[lopmotr]

Oh no, not another save-the-language story. As with all of them, it takes for granted the assumption that it needs saving but doesn't explain why beyond "cultural heritage". Why do people need to persist the same culture as their parents and grandparents? Whatever good that does should be more than the cost of learning it and using it everywhere. Does anyone know what the good of maintaining a little-used language is?

In my country we have a similar issue except the local language was artificially revived from dead so there's no or almost no unbroken chain of native speakers. There's still debate about how some (English) letters are supposed to be pronounced. They've added useful words, then changed them to sound more authentic. Eg days of the week used to be transliterations from English but now they're references to various native Gods and things. The whole concept of a week didn't exist in the original culture so how can authentic day names exist at all?! It's a big effort with no justification.

It leads to things like this gem of nonsense in an code of practice for electrical work:

"From a Maori perspective, the term “earth” or Papatuanuku translates as Earth Mother – the source of all energy. When aligning this concept to the flow of electricity, a useful parallel can be made to the 3-pin plug."

[atlih]

Language affects our thought process, so therefore the fewer languages there are in the world the more monotone the thought process of the world. I'm not saying there's any chance of saving the languages, we will most definitely end up with only one language somewhere in the next 200 years, I'm just pointing out that there's something we'll lose along the way.

[lopmotr]

This has come up a lot but do you have any examples where it's significant?

[atlih]

Yes the best everyday example is when you start to think in another language that you have learned, you cant easily translate those thoughts in your native language. Here's an old TED talk related that has some examples and here's one quote from it:

"Two English scientists were doing an experiment to do with genetics, and the forelimbs and hindlimbs of animals but they couldn't get the results they wanted, they really didn't know what to do, until along came a German scientist, who realized they were using 2 words for forelimb and hindlimb, whereas genetics and does not differentiate, and neither does German. So, bingo, problem solved. If you can't think a thought, you are stuck. But if another language can think a thought, you can learn and achieve so much more."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCTI5tcnEok

[Bromskloss]

> Why do people need to persist the same culture as their parents and grandparents?

What if they cannot specify a logical reason, but still feel like it? Isn't that enough?

Do you never feel a joy and pride in following in your parents' footsteps, in having the same traditions as older ancestors, or in feeling the same rain, walking in the same forests, and struggling on the same Earth as many others from generations ancient and recent? It's when I do that that I see them, those who I know have lived, appear from the mist, that I may greet them, be in their midst, and know that I am one of them.

[lopmotr]

That's always available for individuals who just copy what their parents do. You don't need external effort to save a language for that. If kids can't be bothered with their parent's dialect, why not let them ignore it?

[stinkytaco]

There's historical importance to. If you lose the native speakers and writers of language, you lose the ability to read and interpret the written history of a culture. There's ancient Mediterranean civilizations we don't understand because we cannot read Linear A or Cretan.