posted by Sam Richards
It’s rather sobering to think that there are upwards to half of the approximately 7,000 languages that are used in the world today will no longer be spoken by the time time twenty-something college students are lowered into the ground. Another language, one of the world’s oldest, just gave up the ghost the other day when the last remaining speaker died. I supposed that it’s not as devastating as the earthquake in Haiti, all things considered, but there is something existentially unnerving about knowing that a complex form of communication that brought so many people together over so many centuries is lost forever. And maybe I’m too sentimental…and maybe I’m just feeling the effects of living in a time of rapid social, economic, and environmental transformation.
I don’t think we “should” feel some sort of way about this. But I do think it’s worth setting aside our phones and remotes and pondering that nobody will EVER hear these words spoken…ever again. If you don’t feel something about that, then perhaps you’re just not tapped into this particular mystery.
Check out this article from the BBC: The Tragedy of Dying Languages
Approximately 7,000 languages that are currently being used in the world will die out in future years. That’s crazy to think about because that is so many. I bet that there have been so many languages that have been lost forever since the beginning of mankind. It’s kind of weird and creepy to think about. I wonder if eventually, we all will be speaking the same language. And if this happens, I wonder if it would bring everyone closer together?
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I never really thought about the fact that there were so many languages that are spoken in todays world. Whenever you think of foreign tongues you usually imagine languages such as Spanish, French, or Italian. It is easy to forget that there are so many other tribal languages that still exist today. Usually you just assume that these unique languages just died out. When you think about it, its really a shame that todays students don't have a broader knowledge of these languages. I also found it surprising just how far a language can travel. For example, when I first came to Penn State University from Bombay, India I was shocked and awed to find out how many foreign languages they offered to take just here at Penn State. They didn't offer nearly as many foreign language classes back where I came from. I think that it is really good how students in the United States of America are given the opportunity to partake in all of these classes, because when you take a language class you not only learn the language, but also get a better understanding of the culture of the country that you are learning the language of. People of other countries just don't seem to have this same opportunity. When I was studying back in Bombay, India we didn't really have all of these classes offered to us. When you look into it you will find that it is not just different countries that have different languages, but different regions as well. For example, in my home country of India there are more than two hundred different languages spoken depending on what part of the country you live in. Think of it as being in the United States of America and going south. The only difference is that instead of the language being spoken with a different dialect it is a whole different language all together. I think that it would be really cool if Penn State, along with other Universities would offer courses based solely upon these dying languages. This would not only give todays students a broader view of other languages and cultures, but would also act as a tool to preserve these unique and fascinating foreign languages. I am sure that there are many people that really enjoy learning more about these languages and would like to try and make an effort to preserve them. These dying languages not only represent the people that spoke them but also represent cultures and traditions that will be extinct with the language for all time. I think that its good that articles like this are written, because with out articles like this most people who are living in todays society would not even think of these languages, and they would be forgotten much quicker. That is what I think of this article, and why I found it so interesting.
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This video clip reached a side of me that I didn't really know existed. I learned about existentialism in high school, and thought I knew a great deal about the top but I'm starting to question a few things. I tried to put myself in this position of being the last person who had the power to communicate through an original language. This is certainly a unique position to be in and it is completely authentic. Thinking about that and how it relates to my life is deep. Nothing I do is even close to as unique as that. Although I am in the same boat as most others either at PSU, in Pennsylvania ,or in the USA, we are all the same in the languages we speak and the customs we practice. Being the only one who does something is notable, whether it is a trivial talent or the power of communication. And it's tough to think about how inauthentic we, as a society, actually are.
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When I first read this post, I was struck by a few things and I feel torn on the issue discussed for a couple different reasons. First of all, the title, "All that is solid melts into air – including our words" caught my attention right away because of the poetic nature of the words. Once I read the article, my second inclination was honestly leaning towards apathy — a little sad feeling, but mostly not really seeing the true "devastation" of the loss of this language (especially in the way it was compared to the kind of devastation we have just seen in Haiti – I do not think it can even be taken on the same scale at all). After taking some time to think about this issue and read more on the influence of language on a culture and a people, I can see both sides from the two feelings I initially described above; one, for as long as I can remember, I have absolutely loved to write – I adore the written word, and I am constantly being inspired by the intricate and amazing ways that various human beings can put certain words together, words you have heard time and time again, and yet they SAY something to you you never even thought to consider. It's incredible, and yet so many people fail to appreciate the beauty of the written word. Thus, in the same respect, I have a genuine appreciation for the spoken word as well, including language. I took Italian all throughout high school and then again here at Penn State for the sole reason that I was interested in Italy as a country, the Italians as a culture and a people, but also because the language itself is beautiful. It's romantic; it rolls off the tongue. You can say something so simple in Italian and, to me, it sounds like a poem. I can understand the idea of using what we can learn/hear from a language to truly understand more about the unique beauties and lifestyles of an entire group of people. Thus, it is sad that so many languages are dying off, but is it sadder that most people probably are not even aware these languages existed in the first place?
I think the plaguing question is that why is this class the first time many of us are ever hearing that there are so many different languages being spoken in the world? I think one of the most crucial things these indigenous people can do is to write down their languages, write down their words, their thoughts, their explanations. Try to keep a record of the language that did so influence their very people and their own way of life. Otherwise, the languages, as implied, may be lost forever, and the mysteries they hold (though I am not sure I understand these mysteries myself either) lost as well. It is important for us to be culturally aware — for us to learn from the linguistic habits of those gone before us — and to make connections between the written and spoken word, as well as in day to day activities, decisions, governments, etc.
On the other hand, I can equally understand those who read this and do not really understand the "big deal," especially when languages becomes synonymous with communication. I think the trick is to remember that language can be connected to so many different things and can lead to development in so many different areas, that it is not limited to communication between people of similar or varying backgrounds. Would it not be best, though, if fewer languages existed and the majority of the world was able to understand one another? Who can deny that better means to understanding would come about via a common language? Or at least a few common languages? I can see the benefits of this as well, but I think the caveat has to be in not allowing the lesser-known languages to fade away entirely. If a language has been passed down through your people or tribe or community, TEACH your children from a young age as if you are teaching of your very soul. The BBC article hinted at one point that children and community members wanted to learn, but when it came down to it, they did not put in the work. If these people were taught an appreciation for what the language means and represents (the fact that it can and perhaps SHOULD mean more to a culture than just words being said or written down), then I honestly believe they would put in the necessary effort to keep the language alive. Even if they learned English or another widely-known language, and practiced in writing the lesser-known language, at least they would be keeping the roots of the language from dying out. Thus, the importance of language should not be underestimated, but an ever-changing world should work in ways that promote compromise and discussion among all.
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It’s hard to imagine a language vanishing since our language is so well known and people are very eager to learn it. English is a required course in the elementary aged schools of many countries and then students have the option or requirement of taking an additional language. I feel as if many Americans are not fervent or even willing to learn a new language because it is so challenging for many of us since we do not have the opportunity to learn new languages at such a young age, when the brain is most suited to learn a second language. Maybe this reasoning is also why the people of the Chemehuevi tribe in Arizona “don’t come around” when Johnny Hill is willing to teach them this language.
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Culture is important thing in everyone's lives, it brings about our past, ancestors, tells stories of our past lives, and tells who we as people are really are. Language is culture and culture is language. Language itself brings about communication and connectivity between people. It is said that about 7,000 languages that are being currently being used in the world will die out in future years. So with great amount of number of language, think of the culture that die along with the language. How many details of extraordinary tales of a person's language will die and be unknown to the rest of the world? The women who spoke Bo was the last of her kind to speak her language. It is sad and it reminded me of the Native Americans who lived on North America. There were many kinds of tribes that exceed more than ten thousand. Now only about five hundred remain. A great amount of Native American's culture, lifestyle, beliefs, heritage, and history from the beginning of existence have died and with no living heir left to carry on the tradition and the language. It is said how a native american tribe and a Bo language will never be heard again through conversations, in phones, radios, television, and to the rest of the media ever again. So why are these problems occurring? Is it because of globalization, Americanization, and domination? Are we to blame culture of a dominant nation replacing cultures of less dominant countries with their own. America and other dominant countries in past and present have exceeded its hand to countries that were less developed and the less developed countries have in turn adapted to some of the characteristics of the dominant nations such as its culture, language, and way of life. An example is china and japan. Once was their own way of life and now adapted to american politics and way of life. But the thing with them is that they have kept part of their culture in tact. So with the bo women, i feel that her culture in way was dominated and pushed off which lead her to be the only one who knew her language.
