Mass extinction: half of world’s 6,000 languages in danger of disappearing by 2010

Some people may argue that extinction is a part of the natural order. That if future dialogues are destined to occur in one of only 5 languages, then so be it. It’s survival of the fittest.

Linguists estimate that eventually all communication will be expressed in English, Chinese, Spanish, French or Arabic. Globalization has accelerated the rate of language extinction, while increasing the influence of the English language.

While only 350 million people (out of 6 billion worldwide) claim English as their first language, millions more use English as a second language and another billion are being taught the language. There’s no stopping this phenomenon.

English is the language of computers and commerce.


So what’s with the sudden onslaught of articles (here and here) crying out in alarm at the steady decline in the number of spoken languages? What’s the problem?


According to the Worldwatch Institute, half of all languages accounted for are spoken by fewer than 2500 people. Languages need at least 100,000 speakers in order to pass from one generation to the next, claims the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

When a language disappears, an invaluable resource is lost to linguists and anthropologists. It becomes impossible to trace a group’s cultural history or movements from one region to another because the stories passed through oral tradition die with the last speaker. Since language diversity often exists in locations of biological diversity, scientists lose valuable knowledge pertaining to the plants and animals native to the area.

I was blessed with the opportunity of growing up in a bilingual household. After I enrolled in American public schools, my teachers gently persuaded my parents to stop speaking their native language (Portuguese) at home and focus on English. “So as not to confuse her…..”


The Portuguese language is the cornerstone of my culture. There are words that cannot be translated into English… words like “saudade.” I lost much of my vocabulary and have struggled to improve upon what I still remember. And I know that if I forget the language and stories and songs, then a unique part of that culture will be lost. A different version might be passed on in a new language, but the original footprint will disappear.

But I’m fortunate. There are 5 million people who speak Portuguese around the globe. I can’t imagine what it would be like to know I was one of the last to speak Maori or Eyak or Navajo.

How many people do you know who can speak a second language?

Disturbing Realizations

Over the past few months, my dearest friends have up and moved away. In the 8 years I’ve lived in the District, I’ve hosted many going away parties for people only to welcome them back a few years later. But never a best friend….

Disturbing Realization #1 – My social life revolved around the whims of three darling, but lackadaisical barflies.

It was a sad, sad day when I absorbed the fact that my *partner in crime* was gone. After work rant sessions weren’t the same without her. I was Norm without Cliff, peanut butter without jelly. The diatribes of those left behind weren’t entertaining anymore. And although they are appreciated, they are not loved and lack a certain curiosity…

My hand trembled as I held my cell phone, scrolling through names and numbers of Washingtonians I hadn’t spoken to in months, if not years.

Disturbing Realization #2 – The day you turn 25, time accelerates by a rate of 50%. Once you pass the 30-year threshold, that rate increases to 75%.

If you’re inclined to have brunch with Jack and Jill, make plans TODAY! Before you know it – 18 months will have past since your last get together, making future contact more than a little awkward.

Disturbing Realization #3 – I am a fickle person.

A vague recollection – a few years ago I found myself exhausted, poor, and bored.

It all started off with *poor* – the excuses… I’d blow off friends and beg off plans because I found I couldn’t afford to go out for drinks every night, or to the theater four times a month, or continue hosting dinner parties, or whatever.

And so my schedule slowed down, allowing me to catch up on sleep and *me time* and concentrate on my career. I focused on photography and writing. I fretted over the quality of my relationships instead of the quantity.

Disturbing Realization #4 – You can never have too many friends.

So I learned too late that I had been blessed with diverse and interesting relationships. And I voluntarily let these individuals fade into the back story of who I am.

While I was searching for links, I stumbled onto some of my old friends online. Reading about their lives, I felt like I was intruding (which is ridiculous because the info is on the world wide web for all to read). And a melancholy washed over me as I learned of all that I had missed and was missing.

Because I was supremely lazy.

Disturbing Realization #5 – You’ve got to play nice if you want kids to share the sandbox with you.

Not that I regret the years I spent with J, K and P. I was privileged to connect with these people – individuals who truly see me as I am. How many people take off their masks, peal back the bravado and allow you to know them? How many people have you shown yourself to?

