Keeping Languages Alive - Essay Example

This article looks at the importance of society to save their language, which is in danger of disappearing. It also looks at the importance of the government creating laws that encourage the protection of endangered languages.

It is very important for society to preserve their languages. This is because it encourages the growth of culture and social progress. The steps taken to promote the propagation of native languages encourage linguistic diversity and cultural traditions in the world, which inspires solidarity based on understanding, indulgence, and discourse. Most of these languages under threat of extinction are due to powerful languages such as English, French, Spanish, and German. Languages are the most important tools of communication. They help reflect the view of the world according to the different communities that speak marginalized languages. They are also tools of value systems and of cultural expressions. Languages contribute as the dominant factor that gives identity to various communities, groups, and individuals (Zrioka, 2012). Despite the increased importance of technology, it has also contributed to the extinction of the language. The age of cyberspace and digitalization have contributed a lot towards the extension of these languages. This is because the use of powerful language like English has dominated the education system in many countries. It has made young people try to learn it for a better career (Council of Europe, 2010).

The governments should create laws to encourage the protection of endangered languages. This can be done by setting up a native language day. This will encourage the societies to maintain their cultures and traditions and strengthen the unity and cohesion of societies. Secondly, the government can protect the use of this language through enacting Minority Language Protection laws. Protection laws will encourage the use of minority languages in various departments of the government. The Minority Language Protection laws should aim at encouraging the training of interested people to use their native languages. This can be done by encouraging the training of native languages in government schools (Scott et al, 2009).

In conclusion, the preservation of languages that face extension is very important in life. This enables the cultures in the world to have an identity to which they can relate. There is a recent move by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1999, whose motive is to preserve languages that are close to extinction. The move has enabled the various societies to have an identity. From the preservatives of linguistics, various initiatives should be taken across the world because the world has many languages and dialects. It is also important for young people to learn and respect their own language. Failure to do this, many languages and dialects shall become extinct.