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I believe that it is disappointing when an entire language is lost, but I do not think that it is as disappointing as you make it. I believe that the loss of a language is something that will be only a temporary loss. As you never fail to outline, there are cycles in this world, and the loss of a language is just another cycle. Just as any language was lost, new ones will continue to emerge to take their places. Also, to most, unless they are linguistic historians, there will not be much practical use of these languages when they are lost, so it will not be very useful to know them, as one could only communicate in that language with themselves. I believe that you are being much too sentimental in being disappointed that the words that “brought so many people together over so many centuries” will be diminished. All that language consists of is a set of symbols that represent other things. For being the words that brought people together, however pleasant sounding it is, doesn’t signify much importance to me or stress that there are any significance in these languages that cannot be achieved through any other symbols. Additionally, the claim that another “complex” form of communication was lost seems to be quite an assumption. If one were not familiar with the language, how would this person be able to outline the complexity of the language? The most that one can know about a language, without being told any vocabulary within it, is that it is a form of communication. This language could have been comprised of, say, 20 different grunts and still be looked at as a lost language.
Continuing with the idea that languages are reborn just as similar as anything else on this earth, the thought that “these words will never be heard again” does not hold much truth. People can all make the same sound, and I believe that it is not farfetched to say that an individual will make the same sounds again as a representation of something, and it will become a word again just as simply as before.
Overall, I agree with one thing in this post. I agree that you are as you said, “feeling the effects of living in a time of rapid social, economic, and environmental transformation.” I think that these ideas, when accounted for, are very overwhelming and can make everything seem as though it is moving faster and continually progressing. The only thing is, these are all phenomenon that will continue to build and expand at a very rapid rate. Unlike all of these I believe that language has its boundaries and though it can transform like it has done before, it cannot become anything more than what it is.
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Language to me is all about your culture. How you speak and the language you use tells everything about you. Not only does it tell everything about you but there's a whole history behind it and to think about how a language can just die out like that blows my mind. Ive read that Languages change over time. What were once dialects of the same language may eventually diverge enough that they are no longer mutually intelligible. They have become separate languages. To me languages are passed on through stories upon many generations and that's how we learn about our pasts and our families pasts. One method to illustrate the relationship between such divergent yet related languages is to construct family trees. We learn everything by our language and through language. This is why we have the different languages and how they came about, god invented them. If you could somehow raise a group of children without exposing them to a language, the children would invent their own language over time. They would come up with a word for anything, but it could be any sound at all. They would also come up with rules that control how words fit together. Then they would start passing this language down to their children. This is a perfect example of what families do and what goes on through generation and generation. We pass on our languages and share experiences to let our children and families members aware of everything that we've been through and things that are important to us. I don't see how something as important as a language can fall off and just not be used anymore. This process happened many times on Earth to many different isolated groups of people, so there are hundreds of languages on Earth today. Out language shapes the way we think and process. It shapes the way we see the world. Research in the labs at Stanford University believe that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world. All of us believe that language is a uniquely human gift, central to our experience of being human. Appreciating its role in constructing our mental lives brings us one step closer to understanding the very nature of humanity. Language is a very important role in all of society. It's what brings cultures together and to unite so we can all be in understanding of each other. When people communicate of different speaking cultures, i think that is truly amazing and is a gift to have. Different languages are beautiful and something that we should all apprieciate because with understanding each other when talking in different languages that is a true gift.
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Sam is right to feel sentimental about the ending of a language. It’s a sad thing to know that we have something as important as someone’s background and heritage lost because we didn’t care to learn it
My great grandmother spoke Creole. Her whole family did. She would say the Lord s Prayer in Creole every night before she went to bed. I remember that my Grandmother would be embarrassed by it if she had friends over, so she refused to say it in Creole after she left home, and she stopped and lost what little she knew in the language. Now that my Great Grandmother passed away, that one vital part of the culture is gone, and we don’t really have a chance of learning it again.
A friend of mine grew up for the first 6 years of her life in Japan where she spoke English and Japanese fluently. When her family moved back to the States, she was made fun of for speaking Japanese because she was white and it wasn’t normal to everyone else. So, she abandoned the language and refused to speak it at all. Now, she regrets her decision because she has lost the language. Not to say that Japanese is going to be like the language of the Bo tribe and be lost forever, but it is for her family. Her children won’t grow up knowing because she made the decision to abandon it.
This story also reminds me of something one of my professors taught me. John Sanchez, a Communications professor who is an American Indian, was talking to my freshman seminar class about his great grandfather who spoke one of the ancient tribal languages. He was saying how his grandfather, father, and him lost the language because it’s something you have to go ahead and speak when you’re born. Certain sounds you make in your throat and voices you hear are an essential part of the language, so the best way is to be immersed in the language young so you can learn. Outsides who grew away from the tribe couldn’t come back and pick up the language easily because they weren’t exposed to that. It’s a hard thing. There are only so many tribes that still remain, and it’s a loss to everyone. The customs, languages, and things they did are lost with the last of them who died because no one was left to carry their legacy.
Listening to the recordings from the video, it’s so strange to see how so few words, sounds, and syllables she said formed entire sentences. Like Eskimos have 17 different ways to say snow, and we just call it snow. We take for granted the fact that there are other languages and other people out there that we don’t realize that we have lost more then a person, but their traditions, language, culture, practices and everything they held died with them and its lost forever because they couldn’t pass it along to someone. This isn’t a drastic loss like the many we lose to natural disasters like that of Haiti, but it’s a loss to recognize and reflect on because it’s something simple enough for us to change by recording and studying so we don’t loose a culture to old age.
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I definitely agree with you on this one. It is really weird to think that a language that people used to communicate with each other for years is now dead and gone forever. What if the English language was dead and gone too? And that may in fact happen in the future. Maybe it would hit more heart strings if people think of their own language dying off. It’s a piece of their culture that is gone forever.
I definitely have a problem where I feel a lot for other people. But a part of me doesn’t think it’s so much a problem, it’s just a part of who I am. I am able to put myself in the position of other people. Sam always makes the point in class that we are all going to die. After we die, the only way we are still a part of life is through the memories of others. The only way language is carried on is through the teaching and usage of the language.
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joeblanton18 Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 7:00 am
I don't think that the English language is going to die off ever. It is spoken by too many people to ever die off; the only way would be if we were all forced to switch to one language, which will most likely never happen. I do like the question you posed as what if the English language was dying. It would be hard to imagine, because i think it would take many years and most likely you would know another language if it was dying off. Bo must of learned another language in order to communicate, unless she just uses hand gestures or something. The video was a little bit cryptic, i think mainly because of the topic she was talking about was very sad.
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Wow, that's really weird to think about- how an entire language can just die out like that? It definitely is sad in a sense…I mean, you're not just losing a language, you're losing an entire history, an entire era of spoken words. Stories told, lessons learned, communication shared is all lost. And some things just can't be translated-they really do get "lost in translation" so to speak. I don't understand why people allow these languages to die out? Does no one want to learn them? I think the problem with many young people today is that they get caught up in the globalization of the world. Everyone seems in a rush to assimilate with everyone else rather than to embrace their old cultures and values- something that is seen all the time in America as new immigrants came and, though the parents usually retain their cultural identities, their children are usually eager to assimilate and "fit in." I think it'd be a good idea to for these languages in danger of dying out to be taught formally in school and also embraced in these peoples' homes. It seems too much of a waste to let an entire language with its millions upon millions of words simply disappear.
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It is unfathomable for me how a language can just die. I do not comprehend fully how an individual would learn a language and then never teach it to anybody else. Since language is a communication tool that people use to connect with others, it almost seems ironic in a sense that Boa Sr was the only surviving speaker. Who did she speak with? Did nobody else show interest in speaking with her in order to learn a part of her tribe’s culture? Additionally, I wonder what the technicalities of this interview were since there is a translation, yet the premise of the blog was that nobody else in the world speaks this language.
Before reading this blog, I had never heard of Boa Sr nor did I have any knowledge of the Bo language. Though I have no inkling about what’s she was saying her laughter was universal. It’s amazing to me what we can understand – despite language barriers – about other people from their nonverbal behaviors. I wish that we could have watched video of her while she was speaking because it seems kind of clinical when you’re just listening to someone speak as opposed to experiencing all the other cues of natural communication.
On the other hand, it’s unfortunate the amount of information we think we understand without ever trying to get to know someone. I think this plays a large part in stereotypes and prejudices. For example, just looking at the pictures of Boa Sr we could assume that she was a family-oriented woman who has lived a difficult life. It would seem that despite her struggles, she expressed a generally happy demeanor. Though some of these assumptions from afar may be correct, some people would over generalize these observations and fail to listen to what she was trying to share.
Reading this story inspires me to study my family’s native language. My mother was born in Turkey and immigrated here with her father at the age of six. Since she has disassociated herself with a lot of the Muslim cultural traditions, consequently I am very “Americanized” also. Recently my friend began to bug me about learning to speak more Turkish and I kind of disregarded his nagging because it’s easy to find excuses. Now I see the importance in learning Turkish. I want to be able to better understand my grandfather and his culture by visiting his village someday. I always knew it would be difficult to go without understanding more of the language, however there was always a reason why it was the wrong time. This phenomenon of a dying within my lifetime has sparked a “there’s no better time than the present” kind of feeling within me.
