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Globalization And Languages

GLOBALIZATION AND THE VARIETY OF LANGUAGES

The legend of the Babel’s tower tells that at the very beginning of the world, the human beings had only one and unique language. Today some 5000 languages are spoken in the world. It shows one of the many layers that composed humanity’s cultural heritage. However, this variety of the languages is quickly disappearing. On average, 25 languages die every year and half of the population of the world uses only 9 languages in the daily life. These facts lead up to wonder if the globalization is a threat for languages’ diversity? And is there a way to limit this impact? The globalization means by definition « the development of interdependence’s links between men and women, human activities and political systems on the scale of the world” as well as transfers, possessions’ international exchange, the workforce and the knowledge. Indeed we can consider the language as a link of independence. This globalization was born thanks to the growing trades, the migrations and the rural exodus. It allowed the countries to exchange and to profit of comparative advantages due to the liberalism found through the globalization. Nevertheless, these changes and these migrations can be bruised like the military conquests which sometimes led to the extinction of a population and its maternal tongue. It is because the human nature which has always wanted to explore and to investigate the world, that the term "globalization" today exists.
For centuries, people used to cross the world in the conquest of new spaces and by the way, meet the other cultures and continue to do so. We can easily guess the role of the colonialists in this weakening of the linguistic wealth and we can begin to understand the role of the globalization on the languages’ impact. Besides genocide which went beyond the point of no return disappearance of numerous maternal tongues as the Amerindian languages, the rural exodus of the populations is also a threat for the...