Some people argue that governments should financially support old or unpopular languages to save them from dying out completely, while others believe that there are other more important problems that governments should focus on, and that it may be a waste of money. I am of the opinion that old languages should be saved by making the language an important subject at schools because they are a country’s cultural heritage, and there are great ancestors who became popular because of evolving their historical languages.
On the one hand, there are a lot of problems that authorities should prevent, such as unemployment, food shortages, and inflation. If administrations allocate their budgets to reviving dying languages, they may waste their money. This can lead to financial problems. Additionally, instead of developing old languages, governments can encourage people to speak a common language, like English. English is the most popular language in the world, and more than 50 countries have adopted this language as one of their official languages. Moreover, it can help people with communication, trade, and economic growth.
On the other hand, languages with few speakers are an important part of cultural heritage, and every country must protect them by any means necessary. One of the steps they can take is to include this language to schools’ system. Creating books to engage children in learning the language can easily introduce the language to society. Moreover, if we look at history, there are many great ancestors who saved their tongues and became legends for their citizens. For instance, take Ali-Shir Nava’i, one of the important revered figures in Uzbek literature and even popular as the father of Uzbek literature because he advanced the old Uzbek language and established it as a main language. By writing poems and novels in Uzbek, he proved that the Uzbek language is more beautiful than languages individuals preferred to speak.
In conclusion, despite spending a significant number of resources that could be spent on more pressing issues such as food crises, joblessness, and price increases, governments must invest in language preservation by incorporating it into education because languages can be source of identity for individuals.