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This post really struck me because it made me step back and think about how frustrating it must be for people who are the last speakers of their language. After watching the video, I found myself thinking how long Boa Sr had lived being the only one who could speak the language that she knew. Even though people bring up the point of learning different languages to keep them alive and continue the customs and traditions of different peoples, there would still be no original speakers. The point would be pretty much lost. Could you imagine being the last person to actually speak English? Even though people may be able to understand you, your culture and traditions would die when you did. As Sam said, we should put down our cell phones and start paying attention to the different languages we hear on the streets because we may never hear them again.
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One of my junior’s at an international boarding school in India was from Andaman and Nicobar islands. I still do not know if she is ok and think of her from time to time. My plane landed in Chennai that morning after the Tsunami struck back in 2004, I clearly remember the confusion and fear among people the morning after the disaster. This was my first reaction to the article and I knew that the tsunami wiped out entire tribes but it did not strike me that we lost a language or a lot of them. Boa Sr. sounded so pure and sweet speaking the Bo language. It’s hard to imagine no matter how much we travel or try to pick up how to communicate with others, the beauty and essence of each and every language is hard to mimic. There are certain emotions, jokes, meanings and feelings I can express in a one language that I do not know how to translate into another. It is really hard to imagine that we lose languages that we still have a great deal to learn from day after day. Dvd subtitles will not explain local slang or show the true meaning of a certain word or phrase. Body language, expressions, words are all lost when a language is lost.
I struggle with languages coming from India. I was very young and felt tossed around different states. Every 150 miles you travelled from one town or city people spoke a different dialect that seemed totally alien to a visitor. To this day I have not mastered one single Indian language, what I know are scraps from almost every major South-Indian language. I can express myself best in English because it is convenient and the environment I lived it made it easy to practice. Not that my fellow country cousins give me more than my share of teasing for speaking broken something, I cannot help but feel a little guilty of not trying to stay true to my mother tongue. I did not understand why English was not the national language coming into America. After living here for six years my perspective is that nationalizing a language will not solve any real long term problem as such. It is hard to force language/s on a nation. It is very well known that for the majority of us, it is harder to be fluent in a language after a certain age, maybe the public school system should give elementary students a choice of language to master besides English. We talk about protecting endangered species; we should do the same for languages. It is so easy when everyone around you knows English and you do not have to struggle to communicate. Our world now is all about ease, less time and quantity over quality. We can change that or at least start to.
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This topic is really interesting. When someone thinks of death, or at least when I think of death, I usually just picture a person dying. When I think of death, I don’t think about something as large as a whole race or a language getting wiped out. It’s weird to think about the finality of this. To think that those recordings on that video are the only artifacts we will have of the language for the rest of time is really scary to think about. I think this might happen more than we might think, too. Obviously it would be common among more tribes like this that are small and isolated, which is probably why you never hear of it. But at the same time, that video is kind of puzzling to me. Who are all of those little kids she is sitting with in the one picture? Don’t they know how to speak the language? Or was the whole tribe wiped out? Or perhaps that lady knew how to speak other languages, because she had to communicate somehow.
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That’s something I’d like to research, because that’s weird to me. At the same time, imagine this from the perspective of the old lady. To be the last surviving member of your entire race, what would that feel like? To think that you are the last person carrying the culture of your people must be sobering. Also, imagine if this ever happened to a larger group. Obviously, that would probably never happen, but what all English speaking people got wiped out and it was never spoken again? Or if Spanish was never spoken again? That would really take away from the world culture, and it would really effect everyone more than we might think. A language, and a culture, is not something that is born overnight, it takes thousands of years to establish. To think that one can just be wiped out like this is scary. In this tribes case, they had probably be living humbly, establishing their way of life for centuries, and just like that it’s gone.
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A language is more than just a way to communicate, it is an embodiment of a culture and ties an individual to that culture. It must have been frustrating to Boa Sr. to be the last speaker of the Bo language. To know a language and have nobody to share it with, to have to keep it to your self, must have been very frustrating. I think a lot of us take our language for granted. Texting, e-mailing and technology in general have just made it so much a part of our life that we don’t even think about it. Stories like this should make us step back and realize that language is something to be cherished, it is a privilege, not just a way to communicate
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When I first read this post, I already began to formulate my ideas about how language is always changing and how we should not be upset about it, but after reading the accompanying article, I definitely changed my mind. In one of my linguistics classes, we discussed how languages evolve and how differently people react to these changes. Some grammar mavens strongly disagree with certain changes and desperately hold on to specific rules and/or pronunciations. Other linguists accept and embrace the changes. When I first read this post, I immediately assumed that this article was written from the perspective of an anti-change grammar maven seemingly stuck in the past. After reading the article and watching the clips, I realized that this situation is much more than a simple rule change or pronunciation change, an entire language has disappeared.
Never before have I considered the amount of culture that exists within a language. I knew that a lot of words and phrases could not be translated literally from one language to the next, but I did not realize that many words for certain things did not even exist in other languages. I found it interesting that a Native American tribe in Alaska has a word for 99 different sea ice formations; whereas, in English, we simply refer to those formations as either glaciers or icebergs.
I didn’t even know this language existed, let alone the fact that up to 7,000 more languages are in danger of disappearing within the next 50 years. This article was eye-opening in that I never really thought about how many different languages there actually are in the world. Learning about other cultures’ ideas and beliefs fascinates me. This article was upsetting because so many of those cultural ideas were never written down; they were passed on only by oral tradition. Not only do these languages pass down stories, but they also pass on a vast amount of environmental wisdom. We have so much to learn from people who spend their lives so deeply in tune with nature. I wish there was a way to learn more from these languages before they become extinct.
Another aspect of this article that interested me was the idea that there can be one single “last speaker” of a language. At first, I was very confused. I wondered how there could only be one speaker of a language left, because that one speaker had to be able to communicate with at least one other person, but then I realized that those speakers had become bilingual. I was sad to learn that although the children wanted to learn the language and keep the traditions alive, it was a lot of work and eventually, they stopped trying. I hope that in the future, we will be able to learn more about these cultures, and prevent these valuable cultural traditions from disappearing from this planet forever.
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The article “All that is solid melts into the air – including our words” is extremely interesting and brought up many questions for me to find the answer to. It is amazing to me that a language is able to be lost after many generations of people have communicated these specific words to each other. What causes a country to go from being dominated from one language to another? What forces people to change to a different language than their parents and grand parents spoke? I do not know all of these answers, but I do remember Professor Richards speaking about this in a lecture at the beginning of the year.
Professor Richards showed us a statistic in class that showed the percentage of immigrants that preferred to speak English once they moved to the United States from a different country. These people spoke a different language in the country the previously lived in. The statistic showed that the only 23 percent of first-generation immigrants were comfortable with speaking English. It later showed that 88 percent of second-generation immigrants were comfortable speaking English. This statistic shows how as people migrate to different countries or into different cultures, that they are more willing to lose the language of their ancestors in order to succeed in society. For example if an extremely successful and intelligent man from Spain moves to America, but does not know very much English, he may be less likely to find a high paying job in the United States since he has difficulty communicating with people. This forces him to learn English and pass it down to his children and grand children so they have a better chance to succeed. Because of this the transgression of people being forced to learn English in the United States many people are losing their ancestors language. The United States is not the only country that this occurs in. It is difficult to succeed in any country where the most popular language is not what you were raised to learn.
Language is something that every person has. When you are an infant you are taught to learn your language so you can communicate with others. With this being said, language holds a long history that each person who learns the language is a part of. Language has been around forever and will remain in existence as long as humans are alive. With all of the different languages that exist today, it makes you unique to speak the language you do. Language is the first thing you learn as a child and will remain that way because of the importance of communicating to others. To watch one language disappear symbolizes the history, culture and beliefs of a certain people to diminish in front of our eyes. Language is something that brings people that are extremely different together and to watch a language disappear is truly saddening.
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Honestly, before reading the BBC News article, the thought of the loss of so many languages didn’t really bother me. One part of the article that struck me the most was when K David Harrison wrote how languages contain so much history and knowledge in them, as well as ancient tales and rituals. It is sad that when languages die, so much history dies with them. The other part of the article that stood out to me was the part about Johnny Hill, Jr. The fact that he has to talk to himself and no one else is really interested in his language must be extremely devastating to him. Even though this article did make me see the tragic side of dying languages, I still don’t feel all that depressed or sad about it.
If you think about it, there have probably been thousands of languages that have died in the course of the world. I took Latin in high school and even for a semester in college, and I was always taught that Latin is pretty much a “dead” language. Yeah, we still translate ancient works of Latin into English, and so many of the romance languages spoken in Europe came from Latin. But Latin isn’t spoken in classes anymore; it’s more just about translation and grammar. The fact that Latin is a dead language never saddened me since I still studied it, and it still felt alive to me in one way or another. For some reason, I don’t feel like it is extremely tragic that many languages of the past are dead and gone and many languages alive today will be no more centuries from now.
