Should languages be protected?

[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?

why the Welsh language is being forcibly taught in schools.

It's not a matter of wanting to protect the language as it is forcing it down people's throats, especially since it's becoming a useless language in a sense.

Granted english is doing the same but it has far more practical uses, since it's becoming the universal language as it appears.

If one does not want to learn a language (at least, an outdated and useless one) they should not be forced to.

That's fair enough, but if it's your native language (as in the case of Welsh) I'd be surprised if people really resented being taught it.

You never really hear Welsh speakers say "I hate being Welsh and wish I had never learned our language" I mean there may be a few, but on the whole I'd venture so far as to say they're mostly pretty enthusiastic about being Welsh.

 

[Waffle_Man]

1) Why defend hand-drawn animation when computer graphics are cheaper?

To be fair, it's far easier to create an aesthetically pleasing arc of motion with frame by frame than by interpolation, which hand drawn animation is far better suited to than 3D animation.

 

[saruman31]

Yes. Some languages should be protected as a form of cultural heritage. No language should die out. However, we still have the need for a global, easy language and english fills that gap.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Yes they should. Just because they are taught badly by some school and by that as in not to a high enough standard early on does not mean it should die out. I was "forced" to do many things in school but I don't ***** and moan about having to English literature which will have 0 applications in my life. Aside, from "Oh that's what that is!" if I see it referenced. So are Economics and Accounting equally useless to me.

Culture, heritage and history are important and related you can't really understand one without the other as context is important. Watching one of Shakespeare's "Comedies" shows that in spades.

 

[RoyalWelsh]

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?

QFT.

Also, if there was just only one language it would be a pretty boring world. There are so many beautiful languages out there, it would be sad to never hear them again (even if I couldn't understand a word of it).

 

[Lethos]

snip

I'm glad you commented actually because I think it's good to hear differing opinions.

You say some friends of yours learnt Welsh before they learnt English, but why did they learn English? Is it because they felt it would open up more opportunities?

Is it compulsory for teachers to speak in Welsh in schools? I have heard it's compulsory for people applying for jobs in civil service to speak Welsh, how do you feel about that?

I don't mean to target the Welsh specifically, this thread is about all languages. It's just that being English, Wales is my closest example.

 

[GonvilleBromhead]

If people want to study dying (or even dead) or minority languages, I can't see any reason to stop them. Having it as a possible school language option, etc., also seems fair enough. Not sure about it being compulsory (though they should be permitted as an option if a language is compulsory) - strikes me as forcing nationalism down ones throat.

Not sure about the minority language channel's either. Again, if a private firm wants to set up one, I wouldn't say they shouldn't - but license fee money on individual channels for each seems a bit...off - I think S4C and Alba could probably share a station, perhaps - though I'd rather see a daytime BSL channel (seriously, are deaf people supposed to be nocturnal?!)