And in truth, I’ve been spoiled – having spent so much time in a realm where you call a spade a spade – and am having difficulty with the steps to the dance of social niceties.

So – how much of a faux pas is it to call someone (a lot of someones) you haven’t seen in two years to catch up over coffee or brunch or lunch?

Mark your calendars

For the first time in three years, a total lunar eclipse will be visible in the United States late Thursday night. Curious skywatchers in western Europe and western and southern Africa can view the eclipse just before dawn Friday.

In North America, the moon will remain totally eclipsed for 53 minutes, and should turn substantially darker and reddish in color. The eclipse will start at 8:13 PDT in Los Angeles, 11:13 p.m. EDT in New York.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth casts its shadow on the full moon, blocking the sunlight that otherwise reflects off the moon’s surface. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view with the naked eye.

If you miss this one, mark your calendars – a second lunar eclipse will be visible from North and South America on 8 November, 2003.

This weekend’s movie pick

Oh – and two thumbs up to the film Identity.

Although I figured out who was killing everyone off midway through, I thought it was very clever (considering the alternatives competing for my time and money).

400,000 frozen human embryos glimpse 15-minutes of fame

Taking Australian and British embryos into consideration, the tally is closer to more than a half-million human embryos frozen in storage facilities worldwide. Industry experts caution that this is a “conservative number.”

These same experts conclude two main reasons for the large number of stored embryos.

1) Because of the expense and inconvenience of extracting an egg for in vitro fertilization, couples prefer to extract a large number of eggs at once so that others will be on hand if the first implantation fails.

2) Couples and clinics are loath to destroy these embryos.

Fertility clinics in the U.S. are ineligible for federal funding and so are currently free of much regulatory oversight, resulting in the stockpile. There is no limit on storage time for embryos so long as facilities receive their annual $1500 to store them.

Which leads up to the unresolved issue: What happens to these embryos?

“In this country, it’s the patients who determine what’s done with their embryos – not doctors, not the government or the bureaucracy,” said census study leader David Hoffman, a director of the IVF Florida Reproductive Associates.

Others disagree. Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, says the current frozen embryo situation “bespeaks a mind-set that does not regard these as members of the human family.” Religious conservatives and anti-abortion advocates yesterday chastised the fertility industry for what they described as its profligate overproduction of embryos. Some called for more embryo adoptions, in which donated frozen embryos are transferred to the wombs of infertile women.

But last year, Sen. Orrin Hatch raised questions about the ethics of couples adopting the human embryos of others and then using them to have babies.

Hatch questioned their morality and whether children and parents are properly protected. Hatch, in testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, said that “unrestricted adoption of embryos might not be seen as a favorable option.”

He explained, “The embryo adoption issue could raise a whole host of new legal issues. There are also religious issues. For example, there are people, some in my own faith, who seriously question the notion of surrogate motherhood.”

Others believe these embryos, which are routinely discarded, should be used to improve and extend life by helping to cure cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and others.

Though some scientists would prefer to generate embryos of known pedigree for research purposes, rather than rely on those of infertile couples. The creation of embryos for research purposes, though allowed in Britain, has not been sanctioned in the United States and is vigorously opposed by opponents of abortion.

Like Dr. John Haas, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Boston, who said that the excess embryos made in vitro fertilization “an inappropriate means of overcoming human infertility” and that the Vatican pronouncement of 1987 entitled “Donum Vitae” had judged in vitro fertilization “to be beneath the dignity of the human person.”

Dr. Haas praised a German law that required all embryos created in vitro to be implanted. “We don’t think any good can ultimately be accomplished at the expense of a human life,” he said, referring to that of the surplus embryos.

Overheard on the metro

Overheard on the metro this morning:

Twenty-something brunette in front of me on the escalator, shouting into her cell phone– “I had no idea he was soooooo republican. Of course I can’t see him again. If I had only known….I mean, I know people who say they’re republican but he really WAS.”

Sometimes I really despise living in this city. And it’s all because of the wonderful people who share it with me.

But then, I’ll wake up on a Saturday morning to sunlight streaming through my window. I’ll decide to play tourist for the day and delight in the architecture, the history and the wonders hidden from view. I’ll shoot an inspired photo of the World War I Memorial or climb the steps leading to the public library in Georgetown. And then, I’ll remember why I love being here so much.