Languages go extinct when major languages such as English, Spanish or Mandarin dominate global communication. Often, languages disappear for more morbid reasons, when the population of native speakers also dies out. This can be due to colonization or genocide, or when new generations aren't taught a language due to societal pressures. But when a language dies, so does the history and culture behind it. Languages are conduits of human heritage. While there is inevitable miscommunication in translating any language, historical artifacts in a dead language are harder to understand, as well as forms of art and science in that language.
While linguists can try to preserve a language by documenting information about that language and encouraging more people to learn said language, I find these efforts are futile. With modernization, I think preserving a language can only be done within its community of native speakers. We can make dictionaries and translate oral stories, but language is an interpretation of human behavior and emotion, and only given life when spoken within a community.
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The extinction of languages is incredibly real and terrifying to consider, especially because so much inherent culture is associated with language. I loved the line "Languages are conduits of human heritage," because it is so accurate and certainly is associated with regional communities and ecosystems.
Thanks for sharing.
"Languages are conduits of human heritage", I couldn't agree more Danna. That is why I think learning languages, especially those often overlooked, is so important. I realized the importance of language firsthand when I traveled to Ethiopia and I saw diaspora children there on vacation not be able to communicate with their grandparents or even the cousins their age. That's why your argument that the preservation of language will only yield real results when the community of native speakers takes the initiative of putting life back into the language.