http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm"An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades. What is lost when a language dies?"
I stumbled across this article and the first thing that went through my head was, "You know... I never though of that!" Haha. Naturally, that got me to thinking... "What if?" So I'm just gonna throw a few random thoughts out there for you guys, and you can comment with your thoughts.
I took this in two directions, and here they are.
First, the "WOO ENGLISH IS BEST AND IMMIGRANTS SUCK THEY SHOULD ONLY SPEAK ENGLISH, THEIR LANGUAGE IS STUPID LOL LETS GO SIT ON THE COUCH IN OUR FRONT YARD!" approach:
"Most people are not at all interested in the death of languages," he says. "If we are not cautious about the way English is progressing it may eventually kill most other languages."
English. The language of business. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to travel anywhere in the world eventually, and share a common tongue? By golly, it sure would Travis! Yeah, It would be a lot easier to communicate with others universally. We would have no problem talking to each other, and accents wouldn't be a problem (or entertaining) to deal with. The world economy would be at peak efficiency, as well as global relations. Third world countries would be able to develop much faster with no language barrier in trade and commerce. There may be a decline in hate crimes, due to the shared language. (Hey, it could happen.)
Then there is the..."Logical." approach:
Language is an integral part of culture. If language is lost, then will our diversity die? Yes, in a way I think it will. The biggest barrier to overcome is language. I think language is the main factor that separated us, and molded our cultures. To further elaborate on culture, I think that without it everyone would be similar and a general globalization would occur without it! Imagine all the influences in art, architecture, design, style, etc.. If there was a global culture of trendy conformists (like myself), THEN WHAT? Where we are from, makes us who we are. Is that a bad thing? Naw. Haha. Also, scientific discoveries? What if we find an important ancient document and the language is so far extinct that its impossible to decipher? F. That's all I can say.
Well I hope you enjoyed reading and I would love to hear your opinion on the matter!
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Although you do make good points, I have to point out that not all culture comes from language. Ideas are spread through generations in culture (languages too of course), and thus we arrive at the different styles of art, architecture, clothing etc.
ReplyDeleteIf one language were to die out, and the same culture happened to just pick up English and begin to use that, they would not immediately conform to English/American styles simply because of a new language they picked up. They will still speak the same words to each other, only in English. Sure where we are from makes us who we are, but does English really take that away?