I understand that languages contain so much history and bring so many people together at one point, but the world is constantly changing and old languages disappearing and new ones emerging is nothing foreign to us. Personally, I don’t think the world would be all that bad of a place if we all spoke the same language. That may seem ignorant of me to say, but the language and communication barriers would be non-existent. I know some languages sound beautiful and some are part of people’s cultures, but from a global communication standpoint, if we all spoke the same language, everyone would be able to communicate so much easier. I always feel awkward and uncomfortable when I don’t understand what other people are saying, or I just simply don’t know their language. I hate having so say “What?” or “I’m sorry” every time someone with an accent opens their mouth and I can’t understand them. If there was one universal language, almost all of the miscommunication and misunderstanding we have to deal with would be extinct. I’m not saying we should all learn the same language and forget about our native one, but one universal language spoke by everyone would be kind of cool.
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Prior to reading this, I never really gave much thought to a language actually dying out. Now that I have I actually find it to be quite sad. No one will ever speak that again, or hear those sounds. It is crazy to think about that. It is like what if no one ever spoke English again. I thought that video was really sad. Interesting though to hear the way her language sounds and to hear her sing. I definitely agree that it is unnerving that this language that brought so many people together will never be heard again. I think hearing her speak on that video made it even more unnerving because I could hear what it sounded like. This whole topic is very interesting if you actually stop and take the time to really wonder about it.
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Losing a unique language is akin to lose one's sense of individuality. We see more and more a pressure to confirm to whatever mainstream society we are governed by dictates that we follow. The condensing of languages is just another way of doing this. It is not hard to fathom in the near future that there will be only a handful of languages used in the world, such as English, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese/Japanese (these being the main languages as I would define them). Part of this problem is that across the non-United States world, citizens are required to all learn English simply so they can survive in a American-dominated world. Conversely, most Americans forget one of the languages they learn in high school or college (unless they are in a business field or communications field that demands they use it), and are able to rely on their English because the rest of the world has conformed to the dominant culture's language. This is clearly a huge reason why languages like that spoken by Boa Sr. are dying out.
Despite all this it is surprising how many languages are still in use today. Again, the average citizens in the world usually are not aware of the number of different languages spoken (myself included). This speaks to a lack of education and awareness in the world that is really troubling to me.
Language is one of the primary markers of a independent culture. If the language of a region is gone, part of its entire identity disappears forever. Throughout American history, we have seen it with the American Indians, as well as the Aborigine cultures in Australia and New Zealand. Compared to 300 or 400 years ago, the American Indians are almost absent from the United States. This includes elimination of their language.
Another example of a language disappearing would be slave languages. Once slaves entered the United States, they were forbidden to speak their own language, mostly because their masters assumed they were speaking about secret plans and plots to overthrow their captors. Luckily, one remnant of communication, while not overtly language, is still in tact as far as American slaves. That is of course, Negro spirituals and gospel pieces as far as African-American choral music. These slave songs were often sung during the workday to communicate between slaves. Personally, I am glad this part of language remains, because its style of music is one of my favorites.
The spoken language is truly one of the most purest forms of art that exists in the world. It is a shame that languages like Boa Sr.'s are becoming lost, and there must be a concerted effort by people to preserve these languages before they are lost forever.
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In regards to language on a whole, it is amazing to think that some languages cease being spoken and become ultimately, dead, along with the native speakers who spoke the language through generations for thousands of years. I believe a similar (yet not as extreme) scenario is unfolding in the midst of our daily lives. I know various Americans look down upon certain immigrants who come to the United States knowing barely any English, believing they should learn the language if they want to live and work in the USA. These immigrants struggle to learn English (but that takes time), while acclimating to a different environment and still attempting to achieve their illusion of the American Dream.
This was the scenario for my parents, who came to the United States when they were twenty-four years old, with only 100 dollars in their pocket. They worked odd jobs and picked up on the language, but they were still treated like trash during their first couple years living here. However, like Professor Richards mentioned in class, they were able to overcome their obstacles, learn English, and become successful, all because they exercised their free will and remained determined, even through hardship.
However, in this struggle to become “fully transformed,” some immigrants will do anything in their willpower to appear as if they’ve been Americanized once they begin their lives in the United States. They’ll cease following their cultures and traditions, and will refuse to teach their children their native language, hoping it will somehow make their lives easier. Some families actually believe doing so will allow them to better identify as an American, and other Americans will notice this and give them less problems because they will appear to be “more alike.”
I know this for a fact because although my parents immigrated from Poland and taught me Polish when I was a child, many of our Polish family friends followed a different path in raising their children. They wanted more than anything, for them to feel comfortable and “fit in” with other American children. But is this method of protection correct, or does it ultimately kill a language and culture that might have otherwise been passed down? I consider myself lucky to exhibit fluency in a language other than English, and I certainly don’t consider it a damper on my social interaction with other “Americans.”
More than anything, I believe this is a classic sort of trend that has steadily transformed as a result of culture’s social inclination to “fit in” and conform to society’s already predetermined standards. If the cycle continues, new languages will continued to be learned, and old ones will be forgotten. Perhaps this is thinking too much outside the box, but some day in the far future we may have a universal language that everyone will have grown up learning. Just something far-fetched to think about…
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Since I was young, I always wondered about how language was created in the first place. Why a chair is called a chair, why a telephone is called a telephone, and so forth. Almost all words in the English language can be traced back to Latin origin, but still, how were those Latin words created, and why don't we use the Latin language anymore? It's just crazy to think that just like people, animals, and any form of life, languages go on, change, become endangered, and suddenly disappear forever. It's also scary to think that this sort of thing can happen and probably will happen to even the language we use everyday–English. I think we take for granted how we are able to speak a language that is pretty much the universal language of the world. However, what will happen if this language all of a sudden is no longer used or spoken anymore? Will all our American and English history and culture be forgotten as well? Language gives us the ability to communicate, become educated, share ideas, show emotions, think to ourselves, argue, make decisions, etc. I don't think we realize what we would do without language. I definitely realize how much language affects life when I travel, which I very so often do. Traveling to Egypt, South Korea, Peru, the Philippines, Lebanon, etc. has taught me how much language shapes a culture and the country itself. Language is the essential and core component of keeping a population of people together. A group of people might be the same color or even the same race and speak a completely different language or dialect and this adds more to who a person actually is and should be classified as. As a biracial person, I speak neither the language of my mother's side or my father's side because I have grown up in America and therefore, predominantly speak English like majority of everyone else in this country. However, sometimes I wish I did grow up speaking other languages. I feel I do not truly understand my culture because I do not speak the language. I also think our country is at a major disadvantage when it comes to to speaking languages other than English. In school, we are forced to take a second language class such as Spanish, French, Italian, etc. However, after two or so years of the requirement is fulfilled, we do not pursue to keep practicing the language and learning even more languages. There are 7,000 languages in the world yet I only know English. To me, this is absurd and I am sure many people feel they are on the same boat. I have met other students outside the United States who are the same age as me and can speak three to four languages fluently. To me, this is unfair and I just don't understand why America is at a disadvantage when it comes to learning many different languages, especially when we are the most diverse country in the world. Certain languages becoming extinct scares me especially because I only know one and if English were ever the language to become lost then I will basically lose myself as well.
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I do believe that this is very tragic to think that-that particular language will never be spoken again because language has so much history behind it and for it to be erased is very sad. I think it has a lot to do with people being ashamed of their language and not wanting to pass it on and becoming part of the norm in society. English may not be the norm in every society but in most countries they are taught to speak English since the United States is known as the dominant culture. The only way that this can be avoided is if people pass on their language to relatives that's the only way. It also has to be a tradition that the family holds. I think traditions are special and so is language. I wish that I knew where I was from and had a special language from my culture because I would cherish that language and if I had kids I would pass it on to my children and expect them to do the same thing. Without language everyone is the same and there are no differences. Maybe that's what the problem is people don't want to be different anymore. They want to be what everyone else is but there is certainly nothing wrong with being different. I would love to have a different culture-a different language because it widens your eyes to different things and it gives you a sense of comfort. I don't have much of a sense of comfort because I know that I was born in the United States and that's it. I don't know where my great- great- great parents are from and I would love to know. So when people have an idea of where they are from and don't choose to cherish it and pass it on it truly saddens me. I don't think there is anything wrong with being different because America is filled with people who differ in look, age, religion…etc. So why not add language on top of that an be proud of that. Be proud of what you are and where you came from because not everyone has the same story and that's what makes a person interesting. If everyone was the same how boring would the world be? It would be so boring because everyone would dress the same, talk the same, think the same, eat the same type of foods. Our world is based off of differences because that it seen in the type of clothes that people wear which are inspired by different cultures, and the different types of foods that we eat. Also our need to want to travel the world and see how people live and to see how beautiful their country is. I really truly hope that people pass on their languages because it shouldn't die. It should be taught in schools too because the history of the language is very important.
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I agree I do think we need to step outside our fast pace world and look and the minor or not so minor things in life. As far as languages species etc. dying we should recognize these things. It is like a little piece of our self dying party by part and no one is paying attention. I appreciate Sam for bring this to our attention, because with out him we would have never known about this woman her culture or her existence. To be the last of something is scary, no one person could imagine who alone she may have felt. Or the deeper meaning of her existence. Broken sprits. For these moments not to be valued or too seem so minuscule as someone put it, languages are just “revised” versions of other languages, but does that make them any less important, I think NOT. I think we should all take a little time to learn about something new each day. This topic and article were very interesting. I highly doubt the English language will ever be extinct, unless the world would come to an end. That’s why I think it is a golden opportunity to learn another language; be it Spanish, German, Chippewa or, igbo. When you learn about language you learn about culture. So hearing these people’s stories in their language we are learning. And whether we know it or they are pieces of us being lost.
