The question
Write about the following topic:
In many parts of the world, traditional languages and local dialects are disappearing.
What are the reasons for this? What effects does it have on individuals and society?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Key ideas for a high-band answer
- Cause: education and jobs depend on dominant national or global languages, so parents stop passing on minority languages.
- Cause: urbanisation, globalisation and media produced in a few widely spoken languages.
- Effect on individuals: loss of cultural identity and communication gaps between generations.
- Effect on society: loss of unique heritage, including oral stories and local knowledge of plants, medicine and the environment.
- The decline can be slowed (e.g. textbooks in indigenous languages in Bangladesh, the Welsh revival).
Band 9 model answer
305 words · written by Abroadway to show band 9 features (not an official IELTS sample)
Of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, a large proportion are considered endangered, and many local dialects are also fading. This decline has several causes and important consequences for both individuals and communities.
The main cause is the economic and social power of dominant languages. Parents naturally want their children to succeed, and success in education and employment often depends on a national language or on English rather than a minority language. As a result, many families stop speaking their traditional language at home. Urbanisation strengthens this trend, because people who move from villages to cities mix with speakers of other languages and adopt the language of the majority. Globalisation and the media also play a role, since most films, television programmes and online content are produced in a handful of widely spoken languages.
The effects of this process are significant. For individuals, losing a language can mean losing part of their cultural identity, and it may create a gap between generations when grandparents cannot communicate easily with their grandchildren. For society, the disappearance of a language means the loss of a unique heritage, including songs, stories and knowledge about local plants, medicine and the environment that is often never written down.
However, the decline is not inevitable. People in Bangladesh understand better than most how closely language is tied to identity, since International Mother Language Day commemorates the Bengali Language Movement of 1952. In recent years, Bangladesh has begun printing school textbooks in several indigenous languages, such as Chakma and Marma, while Wales has revived Welsh through bilingual education.
In conclusion, minority languages are disappearing mainly because of economic pressure, urbanisation and the influence of global media. I believe this loss impoverishes both individuals and humanity as a whole, and it can be slowed if governments support teaching in endangered languages.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- minority languages
- dialects
- globalisation
- urbanisation
- dominant
- cultural identity
- heritage
- generations
- endangered
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