pokéwalker's pokéwatts
The thing about languages.
Posted January 13th, 2013 at 09:33 AM by pokewalker
Language.
A typical way for humans, and perhaps other beings, to communicate. However, the one problem is that there are between 6000-7000 languages alive today and it is impossible for a human being to learn them all in their lifespan.
At the same time, in 50 years time probably half of those languages will have gone extinct, because of globalisation. A lot of these languages have only one native speaker alive today, and when he dies, the language dies, too. Even though his children for example might have some knowledge of the language; they're not a native speaker and therefore, the language dies.
So is it worth saving them? Because extinct languages certainly can be revived. Just look at Hebrew; extinct for 3000 years and now it's sparkling with life.
A lot of people find it unneccesary to save them, however it still is the culture of a group of people, so others don't quite agree on that. Personally, I think the languages certainly should be filed, but it is normal for a culture to divine; it happens all the time.
A typical way for humans, and perhaps other beings, to communicate. However, the one problem is that there are between 6000-7000 languages alive today and it is impossible for a human being to learn them all in their lifespan.
At the same time, in 50 years time probably half of those languages will have gone extinct, because of globalisation. A lot of these languages have only one native speaker alive today, and when he dies, the language dies, too. Even though his children for example might have some knowledge of the language; they're not a native speaker and therefore, the language dies.
So is it worth saving them? Because extinct languages certainly can be revived. Just look at Hebrew; extinct for 3000 years and now it's sparkling with life.
A lot of people find it unneccesary to save them, however it still is the culture of a group of people, so others don't quite agree on that. Personally, I think the languages certainly should be filed, but it is normal for a culture to divine; it happens all the time.
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Your thread in GE got locked cos well, it didn't actually warrant a thread.
But yeah, I was never aware of this until now.Posted January 13th, 2013 at 09:37 AM by Hikari10 
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Studying a dead language is useful, but I don't think there's a need to revive a dead language unless it's one's personal interest.Posted January 13th, 2013 at 10:37 AM by outfox
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It's kind of hard. On the one hand you want everyone to be able to keep their culture and language, but on the other there are pressures to conform to whatever the dominant language of the area is. If you live in a country where your own language is not dominant then your kids are most likely going to learn the dominant one and slowly yours is going to fade away.Posted January 13th, 2013 at 05:58 PM by Scarf
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We have books and records for a reason, though. We pick up a book on a language we want to learn, and that's the end of that.Posted January 13th, 2013 at 10:15 PM by droomph
