Is languages dying out a positive development? - by @dcrypto
Hundreds of languages are in the risk of extinction. There have been many studies that show many languages, especially ones that are considered as minority, are teetering on the brink of extinction. People have shared arguments. Some consider it is beneficial if all speak only a few languages; however, counterarguments are also abundant. I believe, although it is helpful for us if English or any other language become singly spoken languages, traditional languages should not be dying out owing to many reasons.
If every one of us become monolingual species, there is a chance of poise of our heritage and culture. In this ever-evolving planet, it has become quite common for a language to die. But it has to be understood that our culture, heritage and a lot of wisdom is hidden in our languages. Every language is unique that uniquely predicts a person behavior and interprets the emotions of a person. For example, a language called Cherokee.
Cherokee, for example, has no word for goodbye, only “I will see you again.” Likewise, no phrase exists for “I’m sorry.” On the other hand, it has specific expressions all its own. One word – oo-ka-huh-sdee –represents the mouth-watering, cheek-pinching delight experienced when seeing an adorable baby or a kitten. “All of these things convey a culture, a way of interpreting human behavior and emotion that’s not conveyed the same way as in the English language,” Belt says.
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Why should we preserve native languages? The answer would be to preserve our culture, heritage, and wisdom. If a language dies out, then the vast amount of wisdom that offers to us is going to vanish. For instance, many ancient technologies are particularly written in their languages. Facts such as astronomy, psychology and medical are often written in their language. Therefore, researchers would never be able to find the wisdom or understand the wisdom to use it in their studies if the languages died.
Can we do something to preserve imperiled languages? Absolutely yes. But the process does undoubtedly take a lot of time, and it is often an uphill one. According to expects, some dictionaries of these languages would help to revitalize it. I have noticed, these days children are forbidden to speak their native language at school, and parents perceive that speaking their native language other than popular languages will hinder their future success. Even though people have to converse in languages such as English when they grew up and in the pursuit of their dream course or job, ignoring their local languages would harm the communities in more acute ways.
I think universities and schools should at least let the students speak once in a while in their native language such that we don’t have to bother about dying out of our heritage, culture, and wisdom.
Interesting artical.
I would imagine that those who speak these dying out languages have the responsibility to speak them and teach them to their children.
I totally agree, you should not lose your mother tongue because you would lose the fundamental essence for the transmission of cultural knowledge that represents the richness of a particular community. Congratulations for the post.
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My kids are multilingual on purpose. While it is useful to be able to communicate with someone easily and clearly, different languages express things differently. There are some meanings that can't even cross languages.
Since language shapes thought and thought shapes action...I would be devastated if in the end we are all monolingual.