Language is at the heart of all cultures. It shapes communication, the way people articulate to each other, religions, as religious texts are often written in specific languages, for example the Torah for Judaism is written in Hebrew, and lastly governments, as government language policies influence education and therefore all people. As Khalid Hosseini, a Afghan- America n novelist, famously said “If culture was a house, then language was the key to the front door, to all the rooms inside”. Currently, it is estimated that there are around 6,500 spoken languages, many of which are only spoken by a few people . This is why it is essential that the efforts against the disappearance of these continue , because after all, with fewer languages the world would irretrievably lose cultures built up over millennia, which add to the enormous variety and heritage of humankind
In the Americas alone, there are about 12 official endangered languages, most being spoken by less that 100 people. Although efforts against the disappearance of many of these remain strong, it is still difficult as the modern world is becoming increasing monolingual not least due to the spread of the internet. A language is considered endangered when there are less than 1,000 living speakers. When a language is categorised as endangered it is at high risk of disappearance, it is estimated that currently there are over 250 extinct languages. Several actions are being taken by the remaining speakers in attempts to conserve and document their language, examples include using social media and other online platforms to raise awareness of the disappearing, recording lessons to try to teach others their native tongue and, lastly, going over records of historical artifacts exhibiting the extinct language to try to reintroduce them properly.
Efforts to try to save endangered languages are becoming increasingly desperate with National geographic even calling it a “race” to save the disappearing languages. There are several charities dedicate to protecting endangered languages such as “7,000 languages” and “The Living Tongues Institute For Endangered Languages”, whose primarily focus is the continuation of the teaching of these languages. Generally, native speakers tend to be part of the older generation, which is why there is a big push in many countries to teach young people their native tongue within school. This technique of language preservation is called “immersion teaching”, in fact there are specific schools within America which priorities the teaching of a dying native tongue in the school curriculum, these schools are called immersion schools and have been open since the 1980s, and have proven to be extremely successful.
Although commonly spoken languages such as English, French and Swedish are not at risk from this growing trend, languages such as Catalan, Hare and Seneca continue to suffer from lack of daily speakers. Which is why it is vital to know your heritage and learn your mother tongue, as well as it is vital to promote the awareness of this growing problem.
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