Will Global Trends make Languages Extinct?

by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire

According to UNESCO, 96% of the world’s 6,000 languages are spoken by only 4% of the world’s population; fewer than a quarter of them are used in education and cyberspace, most of them only occasionally; fewer than 100 languages are to be found in the digital world. To promote and protect the world’s languages, particularly endangered languages, in all individual and collective contexts, the UN General Assembly in May 2007 proclaimed 2008 to be the International Year of Languages. This is in addition to International Mother Language Day which was proclaimed in 1999 during the 30th session of UNESCO’s General Conference, and Feb 21 declared as the day on which to mark it.

Protecting Endangered Languages

As language issues are central to UNESCO’s mandate in education, science, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information, the Organisation has been named the lead agency for this event. To celebrate the International Year of Languages, it invites governments, United Nations organisations, civil society organisations, educational institutions, professional associations and all other stakeholders to organise activities highlighting the importance of linguistic heritage.

Language is Essential to Group Identity and Peace

According to Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, “Languages are indeed essential to the identity of groups and individuals and to their peaceful coexistence. Within the space of a few generations, more than 50% of the 6,000 languages spoken in the world may disappear. Less than a quarter of those languages are currently used in schools and in cyberspace, and most are used only sporadically. Thousands of languages – though mastered by those populations for whom it is the daily means of expression – are absent from education systems, the media, publishing and the public domain in general.”

The importance of Multilingualism

He added, “We must act now as a matter of urgency. How? By encouraging and developing language policies that enable each linguistic community to use its first language, or mother tongue, as widely and as often as possible, including in education, while also mastering a national or regional language and an international language. Also by encouraging speakers of a dominant language to master another national or regional language and one or two international languages. Only if multilingualism is fully accepted can all languages find their place in our globalised world.”

The Language of the Internet

Mr Matsuura says that the seven languages most used on the Internet are English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French and Korean. By all accounts, English ranks first, but its prevalence varies from 35% to 72%, depending on the source. He explains, “UNESCO thus endeavours to promote multilingualism, in particular in the education system, by encouraging the recognition and acquisition of at least three levels of language proficiency for all: a mother tongue, a national language and a language of communication. The promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity is supported by commitment to dialogue among peoples, cultures and civilisations.”

According to Mr Matsuura, UNESCO’s Index Translationum – the only international bibliography of translations to include such a wide range of disciplines with 1,650,000 references in literature, the social and human sciences, the natural and exact sciences, art, history, etc.- shows that between 1979 and 2004, the seven languages most translated world-wide were all Western: English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. Japanese, however, is one of the languages most translated into, ranking fifth after German, Spanish, French and English and followed by Dutch and Portuguese, respectively sixth and seventh.

Language and Education

He notes that languages are of utmost importance in achieving the six goals of education for all (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on which the United Nations agreed in 2000. As factors of social integration, languages play a role in the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1); as supports for literacy, learning and life skills, they are essential to achieving universal primary education (MDG 2); the combat against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG 6) must be waged in the languages of the populations concerned if they are to be reached; and the safeguarding of local and indigenous knowledge and know-how with a view to ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG 7) is intrinsically linked to local and indigenous languages.

Says Mr Matsuura, “UNESCO therefore invites governments, UN organisations, civil society organisations, educational institutions, professional associations and all other stakeholders to increase their own activities to foster respect for, and the promotion and protection of all languages, particularly endangered languages, in all individual and collective contexts.

The importance of Language

“Whether it be through initiatives in the fields of education, cyberspace or the literate environment; be it through projects to safeguard endangered languages or to promote languages as a tool for social integration; or to explore the relationship between languages and the economy, languages and indigenous knowledge or languages and creation, it is important that the idea that “languages matter!” be promoted everywhere.”