The world's languages are dying out. In the world, approximately 6,000 languages are spoken...of which only about 600 are confidently expected to survive this century.

Why should we care about the loss of our languages? Many reasons -- aesthetics, history & linguistic study, ethics, diversity

Perhaps two-thirds of Native North American languages are still around. That is an heroic achievement considering the odds that they have faced. How much longer, though, will these remaining languages survive?

What is lost when the culture is so dislocated that it loses the language which is traditionally associated with it? What does the country lose when it loses individuals who are comfortable with themselves, cultures that are authentic to themselves, the capacity to pursue sensitivity, wisdom, and some kind of recognition that one has a purpose in life? What is lost to a country that encourages people to lose their direction in life?

To preserve the Dakota language, college day care for children of staff and students is transformed into a native language immersion program.

It seems that even when good things happen in educational programs, there is not much impact on the rate of language loss. Despite the end of punitive English-only policies in Indian schools and the advent of bilingual education, especially since the mid-1970s, the shift to English is accelerating in many Indian communities. Why is this happening now?