Several languages are in danger of extinction because they are spoken by very small numbers of people Some people say that governments should spend public money on saving these languages while others believe that would be a waste of money Discuss both the

Some minor languages are on brink of extinction with globalization, the nefarious predator, devouring its last remains. The question of whether governments are responsible of intervening, or whether organizations should intervene is heavily debated. I’ll offer my opinion in this essay.

Saving those languages preserves the language “gene pool”, just like how environmental workers strive to protect endangered species to maintain biodiversity. Every language represents its unique culture, each having a unique genesis story, traditional folk tales, and customs. Hebrew, for example, the original carrier of Bible, is a dead language, as no newly written books added into its fixed set of text. However, without it revived, how can we understand the foundation of Christianity, how can people learn the direct teaching of “God”? It is a common misconception that oral languages contain less sophisticated knowledge or stories, and because current near-death languages usually don’t have written symbols, they are insignificant. However, Greek epic poems — Iliad and Odyssey — were all passed down by spoken words. Humans cannot afford to lose a Homer just because he speaks a less popular language.

On the contrary, documenting thousands of dying languages is costly, and requires teams of researchers for even one language. The hope of reviving a near dead language may only be a pipe dream for academics. Maybe, only residents in a hamlet speak the language, and if those people don’t learn a more mainstream language, they could only communicate with their neighbors. Because people are compelled to learn other languages, after generations, their tones, like alleles, will not be inherited. It may be a futile effort to spread those endangered languages, because in utility terms, people shouldn’t learn them. All the professionals can do is to record the language, merely for academic interest.

Overall, I think the potential outcome of intervention is great, so great to the extent that we should ignore its slight impracticality. Our mother tongue is what distinguishes us, is what gives us our identity. We cannot afford other’s language, and therefore identity, to become extinct, because when a language is truly dead, another precious collection of memories and stories will never be found again.