Reference: Five hot spots named where languages are threatened, Bangkok Post, September 27, 2007

There are 7,000 known languages in the world. Their population distribution is severely skewed. The top 3,500 languages are spoken by 99.8% of the planet's peoples. The bottom 3,500 account for only 0.2% of the world's population. Many of these languages, some spoken by only a handful of old individuals, are considered to be endangered because their last speakers and the language itself are dying out. The reason for their demise is that the younger generations have decided that more widely spoken languages are more useful. Researchers have decided, however, that languages are not allowed to die out and that all of these languages must be preserved by cultivating a new generation of speakers. I would have to side with the new generation in this case. Nature works by death and renewal, not by preservation. It is important to study history but the instinct to preserve is misplaced. History must be recorded, not preserved.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand