As we here at busuu.com are committed to the preservation of minority languages, we have decided to include a new section on the almost extinct language of Silbo Gomero on our website! Silbo Gomero, however, is not any ordinary language. There are no words and there is no written form! Silbo Gomero is an almost extinct, whistled language from the island of la Gomera in the Spanish Canary Islands. It translates Spanish into whistled tunes but, as it is phonetic, it could be used for any other language. This amazing form of communication has existed for centuries and was used to communicate across the steep mountains and deep valleys of the island. While spoken words can only be heard up to a distance of 200 metres, the Silbo Gomero whistle can be heard up to a distance of 8 kilometres!
busuu.com is dedicated to the diversity of languages so we are helping Silbo Gomero in its fight against extinction. Why you don’t help Silbo too and try to learn some of this amazing form of communication by having a look at the Silbo Learning Unit here.
Once you have progressed with your Silbo skills, send us your own Silbo YouTube videos to team@busuu.com and we will put the best ones up on our website!
So start whistling and help busuu.com keep Silbo Gomero alive!
