Yunnan initiates project to record ethnic languages

Yunnan province boasts the most ethnic groups in China. But like many cultural legacies, some of the province's ethnic dialects are in danger of dying out. Now, an effort is being made to save those who speak these dialects from losing their voice.

A studio has been built in order for the 25 ethnic groups in Yunnan to record and in turn protect their languages.

According to linguists' studies, these languages are disappearing very fast, at a speed of one in every two weeks, said Professor Bai Bibo from Yuxi Normal University.

The studio was set at the Normal University of Yuxi. The whole process of recording and documenting the video or audio is completed to the highest standard, with professionals able to speak whichever language they are documenting. Close to a hundred people's voices have so far been collected across nine dialects. Experts will catalogue the work and also provide a Mandarin translation.

Professor Xu Xianming from Yuxi Normal University is currently translating a riddle which goes "a mother is two years old, her son is three years old". "It refers to fingers and thumbs - the thumb has two joints, the index finger has three. In the Sadu dialect, a branch of the Bai people, there are many interesting riddles like this," she said.

Technicians from the studio also head to local villages to record people speaking in their own environment in a conversational manner, or singing. The studio is also recording audio of texts found in a museum overseas.