Edangered languages: their importance and why we must save them
In our completely globalized and industrialized world, there are some languages such as English, Russian and Chinese that do definitely dominate communications and business . As a consequence, the languages spoken in remote areas by few people are under pressure. These idioms are sadly imperilled and we must do something in order to save them. Considering the people’s soft approach to global issues such as endangered animals and climate change, we can easily conclude that humans are not always good at taking care of the Earth and its enormous heritage, but losing hundreds of endangered languages would be a catastrophic event since it would mean losing the legacy of a big part of human history. On the other hand, saving them can be actually quite hard nowadays, because it may be too late. So let’s take a closer look into this topic.
There are many reasons why there are languages which are actually in danger. First of all, the idioms with few speakers are economically unproductive since they are not used for commercial purposes. Keeping them alive would not only have a high cost, but it would also be financially useless. This is why the national governments feel quite free not to provide education in an endangered language. Also, governments have to ensure that young people can actually fulfill their potential, and in most cases that means being able to speak and work in the national idiom.
Parents as well play a fundamental role in the phenomenon of the endangered languages. They often decide to teach their children only the national language, because they want to ensure them a good career and they perfectly know that the use of a regional idiom has a limited perspective and will not help young people in the world of work. On the one hand, endangered languages are seen as a sort of obstacle for achieving career goals, while on the other they are also considered a big problem for the integration of different ethnic groups. As a matter of fact, it is generally accepted that national languages unite, while minority regional idioms actually divide. Also, native speakers usually live far apart from society and, sometimes, even from each other. This is the case of the pre-Columbian Mexican language: its last two surviving speakers refused to talk to each other for years. It is clear that, without practice, even a native language will start to degrade in the speaker's mind. During an interview released to the BBC, Salikoko Mufwene, a linguist at the University of Chicago who grew up in Congo speaking a local language, admitted that once he went back to his home village, he could barely remember how to speak Kiyansi.
So, if young people do not acquire and practice their local language, it is clear that it will not survive. And if the disappearance of a regional dialect may be a tragedy for its speakers, to others it may seem the simple natural end for something which is not used anymore. However, language diversity is actually as important as the biological one and we are just not aware of what we lose when an idiom disappears. Languages are ways of interpreting the world and there simply are not two identical ones. Each and every dialect is absolutely unique and provides a different insight into science matters or psychological ones, along with a new way to solve problems.
In conclusion, here are the words of David Harrison, chair of the linguistics department at Swarthmore College and co-founder of the non-profit Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages: ‘’When we lose a language, we lose ancient knowledge and the possibility to see the world through our ancestors’ eyes. It would be quite sad to lose such a precious cultural heritage, wouldn't it?’’
