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Name: Professor: SSP200-1838 December X, 2016 Globalization: Lost Voices Globalization is the increasing spread or integration of countries’ individual economies, languages, cultures, ideas, and products. When looking at whether this can have a positive or negative impact on the world, there are many aspects to look at on both sides of the fence. It is an intricate subject that may be seen in many perspectives. It can be argued that globalization is positive because it allowed for the rapid spread of technology but one can also say that is a negative effect. However, when globalization impacts small indigenous communities that speak uncommon languages and have unique cultures, it is difficult to justify the struggles that they face because of it. Globalization leads to the extinction of language and culture, effectively creating a struggle for the people who are impacted and are left with no choice but to assimilate. There are about 7,000 languages spoken in the world today. Mandana Seyfeddinipur is a linguist that gave a lecture on Ted Talks called “Endangered Languages: Why it Matters”. In her speech, she states that “about half of the planet's population speak 50 languages while the other half speak 6,950 languages.” About one language dies every two weeks. This is a concern even for the United Nations who have assembled a group of linguists to find out what causes a language to die. The group has written a document for UNESCO titled “Language Vitality and Endangerment”. The group estimates that ninety percent of all languages will die by the end of the 21st century and that there are nine total factors that contribute the loss of languages.
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