lascocks:

wokandroll:

nishlo:

whoobin:

madblackgirl:

so when we gonna talk about how western imperialism and colonialism plays an extremely large role in this

Hawaiian language was almost extinct because America made it a law to cut all Hawaiian language from public school when they illegally annexed Hawaii and thus making Hawaiian parents feel their children won’t make it in the world so they stopped speaking Hawaiian to their kids and forbid them to learn it (giving spankings if heard at home etc) and making English the default language. 

wait but wouldnt it be good if all the world spoke just one language?

short answer: no. there are so many nuances and differences in language (see how there often is no direct translation) that something would be lost if we all spoke the same one. you can’t ignore the cultural ties either wtf.

My aunt and uncle co-direct linguistlist.org and basically went around the world documenting dying languages before they actually go extinct. Like, they would actually talk to the elders of cultures who were the last remaining people to speak a particular dialect of a language and get as much information as possible.

So yeah lots of languages are dying off.

A language is not just a way to communicate. It’s a unique perspective on the human condition. It’s a way of describing the world that can never be duplicated.