Summary:
This article discusses changes brought about by globalized economics and media to culture around the world, reducing the number of languages that humans speak, as of July 2006. As the world economy becomes more integrated, a common language has become more important than ever to promote commerce, and that puts speakers of regional dialects and minority languages at a distinct disadvantage. The idea of saving languages is very modern. The conventional wisdom among linguists, historians and sociologists was that, if your culture and language were on the way out, their doom was assured in a globalized world. Globalized commerce and media are not necessarily the death knell for local languages, because certain trends support their preservation. Whereas one-way mass television, radio and print served to support majority languages, the current computer technology is turning the tables.
This article discusses changes brought about by globalized economics and media to culture around the world, reducing the number of languages that humans speak, as of July 2006. As the world economy becomes more integrated, a common language has become more important than ever to promote commerce, and that puts speakers of regional dialects and minority languages at a distinct disadvantage. The idea of saving languages is very modern. The conventional wisdom among linguists, historians and sociologists was that, if your culture and language were on the way out, their doom was assured in a globalized world. Globalized commerce and media are not necessarily the death knell for local languages, because certain trends support their preservation. Whereas one-way mass television, radio and print served to support majority languages, the current computer technology is turning the tables.