What is really disturbing was her last accounts were about the tsunami that hit. Not saying that that was not important but, you would always expect someone’s last words to be more significant. However I guess they were significant because she told of how she may have lost her friends, family, and her people. Either way I am happy that her last words were recorded so that others and I can enjoy her voice. Referring to some other post it is scary that there are over 7,000 languages not being spoken today. No one person thinks that one day not only their “race”, but their culture history will be erased because they were the only person left and they have the language historical accounts and everything else. How would you feel if there was no trace of you left? I think more people in the world should pay attention and attempt to learn more about these issues before the “time twenty-something college students are lowered into the ground.” I always try my best to learn about new things, and this is one issue that is near and dear. I thought learning Spanish was stupid, but then I really enjoyed it.
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This story, to me, is a perfect analogous example of how it is so much more convenient and less of a hassle to just take the easy route instead of working hard and creating another path. This seems to be a smaller tribe and a community of few people; because of this one would assume that they were close each other, especially considering the photos shown of her with other people from her community. Why did the people of this tribe just give up on their language? It seems as though they took the easy way out. They already had a language that they all spoke and it was easier to just throw away this language that was around for 65,000 years, then it was to take the time to continue the language of the culture. It is sad to think that maybe no one cared enough about their roots to try and keep the language alive.
Although it may sound as if I am pointing the finger at these people and judging them for moving on, I am not. I of course have heard about languages dying out, specifically Latin. When I learned that Latin was a dead language and people only take those courses now in high school for SAT purposes it did not mean anything to me. Hearing this woman’s story about her tribe and how this is the last time anyone would ever hear these words being spoken it struck a chord in me and got me thinking. Like I said, I am not judging this tribe; I am instead relating her story back to my own life.
I am of Jewish descent, but I do not know Hebrew. I spent five years in Hebrew school growing up learning about the culture and learning the language. Eventually I had my Bat Mitzvah and from then on I stopped studying Hebrew. I hate to admit it, but I stopped because it was easier to just go on speaking English instead of continuing to learn. It is possible that one day, hopefully thousands of years from now, Hebrew will be a dead language, and there will be a story just like Anvita Abbi, someone was the last person to ever speak your culture’s language.
It is hard to imagine the language of one’s culture being dead, especially if there are millions of people out there who are speaking it at this very moment. But if people do not stop and think about the future consequences of simply moving on with life and choosing the easiest path ahead of them instead of taking the time to learn things like languages, then eventually these 7,000 languages we have will be down to a few.
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The dying languages of the world need to be carefully watched. The fact that we are allowing these languages to slip away explains the reason why we do not have knowledge of 80% of plant and animal species, and 80% of languages. The origin of these languages could lead to these discoveries. We can’t keep watching these languages die! Languages can tell a lot about our history and the people of the past. Without this information we are limiting ourselves to know only half of our history. I am not saying that everything we know about history has come from language, but it is defiantly a key element to examine when looking at the past.
According to this article, the problem with spreading languages today is the fact that people want to learn the language, but do not put forth the time and effort to do so. It is mainly up to the people to save their own language because if they don’t then no one else will. So, these people need to respect their ancestors and put in the effort needed to keep their language alive. The article also says that these people do not want to hoard their language but they want everyone to recognize it. However, if these people work really hard to keep their language alive, who is going to notice? This leads to another problem that we see today.
Passing the language down from generation to generation might be easy for some people, but what if your culture and language is unknown to the world. How are people supposed to let their language be known? This question explains why so many languages go unnoticed and eventually die. A lot of these languages are not up to date with, for example English, so it is hard to translate and decode exactly what is being said. In the article an Australian said, "Our language is standing still, we need to make it relevant to today's society. We need to create new words, because right now we can't say 'computer'." It is hard to decode the past of some cultures that have such outdated languages. Our language changes so much and so frequently that it might be impossible for all of the languages of the world to keep up.
There is so much for the world to learn about these languages, but it is hard to do so. We could send more researchers to record and learn about the small languages of the world that go unnoticed, but will that even really solve the problem? Our world has a lot that is not known to mankind, but may never be known. We can only do our best to learn about as many other cultures as possible to keep them from dying.
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As with many of the previous posts this article really got me thinking as well. We live day in and day out we really do not realize what we have until it is gone. As cliche as it sounds it never has less meaning then the last time you say it. We really need to start taking everything we have for granted and realize that there is no guarantees that we will ever make it tomorrow. One thing we all need to realize is that we all have an expiration date, whether it be today or 70 years from now. You will never know. You need to live life as it was your last. It seems like a lot of people will get a wake up call with this because there is no way that the carried on. We need to change what we do today to affect our lives and future generations for tomorrow. Yes, the truth is the world will end one day and everything we ever worked for will be annihilated but that still does not change how we should remember today. Ending a tradition or anything is not easy as you may have learned from this article. We should take responsibility to make sure that we make a difference everyday. I got a harsh reality check with this when I met someone and 24 hours later they died. You can never be too sure when or if you will ever see the same person again. Life is too short to argue, and to worry about the little things. Yes, I am also aware that my writing may seem kinda off topic of the issue at hand which is the language that is going to be forgotten. Which is why it brought me to a broader perspective. I believe that it should be someones responsibility to make sure that they knew the language before the passing. While it is true that my dad is trying to teach me everything he knows about cooking, working on automobiles, and electrical work, it would be a shame if I do not use the things he taught me throughout my life in my everyday living and just forget about it. I believe when time comes it will be my responsibility to teach the things my Dad has taught me throughout my life to my children while giving them lessons about my life as well. Sometimes we need to take responsibility and put down the cellphone, the remote, stop watching tv, and stop logging on to Facebook for once to just talk with someone verbally and just take the speech part for granted. As I keep repeating myself the main thing is to take everything you have now for the moment.
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“I have to talk to myself. There's nobody left to talk to, all the elders have passed on” ~ Johnny Hill, Jr, Chemehuevi tribe, Arizona. How ignorant we are as Americans. This article really got to me based on the statement that when our generation passes away most of the world language will die before us. Most schools today do not teach a foreign language until it is too late. I know my high school doesn’t teach a foreign language until high school, which is 9-12th grade. I have taken several foreign language courses but at the age of 22 English is engrained in my brain and another language is impossible to retain. Learning a new language should start at an earlier age. Practice makes perfect is a statement that really applies to learning foreign languages. We feel superior because all other countries are making English a universal language. That is to their advantage when you realize this is a global economy and they can comfortably converse and do business in their own language as well. I know we are at a disadvantage because without using that language it can easily be forgotten. The rest of the world is further ahead of us because we as Americans are too lazy and vain to think we need to communicate with other countries. Those people that can speak multiple languages are ahead of people trying to get a job because international experience this day and age is very important. Being able to communicate with other countries on behalf of a company is very appeasing to an individual in the job market. It also shows what kind of a person you are, that you are willing to learn other cultures and that you are not opposed to new things. Wouldn’t it be something if our president didn’t need a translator at certain foreign meetings? I find it astounding that officials from other countries know our language and can speak it at meetings, but our officials need a translator to communicate. I feel embarrassed for the United States. I know that the government is trying to change that, but it is taking a while to be taken seriously. Reading this article made me want to cry. Listening to that woman sing the language that would die with her is heart breaking. The first quote in my blog is correct, I can only imagine what those people go through not being able to communicate to others. When I think of this article it reminds me of the movie or book The Last of the Mohicans. How terrible it would be to be the last of anything let alone your ancestry and culture. I can’t imagine what that woman felt being all alone, without anyone to speak the old language of her elders. Years ago there were regions in the United States that were Polish, Italian, etc. Now we are becoming a true melting pot of nationalities. As a result, so much of the heritage, culture and language is being lost.
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Languages come and go. In my English class we are talking about Pidgins and Creoles. For those unaware a pidgin is highly simple communication system that arise when adult speakers who share no common language need to communicate with each other. As a creole is a full fledged language used my the next generation who makes the pidgin. There are so many varieties, types. of languages and dialect in the world there will be a day when everything changes. You know what everyday it is changing. How do you think we got the language we are at today. Listen to old English or modern English and see if you can understand half the things that were said. It will be funny to come back in the year 3000 and see what has changed and if we can understand anything.
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This 'loss' may not be as significant as the disaster in Haiti, as you say, but it is in its own way tragic. This woman was part of a tribe that lived in a specific region for 65,000 years. A simple reflection on how amazingly long that time period is reveals how important this loss of language truly is. The ancient people of this tribe created a culture and a language that survived for a time period most of us probably can't comprehend. The English language hasn't even been in America for 1,000 years yet. Truly a beautiful song, and thanks to technology perhaps we can save little pieces of cultures we before would not have had the ability to, and share it with the world.
