English Listening B2 Episode 13 -
Fill in the Blanks Exercise
Simply put, if a language has , it dies. Perhaps the of this is Latin. Although it's still for formal purposes, no one learns it as their first language and it's from generation to generation.
So, why does this happen? Well, there are many factors that cause languages . But arguably the most common is that the language is no longer in schools, usually because there is a more popular or 'dominant" language in the area. As a result, children are to use the language at home or to their children when they grow up. So, why should we care? If we all spoke the same language, to communicate? Well, language plays a in people's culture and identity. If their language dies, will die, too. And this means their unique way of is gone forever, because language how we think.
But things are for the better. People are reviving dying languages and . One success story is Cornish, a language spoken in the of the UK. Cornish was until recent decades. Then, in the twenty-first century, Cornish speakers online and used social media to . They organised regular events to in public and the result was a wonderful rebirth. Today there are and some schools teach it. This is really important. As long as are learning a language, it will survive.
There are many other examples of people their endangered languages. One Native American tribe called the Tunica is reviving its language by teaching a curriculum an old Tunica dictionary and recordings of songs and stories. In Bolivia, people are to revive endangered languages by creating blogs, virtual communities, videos and podcasts in the languages.
One tool that is is Wikitongues. Wikitongues is a of people who are trying to keep endangered languages alive. They do this using different methods such as of languages, providing a toolkit for identifying the needs of an endangered language, and . One project is the creation and distribution of children's books in Nalu, a language from Guinea.
Another project is building community language in Congo to keep a language called Kihunde alive. A third project involves Wikitongues , people talking about their lives and cultures and in their mother tongue. These are essential. They're a in the effort to preserve languages.
All of these projects show that it's people that . As long as there are people that care enough about their language to it, teach it to new speakers and use it regularly, the language will survive. Thank you.
