Two officials of the Linguistic Policy Department of the Basque country regional government arrived Monday in Bogotá to participate in the first workshop on how to protect native languages in Colombia. The workshop is part of a seminar, held in the Colombian capital this week.The two Basque officials will talk with representatives of several Colombian indigenous communities about the Basque politics surrounding the revitalization of the Basque language, the traditional language in the autonomous department in the north of Spain.The workshop then will try to train 26 indigenous leaders from all over the country how to strengthen the use of their native language and make institutions and the communities aware about the importance of creating mechanisms to preserve and disseminate aboriginal languages.After the workshop the indigenous leaders will be responsible for the process needed to preserve the language of their tribe.A second leg of the workshop will be held from May 24 until May 29 in Riohacha, capital of the northern department of La Guajira, and will be directed to the protection of four languages of the Caribbean region.
