Please click here to leave an anniversary message (in any language you choose). You do not need to be a member of Lowlands-L to do so. In fact, we would be more than thrilled to receive messages from anyone. Click here to read what others have written so far.
What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
ONE LOW SAXON
(LOW GERMAN) STORY
WITH LOTS OF TRANSLATIONS!
13
Years of Lowlands-L!
A celebration of Lowlands languages and cultures
with party guests from near and far
We’ve
been celebrating another birthday!
Created
in celebration of our 10th anniversary in May 2005, this presentation
proved to be surprisingly popular. Everyday it is visited by more
people all over the world.
We are very happy about this and hope that it helps at least a
little bit in increasing awareness and appreciation of the miracle
that
is language, also of its great diversity and all the intricate
connections between the many language varieties, their users and the
associated
cultures. It has been a pleasure to share some of our interests
and some of the fruits of our labor of love. Many thanks to all who
have
been helping to put this together so far!
This
is a work in progress. A lot has been changed and added since May 2005, and the
presentation keeps evolving. So please come
back now and then and find out what’s new! We’d be delighted if you helped us by contributing translations and sound recordings
or by asking relatives, friends, neighbors and coworkers to do so. Please
click here to find out more about the project and here what you can do.
... and you are invited, too!
So please step inside, take a look around, grab
a party hat, meet some Lowlanders, and listen to all the weird and wonderful
sounds of the Lowlands and beyond!
And while you’re at it, why not be a gracious guest and write something nice
into our book? You can do so either by clicking here to open the book or by clicking here to send us a message that we will add to the line-up.
Sure! Lowlands-L members are invited to leave messages, too.
The media have been ignoring
this pretty much. Those that do mention it, which includes some websites,
have been treating it solely
as an indigenous or aboriginal languages issue. Mainstream media rarely
regard European languages as falling into this category. Europe has indigenous
languages just like any other part of the world. Many European languages,
like languages elsewhere in the world, are endangered or discriminated
against, and certain European countries
pursue
policies that are detrimental to language diversity. Furthermore, some
languages of Europe are locally not considered indigenous and deserve respect
and protection nevertheless. The same goes for wholly or partly European-derived
languages outside Europe. We at Lowlands-L celebrate and support linguistic
diversity worldwide.
In celebration of our anniversary we’re bringing you a Low Saxon folktale
translated into a good number of Lowlands language varieties, both in written
and in spoken form.
Please pick a language variety using the clickable map below. (The squares provide
detailed maps of those regions.) You can also choose a language from the list of available languages.
Frontpage
Created
in celebration of our 10th anniversary in May 2005, this presentation
proved to be surprisingly popular. Everyday it is visited by more
people all over the world.
We are very happy about this and hope that it helps at least a
little bit in increasing awareness and appreciation of the miracle
that
is language, also of its great diversity and all the intricate
connections between the many language varieties, their users and the
associated
cultures. It has been a pleasure to share some of our interests
and some of the fruits of our labor of love. Many thanks to all who
have
been helping to put this together so far!
