Pripadnici plemena Aboridžina u Australiji

Agencija UN za kulturno nasleđe, Unesko, tvrdi da je više od trećine od ukupnog broja jezika na svetu - kojih ima oko šest hiljada - pred opasnošću od izumiranja. Od dve hiljade ugroženih jezika, oko dve stotine danas koristi samo šačica ljudi.

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When a language dies, UNESCO says the world loses valuable cultural heritage - a great deal of the legends, poems and the knowledge gathered by generations is simply lost. In 2008, Alaska's last native speaker of Eyak died, taking the language with her.

Marie Smith Jones praying in Eyak

Chief Marie Smith Jones, praying here for the survival of the Eyaks. She died at the age of eighty-nine, campaigning to save her people's heritage.

UNESCO says government action is needed if the world is to preserve its linguistic diversity. People must be proud to speak their language to ensure it survives.

In the last five years, the governments of Mexico, New Zealand and the United States managed to reverse the trend locally. But UNESCO says the phenomenon of dying languages appears in every region and in very diverse economic conditions.

Leonardo Rocha, BBC

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UNESCO
Unesko - agencija UN za obrazovanje, nauku i kulturu

valuable cultural heritage
kulturno nasleđe, vredna kulturna dobra

a great deal of
mnogo, veliki broj

legends
legende, priče iz davnina - nekada se u predanju predstavljaju kao istorijske činjenice

native speaker of
neko čiji je to maternji jezik

campaigning
sprovodi kampanju, radi konkretne stvari kako bi postigao određeni cilj

to preserve its linguistic diversity
kako bi se očuvala lingvistička raznolikost, kako bi broj jezika koji se govore ostao veliki

to reverse the trend
kako bi se trend opadanja broja jezika u upotrebi zaustavio, odnosno preokrenuo