UNESCO acts on many fronts to safeguard endangered languages and prevent their disappearance:In education, UNESCO supports policies promoting multilingualism and especially mother tongue literacy; it supports the language component of indigenous education; and raises awareness of the importance of language preservation in education.In culture, UNESCO collects data on endangered and indigenous languages, develops standardized tools and methodologies, and builds capacities of governments and...

Namaste, Ce mai faci?, Guten Tag!, Ciao, Bonjour, nǐ hǎo and ¡Hola! are some of the beautiful ways people around the globe greet one another. Language is an expression of art, a means of communication, and an important asset to diversity. However, one would be hard-pressed to find a native speaker of Livonian for which to say Tēriņtš! This is because Livonian has recently become extinct (CharterBerlin, 2013). The loss of Livonian and other languages is concerning for many...

The linguists who edited the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger agreed that it should include not only languages that are endangered, but also those that have become extinct in the last half century or so. When we say that a language is extinct, we mean that it is no longer the first tongue that infants learn in their homes, and that the last speaker who did learn the language in that way has passed on within the last five decades.It may be possible to revive extinct...

The most important thing that can be done to keep a language from disappearing is to create favourable conditions for its speakers to speak the language and teach it to their children. This often requires;national policies that recognize and protect minority languages,Education systems that promote mother-tongue instruction, andCreative collaboration between community members and linguists to develop a writing system and introduce formal instruction in the language.Since the most crucial...