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Anvita had previously researched more than 80 Indian languages from five different families.
安维塔此前对5个不同语系的80多种印度语言进行了研究。
But she was there to conduct a preliminary survey of indigenous languages.
但她过去前往那里是为了对土著语言进行初步调查。
At first, some of the indigenous residents—known as the Great Andamanese—balked at her request.
起初，一些被称为大安达曼人的土著居民拒绝了她的要求。
So I knew that they have some memory of the language, of course, but they were denying it.
当然，我知道他们对这种语言有一些记忆，但他们对此予以否认。
But Anvita was really persistent. And then she met someone who would change the scope of her research. She called him Nao Junior.
但安维塔真的很执着。她后来遇到了一个改变她研究范围的人，她叫这个人奈绪·朱尼尔。
I tried to ask him several words. He said, “Listen, madam, I have not spoken my language for quite some years, but I know my language. So I’ll have to remember.”
我试着问他几个字。他说：“听着，夫人，我已经好几年不说我的语言了，但我懂我的语言。所以我必须记住。”
And that gave me a big clue—that I can see some ray of hope.
这给了我一个很大的线索——我看到了一线希望。
When I first heard Anvita’s story, I was stunned.
当我第一次听到安维塔的故事时，我大为吃惊。
I’m half Bengali myself, but I had never heard of the Great Andamanese, the original Indigenous peoples who lived in the Great Andaman archipelago, or about how the British—who established a penal colony in Port Blair in 1858—wiped almost all of them out through a combination of gunfire and disease.
我自己有一半孟加拉血统，但我从未听说过居住在大安达曼群岛上的土著居民大安达曼人，也从未听说过1858年在布莱尔港建立流放地的英国人是如何通过炮火和疾病将大安达曼人几乎全部消灭的。
In the 1960s, by which time the islands were governed by India, only 19 members of the Great Andamanese people were left.
20世纪60年代，当这些岛屿由印度统治时，只剩下19名大安达曼人。
India settled them on this tiny island called Strait island. And then Anvita visited.
印度把他们安置在这个叫做海峡岛的小小海岛上。然后安维塔来了。
There were only nine speakers in 2001, when I reached the island.
2001年，当我到达这个岛的时候，只有9个人说大安达曼语。
She knew she had to try to preserve this language family before it all faded away. And so she set out on foot to follow it.
她知道她必须在这个语系逐渐消失之前努力保护它。于是她徒步出发去追寻这门语言。
It was a very, very tough ... I still remember those crocodile-laden creeks that we had to cross and lot of snakes who were visiting us day and night—especially at night, in the evening.
非常艰难……我仍然记得我们必须穿过的那些满是鳄鱼的河流，还有许多日夜出没的蛇，尤其是在晚上出来的蛇。
While on this trip, Anvita realized something crucial.
在这次出行中，安维塔意识到了一些至关重要的事情。
When I presented my results, I claimed that it appears that Great Andamanese is a separate language family. And Onge and Jarawa constitute another language family.
当我展示我的研究成果时，我的观点是，大安达曼语似乎是一个独立的语系，而翁格语和加拉瓦语则构成了另一个语系。
Before me, some linguists had traveled to the Andaman Islands, and they had always considered Andamanese as one language family, which had three branches — Great Andamanese, Onge, and Jawara.
在我之前，一些语言学家去过安达曼群岛，他们一直认为安达曼语是一个语系，下有三个分支——大安达曼语、翁格语和加拉瓦语。
Which I denied. That there are no such branches — there are two independent language families.
我不赞成这个观点。不存在这样的分支，而是有两个独立的语系。
