Mangaluru : Writer and film director Nagatihalli Chandrashekhar on Sunday said only regional languages have the potential to preserve and carry forward the culture, traditions, and other practices associated with a particular region or community.

He was speaking after inaugurating a series of initiatives, including release of Beary language documentary, by the Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy here. Mr. Chandrashekhar said at a time when Kannada language, that has own script, is facing the threat, Beary language, which does not have one, is under severe threat. Still, those speaking Beary language have preserved that language as well as Kannada, he said.

There is an urgent need to strengthen regional languages at a time when globalisation is sweeping across the world. Regional languages are under threat from English and Beary language is not an exception to that, Mr. Chandrashekhar said.

Academy Chairman B.A. Muhammed Haneef said the academy is bringing out Beary-Kannada-English dictionary. The academy is distributing uniform and equipment to 40 Daff troupes (10 members in each troupe), which is the first by any language academy, to support cultural activities, he said.

On the occasion, Mr. Chandrashekhar released documentaries on Beary language brought out on compact disks and compiled by senior journalist B.M. Haneef. The academy felicitated Mr. Chandrashekhar and Mr. B.M. Haneef. Konkani Sahitya Academy Chairman Roy Castelino, former district Kannada Sahitya Parishat Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, Central Muslim Committee President Muhammed Masood, language specialist A.V. Navada, and others were present.