s the most subtle section of the passage. Basically, the problem is the same challenge most people have with learning a second language: you’re not very fluent, so it’s a struggle to speak and it isn’t very fun. And radio in those communities often is in the form of dull language lessons.
To succeed, paragraph 4 emphasizes using instead fluent speakers, song, and lessons mixed with English to make lessons engaging. This can still teach people, but it’s more fun.
The earlier part of the passage is more straightforward:
- English lessons in the US reduced native fluency.
- University lessons, recording and radio are helping bring native languages back
- Radio brings communities together while also helping people practice languages
- The English internet makes things harder for radio. But radio can overcome this by appealing to oral traditions
In a nutshell, that’s basically everything in the first three paragraphs.
Note: many of the answers talk about the attitudes of specific groups of people. Those answers are mostly wrong. The passage hardly mentions specific groups of people, and it mentions their attitudes even less.
A university isn’t a person. Neither is a government policy. Those are things, not people.
People are mentioned in two places that I could see:
In line 14 we see that native scholars are developing curricula. We know nothing else about them.
The end of paragraph 3 mentions older people taking an interest in younger people.
That’s it. No other people are mentioned. The end of paragraph 4 does mention recordings of elders and speeches of fluent people, but again, those are things. (recordings and speeches)
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