World's Diverse Languages And Cultures example essay topic

673 words
The Extinction of Cultures Do you know how many nations are there on our planet? There are about 15,000 nations on our planet and about 200 nation-states. You may ask what is nation-states. In fact, they are political entities, what are commonly referred to as countries. They are often made up of several or many individual nations, or different cultures. A nation is a group of people that share something in common.

Do you know what do they share? They share a common history, a common ancestry, and usually a common language and a common religion. Why do they share these common features? These common features make a group of people different from other peoples.

Each nation's people see the world and their place differently, approach problems differently, and have arrived at different solutions to global issues. Among these features, which one do you think is the most important? the unique language is used to pass the common history and traditions down to the young. When a language dies, an entire culture vanishes, because every language contains its own structure for perceiving and explaining the world. Do you know how many languages are there in the world? There are 6,000. But one half of them will likely disappear within a century as their speakers are driven off their territories and assimilated into dominant societies.

That is like species, they are in danger of extinction. What will happen to the group if their language di spears? A real possibility is that the group will die out or become absorbed by the larger dominant culture around it and the nation itself will disappear forever. what are the reasons for extinction of cultures? Among countless factors which result in this changing, there is the most significant one: the globalization.

Why? Nowadays, different languages and cultures have more chances to influence and assimilate each other along with the globalization. Consequently, prevailing languages and popular cultures gradually replace some minor dialects and traditional cultures. For example, Brazil lost 87 tribes in the first half of this century alone. And another important reason is lack of protection on the languages and cultures which are on the verge of extinction. The tribes commonly maintain strong ties to a subsistence economy.

They are descendants of hunter-gatherers, fishers, etc. Do you think they should change their life style? Then, who should be responsible for this problem? I think governments should take the responsibility. Because native peoples' homelands are being used because the governments want to gain benefit from the resources. I think the government have the ability to preserve local cultures.

But unfortunately, whenever the claim is raised, the governments of most nations argue that their limited budget should be invested on other more benefic fields, such as finance or industry. Should we care or just let it be? Put it in another way, what will be lost if a culture dies out? Cultural diversity provides a variety of worldviews and information often critical to resolving problems in another culture. The loss of any one culture robs all others of sources of knowledge and meaning. In addition, the multitude of cultures makes life on earth extremely rich and varied.

So, obviously, it will be a disaster for us to see the world's diverse languages and cultures disappear one by one. What are the possible ways to deal with the issue "extinction of cultures"? Demanding respect for basic human rights; establishing legal aid groups to exploit laws; making every one realize that US culture is not the best one. An investigation shows that many youth are more attracted to the US culture than to their own. We should remember that the world will be less wonderful if we all live in American way, although maybe we are rich at that time..