The New York Times previews the English translation of Claude Hagège’s new book, On the death and life of languages.
In this conversation, we are reminded why diversity is so crucial. Each language helps us see the world in a certain way and with each language comes a frame of reference, a way of seeing the world. All these ways complete each other. That’s why it is so sad when a language disappears, as a vision of the world dies with it, and the world “shrinks” a little.
Even though Hagège is at time a flawed ”authority” in the typical French tradition…. for a scholar, he seems at time to thrive on clichés…
There are today more than 6000 languages used around the world. It has been said that by 2050, as many as half would be extinct. Languages are gifts that we should preserve!