语言保护的本质是什么
本文节选自Joshua A. Fishman, Reversing Language Shift, pp 18-9 。作者Fishman（1926-2015）是犹太裔社会语言学家，为社会语言学、特别是语言保护理论做了许多奠基性的工作。
译者又题：警惕抱团取暖，语保者需要努力“出圈”
语言保护/语言活化（下文简称“语保”）工作鲜少是“为了保护语言本身”而做的。只有语言学家、翻译家、某些教书匠，以及一小撮“非典型少年”，才会因语言本身而对语言感兴趣。
RLS (reversing language shift) is rarely, if ever, pursued 'for its own sake'. Only linguists, translators, some language teachers and a few other clearly atypical individuals are interested in languages 'for their own sake'.
（译注：其实我早期接触到的方言圈子的人，比如海墘闽语论坛的许多痴迷方言文献的人，以及研究“戚林八音”的老同志们，可以算是“非典型少/老年”。没有贬义。但我一度以为这类人做的事就是“方言保育”的全部。好在真鸟囝让我看到了更广的可能性。）
然而，参与语保的人往往给外界造成错误印象，让人以为他们真的只关心语言本身。这或许是因为， 作为一个常被质疑甚至被围攻的少数群体，语保者们常常习惯于“抱团取暖”，以至于忘记了如何和“圈外人”有效沟通。
However, pro-RLS partisans often make the impression that this is so, i.e., that language is their exclusive concern. As a frequently embattled and sometimes besieged minority, they often become so accustomed to speaking only to each other that they forget how to speak effectively to others.
抱团久了之后，语保圈内普遍接受、无需赘述的理念，语保者就往往不知道如何和外界解释。有鉴于此，语保工作者更应当时时提醒自己不忘初心，并更有意识地拷问自己——“语保理念是什么？”只有自己先有清晰的认识，才能让更多人理解这些理念。
What they no longer need to explain to each other they often no longer know how to explain to others. They often need to remind themselves and to make themselves more conscious of their own RLS 'basic principles', so that they can then make others more conscious of these principles as well.
坦白说，俺们的“语保理念”，也不过是一种价值观（代表我们对于本土文化、生活方式和社会准则的立场）。但这没什么不好意思的，因为俺们的反对者的立场，也不过就只是另一种价值观。 话说回来，语保工作者还是要熟练掌握“阐述价值观”的能耐。因为能够清晰阐述价值观，乃制定行动方案（包括宏观和微观层面）之前提。
RLSers should not be embarassed about the fact that theirs is basically a value position (a position relative to the ethnocultural saliency, content and regulation of their lives), because the position of their opponents is also no more than a value position. On the other hand, they must become more adept at explaining what this position is, because in doing so they will be able to better design the steps that are needed in order to implement it, whether at the macro-level or at the micro-level.
语保工作者必须认识到，语保从本质上说，是一种推动社会变革的努力。这意味努力改变现有的、广泛被人接受的社会文化现状（而且往往在意识形态上是禁区），并用自己理想的一套愿景取而代之。
They must realize that RLS is, essentially, a societal reform-effort that involves both the abandonment of widely accepted (but ideologically contra-indicated) cultural patterns and the attainment of their stipulated replacements.
（译注： 某人某次聊天和我说了一句“我在意的是语言多样性的意识形态，而不是哪个词的对错”我很认同）
你若能意识到语保这种本质，就会明白，为什么语保是一项如此艰巨的任务。而倘若我们没有这种自知之明，那其实就是在放弃仅有的那一丝丝的成功希望。
To realize this is to realize why RLS is so difficult to attain; not to realize it is to forgo the slim chances that exist for the success of RLS-efforts.
（译注：我的理解——要“知其不可为而为之”。“知其不可”是对艰巨性本身、以及难点在哪里有充分的认识，我经常说语言保护是社会工程，单靠一个团队肯定是不够的。我们必须要去“撬动”整个社会的力量。
“而为之”就是乐观主义，知道很难，但是我们依然选择践行我们的价值观）