Should languages be protected?

[Lethos]

So after seeing this website [http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/] on the Google homepage and thinking about how languages such as Welsh are being taught in schools, it get more thinking about how far we should go to protect languages.

Now I will admit that the first thought that came to my head when I read about some languages dying was: "who cares?" Maybe it's just because I'm British, so therefore I have English as my native language, but if a language has to have active human intervention to keep it alive, then perhaps it's best that it dies?

I'm aware I'm about to attract the scorn of Welsh nationalists everywhere, but I honestly can't understand why the Welsh language is being forcibly taught in schools. Seems to me that if given the choice of two languages to be taught in schools, you would naturally go towards the one that is more used.

Keeping a dying language alive seems illogical to me. You could argue that English is only becoming the dominant language because of past imperialism, but that seems irrelevant given how much more opportunities you're going to have if you can speak English.

So Escapists, what are you're opinions on this? Do you believe that languages should be kept afloat for cultural diversity or other reasons? Or do you believe that it is pointless to fight English dominance?

 

[Esotera]

No, they should be left to natural processes, we have far too many languages already for any one person to learn. It's also much less writing to put on road signs etc, which is always a good thing.

 

[everythingbeeps]

I don't see anything wrong with people learning (or teaching) a "dying" language. But I also agree that this world will be better off consolidating its languages. The more able we are to communicate world wide, the better.

 

[antidonkey]

Well, language is tied very closely with culture. If the language dies, the culture that spoke it will follow shortly. It's becoming quite the problem with various native American tribes.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Protected as in teaching people otherwise dead languages? Well, that's a big nationalism thing, IIRC, there was a very big movement in Wales to keep their language alive for cultural reasons.

I don't see the harm in it, so long as English is also taught.

Now, the idea that you have to stop your language evolving over time, and you can legislate for that, that's a really stupid idea. Even if that language is French.

 

[Wadders]

I went to Uni in Wales, and met a decent amount of Welsh people who spoke Welsh as their first language. From the ones I spoke to about it, it is as much a part of their culture as anything else, a lot of Welsh people are pretty damn patriotic and as such like to preserve as much of their culture as they can. And why the hell not?

Anyway, Welsh isn't being taught at the expense of English. Merely as a first language. It's not like Welsh speakers emerge from full time education at the age of 16 without being able to speak a word of English. I think it's just about re-establishing the importance of the welsh language in their culture. But I dunno, I'm not Welsh.

As far as other languages go, Why shouldn't they be preserved? if they can be preserved whilst other more widely used languages are taught as secondary, then people can still communicate cant they?

 

[DoPo]

I'm aware I'm about to attract the scorn of Welsh nationalists everywhere

All 3 of them. I'm sorry, couldn't stop myself

As far as preservation goes - I actually find it cool. I don't think I'll ever use that but I know enough people who are fascinated by languages - I know there are more who'd welcome the opportunity to dabble in a few more. And for free, not to mention it's convenient!

As for Welsh itself, from the people I've spoken it seems that (prepare yourself) some like it, others dislike it. And others don't mind it. Woah, that was deep right? But yeah, whether or not "forcibly" teaching it in schools is OK or not, I haven't actually asked, though. But I assume the responses would roughly be the same as before.

However, back to dying languages - consider this - Latin is a dead language, and yet people still learn it. So it has some uses. Same for other dead languages. Some (maybe a lot) fairly important historical discoveries were thanks to understanding some "niche" language. The Rosetta Stone comes to mind. The non-mainstream languages have their place in the world, I think.

 

[Hazy992]

I have no problem with people wanting to learn a 'dying' language, but forcing it on people when nobody speaks it anymore and nobody even cares about it just seems pointless. It's dying for a reason. Languages come and go, it's just a natural process of language.

 

[DoPo]

It's dying for a reason. Languages come and go, it's just a natural process of language.

Oh, gods, you know what I realised? You know Google does?

Spoiler: this

They are preparing us for the zombie apocalypse. The zombies will speak in old languages but we will understand them.

