[i习作temp] Issue13 [复制链接]

kulewy531
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发表于 2010-2-13 19:58:55 |显示全部楼层

本帖最后由 kulewy531 于 2010-3-7 01:46 编辑

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.

Issue13

In this era of extensive commercialization and rapid globalization, languages which are lesser-known and have decreasing speakers are being irretrievably lost, as common official languages such as English, French, German become more widespread and
dominant . But, for the best interest of the development of the whole world, a great diversity of languages are inevitably needed. The world should work together to prevent those minorities from going extinct.

To explain the topic more clearly, one should first give a precise definition of the phrase “the extinction of a language”. Strictly speaking, “extinction” means the language has disappeared completely and all its native speakers have died, and it written records are no longer studied …... But, in a more broad sense, we can describe a language as extinct if it has no more use in everyday life. The most prominent example of the former case is the ancient Maya language, and Latin obviously belongs to the latter. At present, the condition is that most lesser-known languages are disappearing to the strictly defined level which sends out an alerting signal of loss of culture embedded in these languages.

Although lesser-known languages seem to be out of use in major social aspcts , yet, for those native speakers, they give them their own cultural background. If a nation wants to preserve its independence, it must preserve its traditional culture at the very first. Otherwise, it will lose itself in the waves of globalization.
On a larger scale, other nations benefit from one nations’ unique culture. Exotic ideas always tend to broaden one’s eyes and give him important inspirations. This is particularly true for art. Kublai Khan, one of the most famous poems written by Coleridge who is a European, is based on a dream of a Mongolia King. In this way, cultural diversity provides serves as an inexhaustible fountain for new ideas.
Furthermore, diversity, in the aspect of the globe, keeps the whole system function well. One can easily recognize its importance by inspecting the natural eco-system, the structure of which is similar. In eco-biology there is a fundamental principle that the more species an eco-system holds, the more stability it has when confronted impacts from the outside. As an example, the farm eco-system，which needs human beings to take care of, is much feebler than the rain forest eco-system, which can evolve
automatically. Therefore, diversity is always needed to keep a harmonious world, and the human society runs in the same way.

In the light of this concept, it is the whole world, not certain countries, which is responsible for protecting lesser-known languages from extinction. In reality, countries which have endangered languages are probably those which have a very small population and limited financial support such as countries in the Pacific Ocean or in the Africa. However, protecting disappearing language demands so much input of resources and offers so little return in short term, thereby, relying solely on those countries which have lesser-known languages are not practical. Probably, an international organization is necessary to take this responsibility, which is not uncommon in this globalizing world.

In conclusion, protection of a losing language is not only protecting the language itself but also protecting a unique culture, which is concerning the future of the world. It is a task that needs to be taken seriously.