It makes you a fuller human being, seeing the world from as many perspectives as possible. In the chart to the right, look at the top six languages spoken in the world today. The world has approximately 6 billion inhabitants. Estimate what proportion of them speak English. Total the number of people who speak the top six languages.
Experts differ about the best way to handle dying languages.
Some believe that language extinction is a natural occurrence and should be allowed to happen. Others believe that moribund languages should be documented while they exist and that as much data as possible should be recorded. A third possibility is interfering to stop a language from dying. These kids are going to be parenting the next generation of speakers. In other words, there must be a genuine interest on the part of the native speakers, their families and communities, in preserving their languages.