Digital tools 'to save languages'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17081573
It is a peculiar thing to hear that, according to scientists, what is undoubtedly corroding the English language actually has the potential to preserve languages that are on the brink of extinction-Facebook and texting. The article discusses the importance of retaining the plethora of languages that our world has to offer, as it is a large and wide spread knowledge base yet to be deciphered. Not everything that there is to know is encoded in scientific literature, therefore, much will be lost should our world's linguistic diversity deteriorate. If we should hope to continue to expand our understanding of the world we live in, then the positive side to globalization - the power to connect and provide a global voice - must be embraced.

Thats incredible to hear that something like facebook or texting would actually benefit something on a global scale like saving languages. With the rise of the Internet, along with it facebook, youtube, etc.., lots of things have been done other than just talking to people. In world war 2 when the Jews were being killed by the thousands, not many people knew about it. Hitler had managed to keep quiet these massacres. But i believe if the internet had been around in that time period like it is now, maybe there wouldn't have been so many people killed. People would have found out in a manner of hours what was happening to the jews. Like how the revolutions taking place in the east use facebook for their advantage. While their oppressors would rather keep them quiet so they could do what they want to their people, the internet has shone light onto something that was dark. This has given people the thought that they can be free like we are. So they stand up to fight and hope the world supports them; that they are no longer alone. I think that when we have grown old and frail like our parents and their parents before us, we can look back and be proud of our generation for accomplishing something that our ancestors couldn't do.

That is so true! Our world is shaped in numerous ways by the advancements in technology, the social networking aspect being a very large component. What you had to say about the uprisings and the way in which Facebook has provided a voice to the oppressed was an excellent addition to the topics discussed in the article. I find it interesting that something could be said about this topic with regards to nearly any subject (in the case of your example- social studies) because language and technology have such a dramatic influence over our lives.

It’s refreshing to hear something about globalization and social media that’s more positive. The internet and social media is blamed for many things, like reducing face-to-face communication so it’s interesting to see an opposite view. And I agree that social media is a valuable tool for some nations. To think that Facebook helped a nation start a revolution, makes what we use Facebook for kind of trivial. So while this is a great start for preserving languages, we definitely won’t be able to save all of them. And if you were to learn an engendered language, you wouldn’t really have much use for it, because if you live in Canada and the 50 other speakers live in say South America, who would you speak to? I mean short of travelling to South America and speaking to them, there isn’t much to do with what you’ve learned. Some might argue that perhaps that energy and time should be put into learning a more common language, like Spanish or Chinese. These languages seem to be growing so rapidly that in about 50 years or so, they could become the most spoken languages around the world. I know that suggestion kind of defeats the purpose of these digital dictionaries of endangered languages but that’s basically the reality we live in now. Can we really stop that prediction just by having the ability to learn languages that are currently endangered?