 

[Hazy992]

It's dying for a reason. Languages come and go, it's just a natural process of language.

Oh, gods, you know what I realised? You know Google does?

Spoiler: this

They are preparing us for the zombie apocalypse. The zombies will speak in old languages but we will understand them.

Mother of God...!

Everyone! Start learning Cornish! It's the only way!

 

[StriderShinryu]

Well, language is tied very closely with culture. If the language dies, the culture that spoke it will follow shortly. It's becoming quite the problem with various native American tribes.

This is very true. Language and culture are very closely tied together. It really becomes a question of just how much you want to push learning of a certain language as, to me, there's no question that languages should definitely be saved whenever possible.

 

[GeneralBigG]

I went to uni in Wales, and studying Welsh is quite divisive. A fair few of my friends are Welsh, and the vast majority of them only speak a few words/phrases. They don't see the point in learning Welsh either, but they are Southern Welshies. The one guy I know who does speak Welsh is North Walian (Walean? Waliean? IDK), and up there it is apparently quite widely spoken - mostly as a kind of middle finger to us English.

OT: I can see the point of keeping a dying language alive for cultural and historical reasons, but I don't see the point of forcing it to be taught and adopting it for widespread use when it bears little relevance to everyday usage (e.g. Wales).

Sorry to rail on the Welshies (I like you, I really do ) but its the nearest and biggest example I have to go on.

 

[randomsix]

I say no because some languages should be forgotten because they are just bad. For example, If Chinese is not easily turned into an alphabetic language it should be forgotten. As it is its best quality is its ability to keep peasants in their place.

In the same way, English needs to be revamped and made much more regular.

Arabic is almost excellent; it is phonetic so if you hear a word once, you can spell it, and vice versa. It also has a very logical word construction scheme... But then it is a train wreck when it comes to plural generation and the other idiosyncrasies held over because of the Koran.

TL;DR We should choose a really good artificial language and let everything else die.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I say no because some languages should be forgotten because they are just bad. For example, If Chinese is not easily turned into an alphabetic language it should be forgotten. As it is its best quality is its ability to keep peasants in their place.

In the same way, English needs to be revamped and made much more regular.

Arabic is almost excellent; it is phonetic so if you hear a word once, you can spell it, and vice versa. It also has a very logical word construction scheme... But then it is a train wreck when it comes to plural generation and the other idiosyncrasies held over because of the Koran.

TL;DR We should choose a really good artificial language and let everything else die.

Unfortunately, there are a bunch of competing universal languages.

Esperanto for example, been around for 150 odd years, spoken by 2 million people worldwide. Was going to be the next big thing, never took off.

Mind you, English is almost a universal language, before that French (for most of the European dominated world), before that Latin (for most of the European-known world) etc

 

[Lethos]

(Walean? Waliean? IDK)

Northern Welsh?

I've heard that it is, or is going to be, compulsory to teach in Welsh at schools. And it's a requirement to speak Welsh to get into a teaching or political career in Wales. I dunno, it just seems so illogical =/

I don't mean to rail on the Welsh either. Once again, closest example.

 

[Palademon]

Mother of God...!

Everyone! Start learning Cornish! It's the only way!

Can't we just appease them with pasties?

Anyway, I agree that languages dying is a natural part of social evolution an dhappens for a reason, but if people want to preserve their culture, that's fine by me. I don't imagine any enforced native language learning could be a bad thing, just maybe a bit confusing for longer minds learning another language as well, although I am aware that they say children pick up languages better.

 

[Nadia Castle]

Maybe its just because I'm English but I always find desperation to hold onto dying languages a bit pathetic. In Ireland tons of government meetings have to be read out twice, once in English that everyone understands, then in Gaelic even though less than 2 in 10 people there speak it fluently. Languages are never sacred, go back 100 years in any country and you'd be hard pressed to understand what people are saying. Keeping the odd word for nostalgia or cultural reasons is fine (I'm a Lancastrian and feel pained when chippys don't get me asking them for a chip muffin) but literally keeping a language on life support just to feel different in the globalized world is a massive waste of time and effort.