Language: identity or seperation.

Should we care about languages dying out? This is the toughest question posted because I believe very strongly in both sides of the argument....naturally, culture loses it's flare when it loses it's language, and often translations just don't do the trick, but the loss of language has been a part of evolution since day 1. A language is never fully lost, rather it is infused with the more common language and adds on to something greater. Language almost seems quite novel to me, it's cute and maintain aspects of culture, but is it worth all the problems it causes. As we continually strive for peace and unity, why are we so caught up on maintaining something that sets us all a part. Language is (obviously) at the heart of most communication issues and has been used for CENTURIES as an excuse to persecute and oppress. I know the past is very important to some people, but just because the past is important, doesn't mean it you have to keep it going in order to maintain it's importance.

I know I probably sound pretty cynical but to me, purposefully maintaining a language seems a lot like collecting. As a child most kids collected something, beenie babies , baseball cards, pez machines, whatever. It is novel and is a symbol of your childhood or your past. There has to come a time though when, however tempting that new pez machine is, you just have to stop collecting. Language is a great tool of the past and of culture, but culture doesn't die when a language does. At the base of it, people communicate on a far more basic level then language. Be it body gestures, expresssions or through creativity. Language is just a tool to express the human mood, but can be expressed in any language.

When a language dies, it's that moment when you realize you can no longer collect ad hold on to the past, but you must move forward. In doing so, another culture, and a greater unity is formed and built upon. It is just another phase in the evolutionary process. And it brings people closer and closer together.