Languages:
Every language reflects a unique world-view with its own value systems,
philosophy and particular cultural features.
As vectors of traditions and ageless know-how, languages lend coherence,
well-being and support to cultural identity. They are an essential part of
the intangible heritage.
Languages may be seen as so many dynamic processes. They respond constantly
to a changing environment, ceaselessly taking on new meanings. However, as
they are rooted in the life of a community, their survival may well depend
on the value that the community attaches to their vitality and transmission.
The disappearance of a language is accompanied by the departure of a whole
body of knowledge and ideas that in many cases have thrived for centuries,
not to say thousands of years.
A language policy which favors the practice and transmission even of
little-spoken languages helps to preserve the world’s linguistic wealth and
contributes to safeguarding cultural diversity. It should go hand in hand
with multilingual education from an early age so that each and everyone may
be a link in the chain of transmission of these cultural traditions besides
being able to communicate with the rest of the world.
