Languages Under Threat

Geography once guarded variety by keeping communities apart. As roads, radio, and phones reach those places, that shield is gone — and small languages are vanishing fast:

• Around half of today's languages may have no speakers left by 2100.
• Most are spoken by very small communities, often just a few thousand people.
• A handful of big languages, such as English, Mandarin, and Spanish, already cover most of humanity.

The same openness that spreads jobs and goods also spreads the dominant tongue.