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As ignorant as it sounds the death of the Bo language doesn’t affect me as much it dose Sam Richards and many others. It is a tragedy that we will never know the secrets of the “great” Bo tribe but life must go on. Civilizations have come and gone on this planet and will continue. I guess you could blame globalization but it is a process that will continue to prosper. The larger and predominant civilizations will prosper as small ones like the tribes in the article will die off. Globalization shouldn’t be the main culprit though since it is an inevitable way of life. As countries continue to grow they will expand across the world and bring with them their language and customs. Since some small civilizations didn’t develop as fast as others they went by the way side and remained to themselves. There is nothing wrong with that but it is a death sentence for their language and culture.
The world is a giant place with many things yet to be discovered. The article stated that over 80% of plant and animal species and 80% of languages are yet to be documented. For those who want to preserve these languages it gives them hope. It will be hard to find these lost people before they die off but I guess it is worth it.
I have nothing against these endangered languages or people but they aren’t on the top of my list of things to worry about right now. My statements earlier might come across as ignorant but that might be due to my status as an American citizen. My country is one of the largest in the world. My language, English, is one of the most common languages spoken on the planet. Why should I worry about these small tribes and their dying languages then? I guess I am not as passionate for others as I thought I was.
In the distant future the English language will become endangered and extinct and I am fine with that. If I was alive when this happened it might be a different story. Like the member of the Chemehuevi tribe I have deep pride in my language and culture. It is sad to see how he is the last member of his tribe to speak his language. On the other hand people in his tribe are deciding not to learn it. This may be due to the lack of initiative to learn it or because they conformed to English.
It is a tragedy that there will be languages and cultures in the world we will never get to know or understand. We cannot blame ourselves that we never made an effort to find them though. In this globalized time only the most popular cultures will survive, as the weak will die.
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This article really opened my eyes and made me think about how many languages there really are in the world. I always knew about the common ones that I always heard talked about and that are taught in colleges and high schools. However, I never really stopped to think about the thousands and thousands of languages that there are all across the country. It is mind boggling to think how many different ways there are to say simple words like "hello" or "yes". In a way it is kind of upsetting that some of these languages are going to be completely forgotten about in a few years. That language people used to once use to communicate with each other and now, a few years later there is not one living person that knows or is able to talk that language.
This also makes me wonder if eventually in a few centuries all of the other languages will become extinct and there will only be one language left in the world and everyone in the world with talk and write the same language. In a way this would probably be easier because everyone would be able to speak and write the same language and understand each other. This would eliminate the need for translators. It would be interesting to be able to travel to other countries and understand all of the signs and be able to communicate with the native people of the country. However, in a way I also think this would be a bad thing because one of the most unique things about the world is how everyone is so different and the variety that we have. Of course we would still be able to express our different cultures with clothing, food, and traditions but i feel like language is a huge part of a person's culture. And also I think that being bi or tri lingual helps expand people's minds expand, so if we all taught the same language then we would not have these opportunities.
Personally, I am not sure what we can do to prevent other languages from becoming extinct. Hopefully some people will hear about this and realize how important it is to pass down their languages to their younger generations especially if their language is in danger of becoming extinct. It is important for those people to teach their children their language so they can teach it to their children and so on. They could also create books to teach others their language after they have passed on.I do not necessarily know if it is the government’s responsibility to take control over this issue. The only thing that the government could do is to send people to the countries where endangered languages are being spoken and get those native people to teach the government sent people their language. However, I think it is better for people to pass on the tradition of their language to their own relatives or family members.
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I think that it is quite a tragic thing when a language “dies”. I really wish that it never happened, just because I think that languages are really fascinating in general. I have a friend from India, and he can speak five dialects native to his region of India. It’s really amazing to me when people can speak multiple languages also, just because that’s so much information in your brain – I never was able to conjugate French verbs properly, so when other people can do technical things with languages that may or may not be related at all, I am amazed at their linguistic skills.
There is so much culture that is lost when a language dies. It’s culture that we can never hope to regain. Once something dies, it’s pretty hard to revive it.
The thing that makes me the most upset about the whole concept of language “death” is that they didn’t really have to die at all. Regarding the Bo language, I suppose that there was a limited number of people who were even around that had the capacity to learn it. But when I think about the Chemehuevi language, I feel as though people just didn’t put the time and the effort into learning something very central to their ethnic and cultural heritage. Granted, learning a language is not something that is easy to do, but things that are bigger than ourselves, such as cultural pride and responsibility to your people, make us work harder.
When I was thinking about the Chemehuevi language and others that are in danger of dying, I thought that perhaps anyone could just express an interest and go learn the language from the oldest speakers of it. I suppose that then, the problem is that if I were to do that as myself, a young white upper-middle class American of Irish heritage, I have no ties to the culture whose language that I would be learning anyway. I know that some things can be extremely sacred in other cultures, and language could quite possibly be one of those sacred things. Letting an outsider in just to learn the native language of a people strikes me as insulting in a number of ways. The act of passing on a language to another person is not usually a task that is academic. It is traditional, it is cultural, it is full of the history and the story of the ancestors that you have never seen. To bring in a language expert to learn and note all the aspects of a language, to have the elders and last speakers take the time to teach the outsider the language, and then to have the language and its’ semantics filed away in a leather bound reference book just seems extremely disrespectful.
I have to say that some languages just don’t seem modern enough to feasibly exist in the world as it is today. Ancient indigenous languages do not have words for “computer” or “batteries” or “microwave oven”. While, in their corners of the world, words such as these have no meaning or purpose, modern day requires a certain vocabulary. I’m not sure that it would be possible to even invent words in some languages, but I think that perhaps we can attribute some aspect of their “death” to the words in the language itself. I wish that such a thing were not true, since I think some types of progression in society are unnecessary, and I’m not even sure that a larger vocabulary could solve the problems of dying languages.
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Let me start off by saying that it is sad that languages are dying and becoming “extinct.” I understand that languages are windows into a people’s culture and history. However, I believe it is a natural occurrence. Only the “strong” languages survive, which are those used most often and by the greatest number of people. It is depressing because the small tribes that have these unique languages have been around for a long time, and much of their culture and heritage will cease to exist when nobody can speak the language anymore.
I must point out that the purpose of language is to communicate with other humans. Although history may be lost, the human race will still be able to communicate when these languages are gone. I understand that some are family or tribe traditions, yet I believe it is better if more people know one language. I also see the blatant problems with this. First, no one would be able to agree which language to make universal, and also many people would be unable to learn a new language because they are older or unwillingly. It would also make life much more boring. I know most languages reflect a country’s culture and it would be a great loss to lose what can be described as an artwork. Therefore, human interests in the arts overcome what seems like practicality.
Many times in lecture Sam Richards jokingly states that he is not concerned about select issues because he is going to die. We all are. It is natural and no human has ever defeated death. Languages are created by humans and only live as long as the humans who want to know and teach them live. As a human, we only have around 80 years to live. We should be more concerned about other pressing issues, such as the environment and helping those who are hungry and homeless. We have many problems in our world today that we need to focus on. Although it is unfortunate that the languages are dying, so are rainforests filled with soon to be extinct species. There are so many languages in the world today that it seems impossible to save them all, as other humans have to be willing to learn them and teach them to others. These humans, if any, will most likely be ancestors of the people who speak the language. However, many cases may be like that of Johnny Hill, in which he is able and willing to teach yet no one is “willing to do the work.” Can we really blame them? Who are they going to speak the language with?
In the end, I believe that we are losing parts of culture when we lose languages. However, I do believe it is as natural as death. I also know there are more pressing issues that we have to worry about.
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First off, I never would have imagined that this article would have made as upset as it did. It truly hit me in a way that was totally unexpected, but I guess that is the kind of reaction that you should get after thinking about how tragic this event really is? Living in a world that is so intertwined you forget that there are places in the world that are not touched by the American culture. Having been born here and have lived in the United States for my entire life; I do find that I forget that there is another whole world out beyond the borders of our country. Too make the world even smaller I sometimes feel that being at Penn State your world shrinks even more. Even though it is a University, it is so easy to get caught up in “college life.” Being able to walk everywhere, and having your meals made for you; it is easy to get caught up in a Penn State bubble. Thus forgetting that there is a whole world that is working around you in order to survive.
I had no idea that there are 7,000 plus languages, and so many of them are in danger of extinction. The fact that by the time my classmates and I die there will be less then a half is devastating. When these languages go so does their culture. The world loses so much intellect and history. How as fellow human beings can we let this happen? Specifically, within the article they talk about the Bo language, and how the last living speaker passed on last week. Boa Sr was the last speaker of the 70,000-year language, and just like that it is gone. Humans have encoded their “genius” in language; it is rare that they utilize tablets/writing as often as they use language.
