The Internet and mobile communication are doing the most unexpected – resurrecting hoary languages given up for lost.

In the language of the Bhatu Kolhati, a remote nomadic tribe in India’s western Maharashtra state, tatti means tea and gulle is meat. But, Kuldeep Musale, 30, who belongs to this tribe barely remembers his mother tongue. Well educated and having studied in boarding schools since he was six, Musale instead uses the dominant languages – Hindi, Marathi and English.

His ancestors were traditional folk artists and dancers, but not Musale. He works like any other professional in Pune city, 150km from the provincial capital, Mumbai.

“When you don’t hear a language you forget,” he says.

The mobile phone is a blessing as that enables him to communicate with his parents who still live in his ancestral village. This has helped him keep in touch with his mother tongue. Not just that, Musale is consciously relearning his language which is on the endangered list. Whenever he goes home on vacation, he makes it a point to record songs and voices of elders on his smart phone. More.

See: Al Jazeera

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