Hi Harriet! Thanks for the question.

It's a tricky one, isn't it?

It's estimated that languages are going extinct at a rate of one per month and I find it hard not to see each one of those as a tragedy. As you say, it's a loss of something culturally significant. It's usually irretrievable too (so far as I know, Hebrew is the only language to have been revived to the point of being anyone's first language). I think that such a loss should be avoided where it is avoidable.

One could argue that we should be striving for a world where the maximum number of people can be understood by the maximum number of people, and that minority languages somehow impede that. Languages dying out could therefore be seen as a form of natural selection, enabling society to evolve. But I don't think that this evolution requires these lesser-used languages to pass quietly into non-existence, particularly when bilingualism is possible. The ideal situation would be for people who share a culture with these languages to speak both the heritage language and the language that enables them to communicate more widely. I know Irish and Welsh speakers who have precisely this skill.

This clearly isn't possible in all situations. If a tribe dies out, nobody from outside of that tribe can realistically be expected to carry on its linguistic tradition. But overall, I would say: let's do our best to preserve the diversity and multiplicity of the world's languages.

Thanks again for the question, and also for the video suggestion. I've had many fun discussions with my wife about the words for animal noises in her native French. I think it's an excellent idea.