There are around 7,000 languages spoken in the world, but that number is shrinking. Unesco estimates that half could disappear by the end of the century. So how are languages lost, and what does that mean for the people who speak them?
There are around 7,000 languages spoken in the world, but that number is shrinking. Unesco estimates that half could disappear by the end of the century. So how are languages lost, and what does that mean for the people who speak them?
I can’t believe I just read this…and I can’t believe so many people upvoted this chauvinistic take on language.
You should know that I come from a country of only 6 million people, so it’s definitely not because I’m chauvinistic about my own first language. So calling it that is pretty stupid.
But on the contrary because I know first hand the many problems of coming from a small language.
Obviously in my country most people speak more languages than our native language, because you frigging have to, if you want to know anything, or just watch movie. Or have cultural exchanges outside our own country.
The romanticizing of small languages is idiotic.
What is your argument for wanting people to not have the privilege of belonging to a bigger language group?
Let me guess, you don’t speak natively one of your country’s minority languages. But you have a grudge you have to live with those pesky insignificant dialects. You are not special. People like you are a dime a dozen in countries with linguistic minorities.
You are defending the disappearance of languages with fewer speakers, languages you assume as less important because you are a chauvinist. You’re not advocating the learning of other languages as L2, which would be a good thing. Lingua francas are a good thing. Pressuring minorities to reject their own native language is just chauvinistic and racist/xenophobic, no matter how hard you try to defend it as simple pragmatism (which is always just an excuse).
We don’t have the slightest common ground here. Our values are much different do there’s no point in discussing this with you. I’ve known lots of people like you. The country next to mine is filled with such people. My own smaller country was the only one lucky enough to stay independent and I’ve heard speeches like yours way too many times.
WTF?! Are you on meth or something?
I NEVER argued for that, I explicitly in my first post stated that that is immoral, although my example was genocide, the meaning is the same.
Again with the boxing people into some sort of category with no basis.
Funny how you don’t present a single argument, but rely exclusively on personal insults?