105,110: Journal 9- Response to Reading “Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction”

[Gargi Vyas]

I have known for a long time that languages are like species- new ones are created as old ones die out. But while reading this article the issue became more real in my eyes. It is scary to realize how ages of culture and history die out with the language. Every language is unique and its development runs parallel to its native population's traditional growth in terms of music, art, historical artifacts, and what not. Death of a language would mean losing all of that and the breaking of ties with all the previous generations that spoke the language. The article helped me understand the great importance of language preservation and why it is essential to maintain a speaker population. Since native populations reduce due to globalization and multiracial relationships, the best way to preserve a language is to use the language speaking population's culture as an attracting aspect. My attraction to Korean culture was what made me motivated to learn the Korean language. In a world where languages like English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, etcetera are taking precedence over other languages due to job benefit provisions, less-spoken languages have to use culture and tradition as motivations for people to learn them. At this point, learning Korean will help me become better acquainted with the culture, and even though I might not end up settling down in Korea, I am glad to be learning the language. Who knows, with the changing political and economic dynamics in Asia, South Korea may develop a rising importance on the international platform and Korean might become the next 'big thing'. But until then, I will groove to my Korean pop and binge eat my Kimchi. And even if Korean does not become the next 'big thing', at least I will be glad to be the part of a multi-racial Korean speaking generation, and do my part in ensuring the preservation of the beautiful language.