Living in a world that is so globalized I think that is why different languages get over looked. It is a horrible loss, but my take on it is that the different cultures are always moving toward being the best. They want to speak the most superior language in order to get ahead in society. I think also people, myself included; overlook how language is the true key to understanding different cultures. Thus by losing the language, we additionally lose all of that culture and what insights it includes. My hope is that much like endangered animals societies take an interest in trying to preserve these languages. I had no idea that his was occurring, so I can only imagine how many other people have no idea that this is happening. After listening to Boa Sr singing some of the last her last songs. I realized that this was not only some of her last words, but rather it was some of the last words ever spoken in the Bo language forever, it hit me how devastating this is for the entire world. No other human being in the course of the Earth will ever again speak the Bo language and take part in that culture.
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It is very shocking to see how a language can just all the sudden become extinct. We take for granted everyday the value of our own language. I cannot imagine what it would be like to not be able to communicate with anyone. How would the world function? We have so many different languages in this world and it is very refreshing when someone can speak your own language and you can communicate with them. Going over to another country and not being able to speak their language is a very upsetting thing. You just want to talk to the locals but you cannot because you do not even understand what they are saying to you and they do not understand what you are saying to them. It is very disheartening to hear that Johnny Jill Jr. cannot even communicate with other people. He is only one who can speak his language and he must speak to himself? I cannot even begin to imagine only speaking to myself. People love to talk to people; it is almost a type of therapy for many people.
There have probably been a lot of languages that have disappeared throughout history. If you think about the first settlers in the country, many of their languages have probably faded and disappeared throughout the years. Languages cannot continue to be lost. Different cultures need to pass down their languages and heritages so that their cultures are not left behind anymore. However, like Johnny said, people do not care about learning the language when it actually comes time to learn it.” I completely understand where Johnny is coming from when he made this statement. My parents are one hundred percent Albanian and speak it fluently. Growing up, I always said how I wanted to learn the language because it was so fascinating. My grandfather was thrilled because none of his children had cared to learn the language and he could not speak the language with anyone else but my grandfather. Well I am now 22 years old and still do not know the language. I never took the time to learn the language just like Johnny had said. My grandfather is now eighty-five years old and my grandmother has passed away. He is the only one in my family who can speak this language and he probably will be the only one who ever will. It is very sad to think that when he passes, that language will more then likely never be spoken/heard again in my family. This is all because we never took the time to pass our culture along. Now, the language did not die out completely because there is a whole country that speaks the Albanian language, however this is just a mere example of how languages are dying.
It is very sad to see languages fade away forever, but unfortunately it is a way of life. Languages die out because people die and do not pass them along. It is impossible to save all these languages that are dying out. We just have to accept the fact that this is the way of life.
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Sadly, this is not the first article I have read about a disappearing language. It's a shocking reality that can have either a profound effect, or no effect at all on the average person. Most languages that are disappearing are small, tribal, indigenous languages spoken by a few thousand people at most. Therefore, it is likely that the average citizen will have never have learned of this tribal language before, thus a disappearance of this sorts is meaningless. Personally, I am minoring in Spanish and last semester, I took a linguistics class. For the first time in all my years of learning Spanish, I had to learn the ins and outs of how people acquire languages, how they are formed, and how they vary from region to region. Of course, all this information was specific to Spanish, but it made me realize that the process of language acquisition is very different depending on where you are from in the world. I am not only speaking of just dialects, but entire languages that are different (with similar characteristics to a mother language i.e. Spanish, or in this article, Indian). This knowledge leads me to believe that these languages may be able to be somewhat revived, reformed, or newly created in later years when geographic specific dialects turn into languages of their own.
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By Chelsea Dolchin
Forgive me for being insensitive but can you imagine being the last person alive to speak your language. If you live in a remote enough location you may not even know you are the last. How do you communicate? I guess it always pays to keep a spare language handy, just in case.
As our world society “progresses” it is inevitable that little used traditions and customs will be lost forever. I choose not to be sentimental about what we are losing but rather embrace our new abilities in communication. Through modalities such as television and computers the rural and under inhabited areas of the world are now being brought into the mainstream of the world society. To the extent that languages are little used and eventually disappear, so be it. If a language is not being used maybe there is a reason. Perhaps a more widely used language better achieves the purposes of communication. I know that there is a scholar of defunct languages somewhere who would disagree with me and as an academic pursuit I applaud that person’s interest in history. As a means of communication, who cares?
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Forgive me for being insensitive but can you imagine being the last person alive to speak your language. If you live in a remote enough location you may not even know you are the last. How do you communicate? I guess it always pays to keep a spare language handy, just in case.
As our world society “progresses” it is inevitable that little used traditions and customs will be lost forever. I choose not to be sentimental about what we are losing but rather embrace our new abilities in communication. Through modalities such as television and computers the rural and under inhabited areas of the world are now being brought into the mainstream of the world society. To the extent that languages are little used and eventually disappear, so be it. If a language is not being used maybe there is a reason. Perhaps a more widely used language better achieves the purposes of communication. I know that there is a scholar of defunct languages somewhere who would disagree with me and as an academic pursuit I applaud that person’s interest in history. As a means of communication, who cares?
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Wow, I never really though about a language coming to an end. I always thought about how different generations used different words than how we would today, but I never thought about a language completely coming to an end. I never gave the time or effort to think about how languages and obviously do not appreciate communication enough. Communication to me was always just assumed to be natural, always existent, and normal to everyone. I understand there are numerous different languages in the world today, as Sam said there are 7000. I have always wanted to learn a new language and I am trying to learn Italian now. It is extremely difficult to learn another language and understand everything. Languages affect everyone and helps form their culture. This article was very interesting to see how lives are affected and how people's entire culture seems like it comes to an end if a language dies.
I always thought about how the first words were spoken, how languages were formed, who started them, and how they evolved so much. I can't imagine having the English language come to an end after such a long period of time. We use communication for everything in the world today, reading signs on a street, talking to each other, writing, and even hand gestures to communicate with others. It is unbelievable that amount of things we do today to communicate. Technology has even expanded to allow communication across the world within split seconds. Its amazing to see how the world has evolved today.
This woman from an old tribe had a communication that a large group of people spoke. They used to it everyday to talk to each other, they used it to communicate how to get food, and to form relationships. It was everyday use and completely normal for them. It was an important factor to all of the people in their tribe and took time to learn, appreciate, and understand the language. It may be complicated to others, but was one of the largest factors in their lives.
She was the last living person who spoke her tribe's language. The tribe has stories, tales, history, and memories that no one will ever be able to understand because of the difference in language and the fact that there is no one left that speaks this language. This woman experienced the tsunami, lived to tell the story, and had her experience recorded. It is the last information of her tribe and her memories. It is amazing that she got to share her experience and have her language at least be recorded, so people in the future can listen and experience her memories. It is a terrible tragedy that her language is not lost. It will not be forgotten by people close to her and will still be made in history.
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This is rather shocking to me. I have never considered the fact that languages can die off. I do realize that the language of Native Americans is slowly dying. The documentation of these languages is essential. Language is not just a form of communication, but rather, it embodies a culture. Without documentation of these languages, we will lose a part of our history. We take for granted things like the Rosetta Stone that linked languages of the world together. No one will understand these words again and it is sad to think we will lose much information from this. A huge part of these peoples’ roots are now lost forever. I think it is fantastic that this woman could even remember the language after all the other speakers had died off. As a fluent speaker of 2 languages and semi-fluent speaker of another, I could not imagine a life without my language. I love the heritage my family adds to our language, our slang. Languages are both beautiful and miraculous.
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I never thought about losing an entire language. I agree that language is something that also represents a culture. Therefore, when a language vanishes, an entire culture vanishes as well.
I never really thought a language could actually just die out all together. For example, even though Latin is considered a “dead language”, we still have records of it being used, and also know the meanings of Latin words.
This post by Sam really had me thinking about something. If there is just one person left in the world who speaks a certain language, and that person dies, then the language dies as well. However, before death, how did that person communicate? Was she alone in the world because no one else knew her language?
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I was once told that “language is your identity—it defines you”. “Language has power”. At first it didn’t hit me as much; I didn’t take the time to think about what was behind this message or the meaning of it. Now That I saw this video about a language disappearing forever with the last speaker who I hope her soul is in a better place at peace, including approximately 7,000 other languages that are also supposed to disappear eventually. I Think I understand what the message was, I mean through out your language you get to tell stories about your ancestors, stories about how it started and where it came from, learn about your cultures and traditions, just the value of it, and at the end you just see that it defines YOU; who your are. I believe that this lady should be seen or taken as a “monument, a living legend.” In other words she held the key to the last generation of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands. As a matter of fact, every last survivor of an ancient language or tribe should be recognized just like the statues or should I say treasure that was left behind by our ancestors and are now placed in Museums for people to learn the stories about them. Don’t get me wrong… I am not saying to put her body there, I am just saying to recognize these legends because they were part of history, part of this world of ours, they started things and left them for every next generation to follow up and finish what they started. I wonder how were they able to translate what the old lady was saying if she was the last and only person who spoke that language? It’s amazing how they were able to tape her like they knew she was going to die soon. How did people understand what she wanted? Why didn’t people around her try to learn her language? Just so many questions running through my mind. I admit that it is very sad that people don’t take things like this too seriously. This is how we lose our identity. Now I understand why at first when my sisters and I didn’t understand nor talked our father’s language (Malinke) a language from Guinea, Conakry in West Africa; it hurt my grandmother so bad, because she felt like the values and the traditions were not being passed down to her descendants, and that is a horrible feeling to see something you value so much fade away. I mean my sisters and I eventually learned the language but I feel like it’s not the same, there is more behind it, more about the history and only my great, great ancestors would be the ones to best explain them because all my Grandmother and father have been doing is telling us things that they were told, but the thing is that you never know if they are adding things just to make it interesting or if they forgot something. So I guess at the end, even if the last speaker of a language still exists, the value of the language still vanishes little by little as the years go by and new generations come. But we need to take it into consideration that this is a serious matter that we need to focus more on.
