We’re proud to report that we’ve added Sardinian to our growing list of subtitle languages, bringing our total to 114 so far.
Sardinian, sometimes called Sard, is the main indigenous language of Sardinia, an autonomous island region of Italy located in the western Mediterranean Sea. A Romance language, Sardinian is a close relative of Latin. It’s comprised of two varieties, Campidanese and Logudorese; the former is spoken primarily in the southern half of the island, while the latter is a staple in the north-central portion. Despite government attempts to combine Sardinian’s variants into one standardized language, most native speakers continue to use one or the other. Even so, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has deemed both varieties of Sardinian as “endangered,” particularly because younger generations of Sardinians are speaking Italian with increasing frequency.
Undeterred by this trend, however, volunteers Carlo Salis and Caterina Angela transcribed this recent TEDxViaTurso talk in Sardinian. In the talk, Dante Olianas shares the background of the launeddas, a Sardinian woodwind instrument that’s a precursor to the bagpipes. Check it out.