ISSUE13 [REBORN FROM THE ASHES] TASK ONE by 小九

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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.

提纲：
政府应当采取措施防止语言的消亡。
第一，  语言是文化的载体和无形的文化遗产。
第二，  语言是人的根基，是个人自豪、尊严和个人价值所在。（诺曼马内阿的例子）
第三，  我们现在面临着语言不断消亡的现实（联合国科教文组织的调查）
第四，  在全球化的环境下，特别是小语种国家政府鼓励人们学习和运用外语，这种政策虽然有现实作用，但是长远来看，过度强调外语将导致对本国历史文化的丢弃和遗忘。
因此，政府应当采取行动防止语言的消亡。

Can you image when your mother language extinct, your children share their pain and pleasure with you in another language? You can understand each other, but you can not express your feeling precisely. So I strongly agree with the speaker that the goverments of countries in which lesser-known languages are spoken should prevent such languages from becoming extinct.

First of all, the indigenous language is the vehicle of culture expressions and intangible culture heritage. Each language is the unique expression of human experience in the world. It contains the history and culture of the race which demonstrates how the race develop and how the people struggle for their lives. In another word, it is the crystallization of the race’s wisdom. If the language extinct, it will results in the irrecoverble loss of historical and cultural knowledge.

Secondly, the language is the root of the speakers. Norman Manea, a writer from Romania , has lived in the USA for 21 years. He presists in writing in Romanian even he lives in a English spoken country. He said that the language stood for the root of his motherland, without it, he would feel homeless. And he believed that each language had its unique phraseology which can not be replaced by another language. Actually, the indigenous language means home to the speakers, especially the one who lives outside of the motherland. When they speak their own language, wherever they are, they can deeply feel the glory of their home. Therefore, the extinction of the language results the sense of homeless and the diminished sense of pride, dignity and self-worth of the speakers.

Despit the indigenous languages are so important, many of the world’s lesser-known languages are being lost now. In the investigation of UNESCO, there are more than 6000 languages in the world, but 4% languages are used by 97% people. Half of the languages face the fact that they are becoming extinct as fewer and fewer people speak them, and a language extincts almost every 2 weeks. “ If nothing would be done, we can be sure that within a few centuries only a few hundred languages will be exist” , said Smeet, a officer of UNESCO. Obviously, the problem that prevent the lesser-known language from becoming extinct demands prompt solution.

In November, 1999, UNESCO declared February 21st as the International Mother Language Day for promoting the position of the indigenous languages, reminding people of the meaningful and worth of their own languages. But it works with little success. Today, in the circumstance of globalization, more and more people speak English or other majority languages communicating with foreigners for bussiness. The indigenous languages, especially the lesser-known languages are not convenient for them because they are easy to misunderstanding. So some goverments of the countries which such languages spoken encourage people to speak the mojority languages. Actually, that policies are helpful for the development of the economy of the countries nowadays. But in the long-term view, if the policies place more emphasis on speaking mojority languages rather than speaking their own languages, them will result the distinct history and culture heritage be abandoned and forgotten altogether. Therefore, the goverments of that countries should act to prevent their own languages from becoming extinct.

To sum up, the indigenous language is not only the vehicle of culture expressions and intangible culture heritage, but also the root of the speakers. As many of the world’s lesser-known languages are losing, the goverments of the countries where the languages are spoken should intervene to prevent these languages from becoming extinct.