#105: Kyrgyz Language

The New York Times wrote that "Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and likely to disappear in this century. In fact, one falls out of use about every two week." According to them, some languages "...are lost gradually in bilingual cultures, as indigenous tongues are overwhelmed by the dominant language at school, in the marketplace and on television." I think it is already happening to Kyrgyz language in a society still dominated by Russian language, although it is not in one of the hotspots, where languages are being lost at the fastest rate. As I said earlier, Kyrgyz should switch to Latin script in order to prevent it from disappearing. Of course, it only one of the many things to be done - better education, translate books, make Kyrgyz language sexy (cool, appealing) to the youth (rap, rock in Kyrgyz!), etc.