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Farrukh Yakubov

Student, Purdue University

TEDCRED 50+
TED TranslatorAssociate

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What is the language of the future?

Do you think that single language will dominate in the future? If yes, which language can you think of? If no, why? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Topics: future language people
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    Matias Gurmandi 30+

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    TED TranslatorAssociate
    Jul 8 2011: I think it is sad that we are losing so many languages at such a fast rate. According to UNESCO, each month a new language is lost on Earth never to be spoken again, leading to a huge cultural loss. Efforts should be made in order to keep them alive, and natives who speak them in contact with their cultural roots. An example of this is Bolivia, which has made official languages the 37 native languages spoken all along the country. Wether this will succeed to help them linger or not, we will see.
    However, I also think English is loosing ground as the dominant languages as people from different ethnic groups thrive on different areas.
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      Muhammad Aizat Zainal Alam 30+

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      TED Translator
      Jul 9 2011: Very very true.I think we all need to take the Kiwi's as an example on how to conserve one's native language.By the 1980's the number of Maori speakers was not more than 20% of the community.

      "By the 1980s Māori leaders began to recognize the dangers of the loss of their language and initiated Māori-language recovery-programs such as the Kōhanga Reo movement, which from 1982 immersed infants in Māori from infancy to school age. There followed in the later 1980s the founding of the Kura Kaupapa Māori, a primary-school programme in Māori." - Wikipedia
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        Matias Gurmandi 30+

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        TED TranslatorAssociate
        Jul 9 2011: Of course, New Zealanders are an excellent example to follow too. You can easily learn from them that holding on to your roots provides the country with a very strong sense of identity.
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        Matias Gurmandi 30+

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        TED TranslatorAssociate
        Jul 20 2011: Dear Muhammad, I'm sorry it took me so long to answer your question, but I had not noticed your answer until now. I am from Argentina indeed. Yet we didn't have a single ruling tribe before the Spaniards arrive, so there was not just one single language, but rather lots of languages and dialects depending on the region. When the conquerors came, they impossed Spanish and slaughtered most of the small tribes. Only the languages from the biggest tribes have survived, mainly Quechua (the language of the Incas) in the North, Guarani (from Paraguayan tribes) in the Northeast, and very little Mapuche in Patagonia. We are seeing some efforts today to teach these languages and save them from extintion, and I sincerely hope they succeed.

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