Khonsay: Poem of Many Tongues

There are 6,500 languages spoken in the world. By the end of the century, more than half will disappear. Khonsay: Poem of Many Tongues is a tribute and call to action for linguistic diversity. A 15-minute motion poem (poem on film), each line comes from a different treasure or minority language. 48 speakers each speak in their mother tongues, as line by line, language by language, the poem is created.

In the Boro tongue of North India, itself a treasure language, Khonsay means to pick up something with great care, as it is rare or scarce.

Khonsay premiered in New York City at the 2015 Margaret Mead Film Festival and was featured in the biannual Sadho Poetry Film Festival in New Delhi, India, where it won the Viewer's Choice Award.

Visit http://khonsay.com to read the poem in-depth, explore its languages, speakers and background, and donate to language revitalization organizations.

To learn more, visit http://citylore.org

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