Best language ever

How cool is this:

Juan Cabello is a "silbador," until recently a dying breed
on tiny, mountainous La Gomera, one of Spain's Canary Islands off West
Africa. Like his father and grandfather before him, Cabello, 50, knows
"Silbo Gomero," a language that's whistled, not spoken, and can be
heard more than two miles away. This chirpy brand of chatter is thought
to have come over with early African settlers 2,500 years ago. Now,
educators are working hard to save it from extinction by making
schoolchildren study it up to age 14.
Silbo � the word comes from Spanish verb silbar, meaning to whistle
� features four "vowels" and four "consonants" that can be strung
together to form more than 4,000 words. It sounds just like bird
conversation and Cabello says it has plenty of uses. "I use it for
everything: to call to my wife, to tell my kids something, to find a
friend if we get lost in a crowd," Cabello said.
A snatch of dialogue in Silbo is posted here and translates as follows:

"Hey, Servando!"

"What?"

"Look, go tell Julio to bring the castanets."

"OK. Hey, Julio!"

"What?"

"Lili says you should go get the kids and have them bring the castanets for the party."

"OK, OK, OK."

Posted by flow Frazao on November 17, 2003 at 12:00 AM | Permalink