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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam.

Last weekend I was driving from London to Anglesian Wales when I saw a road sign written

in two languages. It said welcome to Wales in English and below that it said

Yes, Welsh is spoken by many people in North Wales. It's the Indigenous language.

The language spoken by the people who originally lived in a place rather than by others who

moved there from somewhere else. Welsh is a good example of an Indigenous language that has

survived. Some children speak Welsh in school and the local government has encouraged its spread,

but not all Indigenous languages have been so lucky as we'll be finding out in this programme.

Of course, languages are more than just words. They carry people's history, culture and

identity. So when an Indigenous language disappears, so too does the culture.

Yes, the dominance of international languages, including English, has

endangered other less spoken languages. So here's my quiz question, Sam. Did you know that nearly

7,000 different languages are spoken around the world, but how many of them are Indigenous?

Is it A, 3000, B, 4000 or C, 5000?

I'll say B, 4000 languages.

Okay, Sam, we'll find out the answer at the end of the programme.

One Indigenous language speaker is Mishko Gabwyd Kwe. She's from Canada or Turtle Island,

as it's called by her tribe. She grew up speaking English instead of her native language,

Anishie Navemoen, which she only learned later as an adult.

Listen to Mishko Gabwyd speaking with BBC World Service Programme the conversation about

...