Many indigenous groups today are struggling to preserve their language and that in turn endangers their entire culture. The reason most of these languages are endangered is due to Conquistadors coming in centuries ago and taking complete cultural dominance over land already belonging to people. Not only did taking control over the land steal their property, it also took away much of their culture. The cultures that have fought for all this time to stay alive deserve to be preserved and that starts with saving the language.
One of these indigenous groups is the Mapuche, the largest indigenous group in Chile. In the video, Mapuche: Saving Indigenous Language, Elisa Loncon, professor of Mapuche language and culture says, “To lose the language implies losing our ancient traditional knowledge... to lose the essence of what it feels to be Mapuche.” Language is a big part of identity and taking away that language also takes away much of the identity. The video also says that only 3% of the population in Cuba speaks the language. This means that the language is very near being forgotten entirely ending a sort of tradition and leading the way to the complete decimation of the culture.
(Mapuche: Saving Indigenous Language)
There are several organizations that fight for cultures like that of the Mapuche and the preservation of their languages. One of these organizations is the United Nations general assembly. This organization invites indigenous groups to gather together and advocate for their rights in a place where they can be heard. In 2007 the declaration on indigenous rights was adopted by the U.N. which included the right to language. (Mapuche: Saving Indigenous Language) This was a big step forward in the preservation of endangered languages.
Technology has also allowed organizations to improve their preservation efforts. Several organizations such as Wikitongues use technology to record endangered languages around the world and put them on the internet for anyone to learn. There are several other organizations that also do this such as National Geographic’s Enduring Voices, the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Culture, and LivingTounges. “National Geographic’s enduring voices worked with the organization LivingTongues to produce apps that allow users to learn an endangered language of their choosing.” (The Fight to Preserve Endangered Languages, MLA Action Network) Like Wikitongues, they traveled all around the world documenting these endangered languages. The advancements of modern technology allow for organizations to post content anyone can access, it allows for them to find the few indigenous people who speak a certain language and document it, and it might very well be the way that many languages and cultures survive.
(Dying Languages, National Geographic)
Some people may believe that languages and cultures that have grown close to extinct do not serve much of a purpose anymore because such a little amount of people speak them. Some may believe that if people truly cared about the language than they would learn it themselves and therefore individuals are responsible for a dying language. Others may believe that since a dominant culture and language controls society, there is no use for a language or culture that was only relevant centuries ago. Although these beliefs do make a point, culture or language becoming extinct strips the identities of many people, and the unique traditions and histories of all the former societies are lost to the world. Another counterpoint is that it a major reason for many languages dying out is from a history of it being looked down upon in society and not being taught in school as a way to assimilate the minority indigenous culture into that of the conquistadors. It was not a choice for indigenous groups to lose their culture and language and therefore it is not just to allow it to be taken away from them.
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