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I am still having a hard time dealing with the fact of death. I am pretty terrified by the idea that when I die I will be forgotten, that my purpose on this earth was just as insignificant as the next person’s. I cannot possibly imagine that on top of the fact of dying and being forgotten, having an entire language die right along with you. It is almost too much to think about. That language was spoken for thousands of years. So many families and communities were built on top of that dialect, and with the death of one person, it ceases to exist. So many memories are trapped in those words; so much history was made with the movement of their tongues. It almost makes me angry that no one else in that elderly lady’s community bothered to learn the language. Maybe their lack of resources failed to let them know that she was the last speaker, or maybe they just do not realize the impact of dying languages around the world.
I really had no idea how many languages there actually are in the world. I never gave much thought to it, but hearing that in just a short amount of time over 7,000 languages will die, it really was a shocker. This fact is sad, for all the reasons I already mentioned, but one must think that with the dying of old language there is birth of new languages. Granted, I do not think that 7,000 new languages will emerge anytime soon but I do not believe the world is meshing and conforming into one big blob of people. Therefore, I think new communities will be built, new tribes will form, and new languages will emerge. Maybe that is just wishful thinking but it seems to make sense. Every community is unique and I just do not like the idea of different customs, traditions and beliefs to be lost. That probably roots back to my fear of being forgotten, so I do not want others to be forgotten either.
This lady who recently died, and took her language with her, will not immediately be forgotten. I am sure her name will be written down in some books or buried in the depths of the internet, but soon enough her actual being will be forgotten. Yes, she made history by outliving everyone else who spoke her language, but soon her mannerisms, her quirks, her habits…all of that will be lost into the same abyss that her language vanished to. It sucks to over think things, because in reality I really do not believe any of us have a so-called “purpose.” We are here and that is that.
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I've never thought about a language actually dying out. I also had no clue that there were over seven thousand languages on the planet, so I kind of feel a little ignorant. At first it did not really strike me as odd, but after thinking about the concept of the language of English dying out, it kind of hit home. This was not just a language, this was an entire culture that has just been leveled. The descendants of these people will know that their ancestors spoke a language that is completely unbeknownst to them. That would be an awful feeling, to be disconnected to a grandmother or even mother. I remember when my family sat me down years ago to show me our family tree. I was completely annoyed and disgusted and just wanted to get back to my video games and instant messaging. But, soon after and especially now I am so glad my parents took time to show me the people who have come before me, and also where I fit on that family tree. When I extend that tree I will be sure to teach my kids there heritage, and this video on reenforces that feeling in me.
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History is our ability to know what has happened before our time and how we can interpret what may or may not happen in the future. Every family, place, and human being on Earth is part of history. Whether it be a country’s history, a family history, or different cultural history we have all been shaped and molded a certain way because of those that have come before us. The world has lost a piece of history with the death of Boa Sr. Language and writing are two abilities that human beings have that make us so different from every other living thing in this world. These two abilities allows us to communicate with one another, They allow us to write down our history and to record everything that we have seen, everything that we have learned, and everything that we wish and want to pass on. The death of Boa Sr. is very sad because we no longer can tap into an ancient language that lasted for more than 65,000 years. We can no longer hear firsthand what this language sounds like, where it originated from and talk to the people that use this language everyday to talk with one another. It is tragic to know this because it is a reality that all things come to an end at some point in time in history. I feel this is a sign that we as human beings must live and learn to cherish life and the various cultures of people that are around us.
With the death of this woman, we not only lose a language, but we lose an entire people. We lose this history. This is a scary thought because everyone wants to leave a legacy on this Earth and to be remembered after they die. This woman, her culture, her language, and her people are forever lost. It is up to us as human beings to try to preserve the cultures and history that we have left. After viewing that video, the reality that this is the last time we will ever hear this woman’s voice and her tribe’s words became apparent and real. It was as if I was listening to a ghost. It leads me to wonder how much longer do we all have left? How much longer do we all have until our culture dies out, until our people are lost, until our history may not be able to be found again? We must preserve and cherish the lives around us. We must cherish those who have come before us and teach those who are to come after us. This is imperative we are the holders and keepers of all that we have done up to now. I think that preservation will make us better people who respect one another, but also more culturally aware and respectful to others.
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To be 100% honest, this doesn't stir an overwhelming amount of emotion for me… maybe it's because I'm tired, but I really don't feel one particular way about it. Don't get me wrong, it's upsetting, but how is it much more upsetting than the truths we face everyday? As Sam tells us at least once a class- we're all going to die. So how are languages any different?
What I think is sad is the dying of a culture. Surely language is an integral part of that, but language is always growing and developing, tradition doesn't change much. Unfortunately, this culture and tradition will never be lived again, outside of a textbook that is. No longer will people cook the native food of this tribe, or tell a story in the same way, or live by the exact same beliefs. This is what is really sad to me.
In addition, I mourn the loss of Boa Sr's life. She surely lived a wonderful life, but in the above picture, it looks like something is missing. She looks sad. Is it true sadness, a sense of unfulfilment, or simply me wrongly interpretting her facial expression through my tainted cultural lens? Regardless, it is the person I feel for more than the language. That probably sounds very unscholarly, but I've learned to value people more than material things. Sure people die, but as this article highlights- so do things.
In today's world, especially with the current events in Haiti, it's hard to not be brutally aware of death. Every day thousands of innocent people die. As an example, 7 children die per day from pediatric cancer in the United States. If I compare this to all of the people in the world it's an insignificant percentage, but for their families, it's everything. This, this is why a language bearing doesn't have much impact on me. Because in the time that this 65,000 year old language died, thousands of people, who mean something to someone, died.
You're probably wondering why I'm going off on this tangent. No, it's not a matter of language versus a person… I get that. What it is for me is what is more important. If I mourned the loss of everything on this planet, I'd be one chronically depressed person. However, I can't help but to be sad when I hear about some of the things that happen in our world today. For this reason, I try not to sweat the small stuff. A language dying isn't small, but it just really doesn't have any significance to me. The original language of our ancestors has surely been wiped out, and how has that affected us? We still talk, we still read, we are still intelligent. So although I thank my ancestors for developing our language, I know I wouldn't be able to converse with them today. In the case of the Bo tribe, it's highly unlikely that their language had no bearing on any other language. Therefore, a version will continue to live on, and that is all that REALLY matters. Actually, does that even really matter?
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I’m having a mixed reaction towards the loss of languages. My first reaction was sadness. It is sad to lose anything, but especially something like language. Language is very sacred to people. Primarily because it brings people together and is the basis of love and bonding. These dieing languages are the languages of the people’s childhoods and memories. I would imagine they feel as if their memories are dieing alongside with their language. I can not even imagine what it would be like to lose my language. There has to be a great feeling of tragedy and disconnection from the rest of society. The BBC article talked about the Johnny Hill Jr. learning English as a path away from isolation but now, isolation is exactly what he feels. I am slight confused about this specific circumstance. Was he the only child of his generation in his family’s tribe? How could he have possibly been the only member of his generation to learn the language? He did explain that he was always trying to teach his children his language but it never happened. I would imagine now, after filming a documentary and gaining the international media spotlight, someone out there would be more than willing to learn or at least record his language. Although I will never know the answers to these questions, I know something happened in some part of his surrounding culture that extinguished his language. If we are aware that languages throughout the world are dieing, why are people not recording them. I think it is important to have historical documentation of these languages even if no one will ever speak them again.
While I feel sad about the loss of languages, I also understand the reason why it is happening. I agree that we are living in a time of rapid social, environmental and economic transformation but there are many positive aspects to this transformation. For example mass communication has never been easier or more accessible to people ever before. Modern communication like Facebook, Twitter and text messaging has brought people together who never before would have been able to communicate. People from across the world can share stories thus spreading and sharing their culture with people throughout the world. I would have never been able to hear Boa Sr’s language if it modern communication technology like YouTube did not exist. In many ways the transformation of society is enabling people to share their culture and educate the world. Society’s transformation obviously has costs as well as benefits. Not only are we losing thousands of languages but we are risking losing other aspects of human interaction. Many of today’s forms of technology require no form of face to face interaction. I can not even imagine what society would become if we eliminated all personal interaction.
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