TOPIC: ISSUE13 - "Many of the world's lesser-known languages are being lost as fewer and fewer people speak them. The governments of countries in which these languages are spoken should act to prevent such languages from becoming extinct."
WORDS:799 TIME: 01:30:00 DATE: 2007-7-16 上午 03:05:25
It goes without saying that using the same language for people all over the world is of tremendous convenience for communication. However, does it mean we should pay no attention to the world's lesser-known languages and let them disappear from our sight? As far as I am concerned, we are supposed to, on the one hand, try the best to prevent these world's less-known languages from extinction, on the other hand, we should be able to use the same language with different people for the sake of better communication.
It is undeniable that, in recent years, an increasing number of lesser-known languages are extinct with the rapid paces of globalization, as well as the promotion of governments for using a common language in the country. Take China for example. As is known to all, China is a country constituted with 56 divergent nations, each of which possesses a different and brilliant culture and its own history, and of course, speaks variant languages. Nevertheless, on the behalf of better communication and understanding of each nation, Chinese government suggests all these different nations speak the same language, the Mandarin. Thanks to this suggestion, all nations now are tightly united, and due to the better communication and understanding, China develops rapidly. But, as every coin has two sides, this language unification leads to adverse results, too. A great many minority people, especially the young, are incapable to speak their own languages. Therefore, we can notice that more and more special and unique languages are gone from us when we advocating the general language.
As is known to all, cultures are of great importance to people, since they can help them to know who they are and where they are from. And languages are one of the most significant elements of cultures, inasmuch, the loss of a language results in the vanishing of a gorgeous and great culture. As the result of disappearance of some cultures, a large amount of people who are related or we can say belong to these cultures are presumably miss their position of the world and even worse, they could possibly have little sense of who they are. What's more, if all nations of this gigantic world share the same languages, let's consider an extreme assumption, the world and all its citizens will have no specific characteristics. From another respect we can still sense the great loss of the disappearance of the world's lesser-known languages. That is not a single language could substitute another one, no matter how widely used and prevail it is. Anyone who is able to speak at least two languages, or even two dialects, might have the experience that one joke told in one language will make people burst into laughter, while cause no reflections in another. Besides, we may applaud the great expressions, words and sentences of Shakespeare’s works when we read the English version, while the same works might just impress us by the touched stories if we appreciate the version translated into another language.
Admittedly, thanks to English, and some other world-wide used languages, all nations are able to communicate and understand each other and enjoy the abundant profits globalization and technological progress. In the past, as we can imagine, people in different areas used different languages. Therefore, obstacles that deter people who didn’t speak the same languages from communicating with each other were everywhere in the way. Chances are that, due to lack of communication, people of one country could hardly be aware of what’s going on in other countries, let alone that international cooperation could be carried out. And, of course, scientists in one country might still strive for some difficult problems that had been perfectly solved by scientists of other countries as there is no way for them to understand and communicate each other. However, things have been totally converted since some languages, especially English, began to play the role of the world languages. Scientists all over world can quickly and completely know any progress of his realm. And merchants can do their business with any nation easily. In addition, students of one country are able to study in another.
Overall, from the analysis above, we can see that, on the one hand, people have to take action to prevent the world’s lesser-known languages from disappearing from us in order to maintain the diversity of cultures, on the other hand, for the sake of globalization; we are supposed to be able to use a world language. What can we do to help us out of this dilemma? From my point of view, governments and international organizations should work together. While promoting the use of a general language to cater for the demand of globalization, they should allocate more resources, spirit, and people to preserve the world’s lesser-known languages. 作者: 破釜沉舟 时间: 2007-7-16 10:14:47
It goes without saying that using the same language for people all over the world is of tremendous convenience for communication. However, does it mean we should pay no attention to the world's lesser-known languages and let them disappear from our sight? As far as I am concerned, we are supposed to, on the one hand, try the best to prevent these world's less-known languages from extinction, （这儿用句号，on the other hand没有连接词的作用）on the other hand, we should be able to use the same language with different people for the sake of better communication.（推广通用语言与主题关系并不密切，应说明这与濒危语种的关系）
It is undeniable that, in recent years, an increasing number of lesser-known languages are extinct with the rapid paces of globalization, as well as the promotion of governments for using a common language in the country. Take China for example. As is known to all, China is a country constituted with 56 divergent nations, each of which possesses a different and brilliant culture and its own history, and of course, speaks variant languages. Nevertheless, on the behalf of better communication and understanding of each nation, Chinese government suggests all these different nations speak the same language, the Mandarin. Thanks to this suggestion, all nations now are tightly united, and due to the better communication and understanding, China develops rapidly. But, as every coin has two sides, this language unification leads to adverse results, too. A great many minority people, especially the young, are incapable to speak their own languages. Therefore, we can notice that more and more special and unique languages are gone from us when we advocating the general language.
As is known to all, cultures are of great importance to people, since they can help them to know who they are and where they are from. And languages are one of the most significant elements of cultures, inasmuch, the loss of a language results in the vanishing of a gorgeous and great culture. （说文化受到严重破坏更好，消失太绝对化了。一部分文化成果可以不依赖于某种特定的语言而保存）As the result of disappearance of some cultures, a large amount of people who are related or we can say belong to these cultures are presumably miss their position of the world and even worse, they could possibly have little sense of who they are. What's more, if all nations of this gigantic world share the same languages, let's consider an extreme assumption, the world and all its citizens will have no specific characteristics. From another respect we can still sense the great loss of the disappearance of the world's lesser-known languages. That is not a single language could substitute another one, no matter how widely used and prevail it is. Anyone who is able to speak at least two languages, or even two dialects, might have the experience that one joke told in one language will make people burst into laughter, while cause no reflections in another. Besides, we may applaud the great expressions, words and sentences of Shakespeare’s works when we read the English version, while the same works might just impress us by the touched stories if we appreciate the version translated into another language.（这段后部分的观点很好，部分的文化是与特定语言绑定的，由于语言之间的不对等）
Admittedly, thanks to English, and some other world-wide used languages, all nations are able to communicate and understand each other and enjoy the abundant profits globalization and technological progress. In the past, as we can imagine, people in different areas used different languages. Therefore, obstacles that deter people who didn’t speak the same languages from communicating with each other were everywhere in the way. Chances are that, due to lack of communication, people of one country could hardly be aware of what’s going on in other countries, let alone that international cooperation could be carried out. And, of course, scientists in one country might still strive for some difficult problems that had been perfectly solved by scientists of other countries as there is no way for them to understand and communicate each other. However, things have been totally converted since some languages, especially English, began to play the role of the world languages. Scientists all over world can quickly and completely know any progress of his realm. And merchants can do their business with any nation easily. In addition, students of one country are able to study in another.（这段独立一段讲通用语言的作用，与主题关系并不十分密切，保护小语种与推广通用语并不矛盾，双语是一种很好的解决办法。不必删去这段，但应加入一些说明与主题联系起来。你讲通用语好，那么在推广通用语的同时，我们怎么对待小语种？是延续前面的观点，都要保护，还是。。。）
Overall, from the analysis above, we can see that, on the one hand, people have to take action to prevent the world’s lesser-known languages from disappearing from us in order to maintain the diversity of cultures, on the other hand, for the sake of globalization; we are supposed to be able to use a world language. What can we do to help us out of this dilemma? From my point of view, governments and international organizations should work together. While promoting the use of a general language to cater for the demand of globalization, they should allocate more resources, spirit, and people to preserve the world’s lesser-known languages.