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UN: 5,900 languages risk extinction

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-14 11:52

LAGOS - The United Nations (UN) said Tuesday that 5,900 languages worldwide may become extinct before the end of the 21st century if measures to protect them are not introduced, the News Agency of Nigeria reported Tuesday.

The United Nations, in a statement issued by the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Lagos, urged countries to introduce measures to secure their languages, noting that only 600 of the world's 6,500 languages would survive.

"There are at present 6,500 languages in the world and by the end of the century, only 600 of them will survive through technological documentation," the statement said.

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The United Nations said that languages remain critical to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on education, urging that children should be taught their dialects at an early age.

"Governments should introduce in their education systems measures to secure the harmonious and fruitful existence of languages," it stated,

"They should introduce policies that would promote speaking of mother tongue," the United Nations statement added.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian federal government has initiated efforts to achieve technological documentation of languages in the country.

The Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently said it had commenced the process of mapping and documenting indigenous languages.

According to the ministry, the process will help to ascertain the accurate number of existing and endangered languages in the country.

The Microsoft Corporation has also promised to launch a Microsoft office in the three major Nigerian languages before the end of this year.