"Language and culture are interdependent. It has long been understood that language is the verbal expression of culture. It is the medium through which culture is carried and transferred. Stories, songs and the nuanced meaning of words contain the key to understanding one’s world and one’s part within it. Strong culture gives the individual a sense of belonging to people and places. For this reason, language and culture are deeply interconnected and core parts of one’s identity."
Credit: human rights resources of the Australian government, 2009 social justice report
According to National Geographic, "every two weeks a language dies with its last speaker, 50 to 90 percent of them are predicted to disappear by the next century."
Preservation of one own language has helped the native populations of the world in numerous ways. It has been shown to improve health as seen with the indigenous peoples of Australia, cognitive functioning as shown by the research done on bilingual kids in the United States, increased employment opportunities as shown with the indigenous population of Australia possessing cultural knowledge of the local biodiversity.
We've come up with a few ideas on how local governments around the world might protect endangered indigenous languages. We believe that giving national attention to an endangered language is the most important thing a government can do for it.
The second most important thing is to promote the use of critically endangered languages in order to preserve and expand their use in everyday life as much as possible. When the government meets with Indigenous populations in places where et languages are fully spoken and handed on, it must ensure that these languages are acknowledged.
To the extent that the current language environment permits, the government should assist in the restoration of infrequently spoken or unspoken ethnic languages. Support for ethnic language teaching and learning in local schools will also have a significant impact on how successfully it is preserved.
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