Issue 473 of New Internationalist
Reader-owned global journalism
June 2014
Endangered languages
The world’s 7,000 languages are facing a decline more rapid than, and potentially as damaging as, the planet’s endangered species. With the last speakers of up to half of the world’s languages already alive today, linguists fear that within two centuries we could all be speaking one global tongue.
Yet language matters more than you might think. The languages we speak shape who we are and how we see the world, and are a conduit for and repository of our culture, traditions and faith.
Subscribe
- Discover unique global perspectives
- Support high quality independent media
- Magazine delivered to your door or inbox
- Digital archive of over 500 issues
Included in this issue
Talking about a revolution
Jo Lateu explains why the world's minority languages matter for all of us - and why we should be fighting for their survival.
Are riots good for democracy?
Professor and author Stephen D’Arcy and historian and journalist Vijay Prashad go head to head.
Xiaolu: 'If you can't sell in China you are nothing'
The award-winning novelist and film director tells Graeme Green about growing up in rural China, freedom, censorship and...
Afghanistan's theatre of the oppressed
Lydia James reports on a courageous drama project, which is putting transitional justice centre stage in the war-torn country.
Letter from Bangui - held hostage to violence
Ruby Diamonde asks, what can be done to stem the inter-communal bloodshed that is traumatizing an entire generation?
Welcome to Kaurna country
In the Adelaide plains, one Aboriginal language is enjoying an unlikely revival, explains Katrina Power.
‘How did our community survive this?’
The Missing Children’s project is investigating the deaths and disappearances of aboriginal students who died in church-run...
Big Tobacco takes a tumble in Senegal
Stephen Cockburn reports on how Dakar defied lobbyists to enact tough new anti-smoking legislation.
Spain's unlikely squatters
Evicted home owners are reclaiming empty properties from the banks, reports Koren Helbig.
Past issues
You can see our whole archive on the past magazines page.
The crisis of loneliness
A world to win
The cost of greed crisis
Take back the land
Whose railway is it anyway?
Rivers of life
How we stop Big Oil
Jailbreak: reimagining justice
Romani lives matter
Shifting horizons: the future of work
Explore your passions by topic and region
