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A National Geographic article, “A World Loses Its Tongues,” (October, 2007) reminded me of a presentation that Andrew Ikupu from Papua New Guinea made at the 2000 World Forum for Early Care and Education in Singapore. In the article, it was pointed out that “every two weeks another language dies, taking millennia of human knowledge and history with it.” The article listed 34 languages where there are less than 50 known speakers remaining.

In his presentation, Ikupu pointed out that there were once over 800 distinct languages in Papua New Guinea. However, with the rise of globalization, these languages are all threatened with extinction as young children opt for or are compelled to speak more popular languages. He has made a campaign of reversing this trend by going from village to village to help and encourage them to teach the indigenous languages to the children. He would go into a community and work with community members in building a school and in selecting and training teachers. Since the villagers built the schools, they had a stake in their success.

By setting up these schools and facilitating teaching young children their native tongues, Ikupu hopes to help these languages survive. Andrew concluded by saying, “When the world loses a language, it loses an entire culture. And with each culture that is lost, the world loses some of its diversity.”

To learn about National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Project, go to www.languagehotspots.org.

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