ISSUE13 [REBORN FROM THE ASHES] TASK ONE by cicialice

cicialiceUID: 2594855

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: 580  TIME: XX:XX:XX  DATE: 2009-11-17 18:13:13

Living in an age of modernization, globalization and civilization, we are faced with a problem that whether governments should take measures to prevent their indigenous languages from being extinct. I disagree in so far as those less-known languages have lost their functions of communicating to much extent, and besides protecting languages, governments have some far more important responsibilities. At some point, however, I advocate that government should act to protect those languages after dealing with basic civil matters.

In the first place, as is known, the most essential feature of languages is communication. Fewer and fewer speakers as there are, those languages can hardly be a useful tool for communicating, and therefore they may not maintain their vigor. Darwin expressed in the Evolution that species would become extinct ever since they could not fit the environment. Languages, as same as species, could hardly survive if there do not exist enough population of speakers. Thus, the extinction of some lesser-known languages is a natural phenomenon and government's measures, if exist, can play little role in this process. After all, the speakers of those languages, can be the only ones who can keep the lesser-known languages from being extinct. The speakers' active action of trying to pass these languages from one generation to the next is the most essential way for them to survive.

In addition, another decisive factor of lesser-known languages' being lost is the inevitable trend of globalization. As people from different countries need several well-known languages for communication, nowadays more and more people, including those whose indigenous language is a lesser-known languages, are fond of learning English, Spanish, Chinese, etc. , and therefore, the lesser-known languages are easier to be ignored and forgotten. Moreover, currently, as Internet has become an indispensible part of people's daily life and most websites are written by some universal languages, such as English, Spanish, French, lesser-known languages has gradually proved to be of no use in most people's communication. As governments could not prevent the trend of internationalization, otherwise, they should take advantage of this trend to make economic profits for their own nations or regions, governments cannot change this decisive factor of lesser-known languages' extinction.

What's more, it is governments' main responsibility to protect citizenry's security and meet people's basic living requirement. In those countries where many severely endangered languages exist, such as those less-developed countries in Africa, governments should try their best to improve people's life, providing enough food and water, rather than taking measures to protect those languages.

However, the protection of lesser-known languages cannot be totally ignored since communication is not the only feature of languages. As is known, to some extent, languages and cultures are inevitably related. Different cultures have distinctive traditions, ceremonies and rituals, and they need languages as a medium to embody their characteristics. So if language disappears, the relevant culture might become extinct sooner or later. Therefore, government which has done well with the basic cival matters, should also take some methods to protecte those lesser-known languages, such as building cultural museums, making TV programs spoken in those languages, and encouraging schools to establish language courses.

In sum, as languages serve as a tool for communication, it is not necessary for government to devote much money and effort to protect those lesser-known languages which has lost most of their speakers. Yet, for those government of well-developed countries or regions, it is also a wise decision to take some measures to prevent these languages from becoming extinct.