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Dying Languages Essay

Dying languages essays have appeared in the IELTS test on several occasions.

This is about the way that more and more people are speaking the same language, those more relevant to a globalised world, such as English and Chinese.

This means other minority languages, perhaps spoken by only a relatively small number of people, may be dying out.

Dying Languages Essay Sample

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Languages are dying out all the time. The result of this is a world with fewer languages. This is a good thing for people everywhere.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer

There are thousands of languages in the world today. Some of them are strong languages spoken by many millions of people, while others are spoken by smaller groups of people, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. As languages die, benefits accrue to human society, but also drawbacks. It is certainly not advantageous for everybody everywhere.

From a practical point of view, having fewer languages can lead to greater ease in communication. This is because when people share a language, then information and ideas can flow more easily, which is of utmost importance in a globalised world. In addition, there is an economic advantage, or economies of scale, since information can be presented in written form in greater bulk, meaning there is no need for translations, which can be costly. Thus, internationally, the flow of ideas and information is facilitated through the common language.

There is another side, though. First of all, those who have lost a language have also lost a culture, a way of expressing themselves, and a way of understanding the world and their experience of the world. They will never be able to express themselves fully in their new language. Secondly, the quality of communication in the common language is limited. The reason for this is that people are writing and reading in an acquired language, not the mother tongue. Also, this acquired language may simply be unable to express some of the culturally-bound ideas of the non-native speaker.

In brief, then, language death is a tragedy. Those whose language dies lose part of their identity, and a way to give expression to their deep thoughts and feelings. For the rest of the world, there is a loss of diversity. Along with the language, a whole culture and way of expressing this culture die. Things of deep human value that could be expressed before are now silenced.

(309 Words)

The dying languages essay would get a high band score as it fully answers the question, discussing both sides of the issue (though you can discuss one side).

It's well organised into paragraphs, and the arguments are logical and easy to follow.

There are good examples of high level vocabulary and grammar and there are no errors.

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1,500 endangered languages could disappear by the end of the century

language society words diversity inclusion mobility education english chinese mandarin hindi spanish arabic japanese portuguese bengali

With 1,500 languages at risk of being lost, how can we help preserve them? Image: Unsplash/Towfiqu barbhuiya

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Around 1,500 known languages may no longer be spoken by the end of this century.
Current levels of language loss could triple in the next 40 years.
Greater education and mobility marginalize some minor languages.
One language per month could disappear, without intervention.

There are 7,000 documented languages currently spoken across the world, but half of them could be endangered , according to a new study. It is predicted that 1,500 known languages may no longer be spoken by the end of this century. Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) analyzed thousands of languages to identify factors that put endangered ones at risk. The findings highlight a link between higher levels of schooling and language loss, as regionally dominant languages taught in class often overshadow indigenous tongues.

Have you read?

Ranked: the countries with the most linguistic diversity, besides english and spanish, which language do you think is the most commonly spoken in the u.s., why do bilingual speakers find switching languages so easy neuroscience has the answer.

A second factor exacerbating the threat to endangered languages is the density of roads in an area. While contact with other languages can help preserve indigenous ones, exposure to the wider world may not.

“We found that the more roads there are, connecting country to city, and villages to towns, the higher the risk of languages being endangered. It’s as if roads are helping dominant languages ‘steam roll’ over other smaller languages,” said Professor Lindell Bronham, co-author of the study.

Lost language diversity

The factors identified by the study could help explain why just a handful of languages dominate global communication.

language society words diversity inclusion mobility education english chinese mandarin hindi spanish arabic

Mandarin Chinese has the most native speakers, which is unsurprising given China’s huge population, but English is the world’s most widely used language with around 1.35 billion speakers. The study, published in Nature, Ecology and Evolution , shows the extent to which the world’s language diversity is under threat. It estimates the equivalent of one language is currently lost within every three-month period. But levels of language loss could actually triple in the next 40 years, with at least one language per month disappearing unless measures are taken. “When a language is lost or is ‘sleeping’ as we say for languages that are no longer spoken, we lose so much of our human cultural diversity,” said Professor Bromham.

“Many of the languages predicted to be lost this century still have fluent speakers, so there is still the chance to invest in supporting communities to revitalize indigenous languages and keep them strong for future generations.”

Can technology help save indigenous languages?

While past studies have blamed the digital realm for causing the demise of some indigenous dialects - by focusing attention on a few major languages at the expense of smaller ones - today’s tech-entwined world could hold a solution. There are Internet sites and apps aplenty to help new speakers learn languages like Spanish, English and Mandarin, but these now extend to specialist apps designed to teach endangered languages or help preserve them. Ma! Iwaidja, for example, is an app that enables those working with speakers of the Iwaidja indigenous Australian language to record words, phrases and translations. It also contains a dictionary and a word maker to help users tackle grammar and syntax.

Another initiative is the Rosetta Project , a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to build an open-access digital library of human languages. The collection contains around 100,000 pages of documents and recordings for more than 2,500 languages microscopically etched on nickel disks for long-term storage. The project draws attention to the “drastic and accelerated loss of the world’s languages” and could help preserve many endangered and “sleeping” languages for future generations.

The UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL2022-2032) , which begins this year, also aims to engage the global community with the critical issue of language loss.

The 10-year initiative continues the work of the UN’s 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages. As part of its Global Action Plan, IDIL2022-2032, it is creating a network of international stakeholders focused on protecting the rights of indigenous people to revitalize and preserve their languages.

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle inequity.

The Forum's work on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Social Justice is driven by the New Economy and Society Platform, which is focused on building prosperous, inclusive and just economies and societies. In addition to its work on economic growth, revival and transformation, work, wages and job creation, and education, skills and learning, the Platform takes an integrated and holistic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, and aims to tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity.

The Platform produces data, standards and insights, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit , and drives or supports action initiatives, such as Partnering for Racial Justice in Business , The Valuable 500 – Closing the Disability Inclusion Gap , Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work , Closing the Gender Gap Country Accelerators , the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality , the Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers and the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice .

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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