Nowadays, people who can speak more than one language outnumber those who can speak only their mother tongue. Knowledge of English, for example, became almost essential in order to apply to any job. Therefore, some individuals assume that most of minority languages may become extinct in a matter of time. Some countries try to prevent that, however I may not agree that this practice has any chances to succeed.
Every culture’s duty is to sustain for as long as possible. This includes following common ancestor’s traditions, popularization of local literature and other products of culture, and, as mentioned earlier, speaking a particular language. That is a description of a so called national identity. To make all of the above sustain, governments have to be incredibly independent and have powerful economy system, like Japan, for instance.
Unfortunately, not so many countries can afford that because of poverty. As a result, people in those states are usually ignorant in questions of a national code and consider that their national past has nothing to propose. Therefore, they migrate somewhere with mixed cultures, USA for example, which reduces human resources of their motherland. That is a vicious circle that may repeat decade after decade and cause nation’s death.
In conclusion, I would say that any minority language and, consequently, culture dying out is inevitable – that is part of human’s nature. I believe in a few centuries there may be up to ten countries alive, connected in one big worldwide union speaking only main three languages – English, Spanish and Mandarin.
