1- Driving Question: How are the languages evolving between the 20th and 21st centuries
2- Significant Events of the 20th Century: •1910’s-1920’s : WW1 & Creation of the League of the Nations Russian revolution, expansion of the Japanese Empire •1930’s: Wall Street collapse triggering a worldwide depression. Rise of dictatorships in Italy and Germany; Japanese invasions in Southeast Asia. •1940’s- 1950’s: WW2 followed by the cold war, polarization of the world between Western World and Communist countries. •1960’s-1970’s: Vietnam war, progressive decline of Western Empires and decolonization in India, Africa, Asia. NATO versus Warsaw Pact . Explosion of TV and Movies productions, dominated by the US. •1980’s-1990’s: Fall of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet Union. Internet and Digital communications exponential growth. 9- How can we see this evolution in 2021: •English is the most learned language in the world (1,500 million learners in 110 countries) •English has become a Global Language,: official or semi-official language in 91 countries •You can travel nearly everywhere and find people who will be able to communicate through English. •~7,100 languages still alive, but half are expected to be extinct by the end of the 21st century 10- Call to Action: What should people do about the language evolution: It is important to preserve some of the local languages. With the disappearance of a language, a culture dies, people lose identity and their history. So it is important to preserve some of that culture and allow people to conserve and preserve their native languages as much as possible. |