Except for research purposes, I can’t think of many reasons why a language should be saved. You might want to save or revive a language as part of a campaign to build a common identity. But that’s using language as a tool, not a means in itself. (For example, see modern Hebrew.)

As for the lost tribal history, folk tales, etc. that die when a language ceases to be spoken, I’m not sure those things have much value. They have some value to researchers, but none to the average man. The only reason to preserve those things is to build or preserve a common identity among a people group.

What if the cure for cancer is in the the knowledge of ethnobotany that only that language group knows? That might be of value to the average man.

And what would you say to the tribal history being lost of, say, English speakers?

“What if the cure for cancer is in the the knowledge of ethnobotany that only that language group knows?”

I recognize your point. Folk medicine is sometimes based in fact. Losing the chance at a medical discovery would be unfortunate. That kind of tribal knowledge could be transmitted even if the language dies out, though. (Parents and grandparents still talk to the younger generation, even if the younger folks don’t speak the tribal language anymore.) Or the knowledge could be lost even if the language survives.

Some people would say that the tribal history and folktales have value in themselves. I’m not so romantic.

But back to the question of does this matter to God. I know at least one person who says it does matter. His idea is that the variety of languages on earth is a reflection of the complex nature of God, of his infinite capacity to communicate.

Why? So we lose some stories and some history. Big deal.

The variety of languages on earth is a reflection of man’s sinful nature needing monitoring. The only reason we have so many languages is Babel. True, as people groups seperate, language transforms, but we’d all still speak something with a common root if it hadn’t been for that event.

I have a feeling that losing languages isn’t an issue God cares about as much as the way the world is moving to a common language. And even that, I think, is something that would be good if it weren’t for all the end-time significance.

Genesis 11:6 says “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” That is an astounding statement. Is the power of one language so much that even God says man will be able to do everything he plans? (Hmm, look at the amazing technological advances via English today.)

When they no longer spoke the same language, they had to move out to different locations and they had to quit all working on the same project. Maybe this was God’s way to keep man from advancing too far.

God had already promised not to destroy man again as he did with the flood, so this time he solved the problem in a rather unique and clever way.

I don’t know if I agree with your statement, Colin, about “I don’t think God wants to keep men from advancing too far technologically…” There are a lot of things that God doesn’t “want” but he allows, to our detriment. Creation of the nuclear bombs enough to really mess up his creation, is one possible example of something that man with one language has created that to me, borders on going too far.

Jew, you mean a world trade language that’s simple but complex in vocabulary? It would have to be. I doubt we’ll ever get one besides English, though, even if it isn’t the most practical.

Sometimes having two or more languages actually increases (the rapidity of) technological advances, as in the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.

Is that really attributable to language differences? The Cold War was about dominating the world. That’s what drove the space race. Language didn’t enter into it.

Is that just an accident of history? Is it attributable to some special quality of the British? I don’t see the same level of friendship among Spanish-speaking nations or among French-speaking nations.

God had already promised not to destroy man again as he did with the flood, so this time he solved the problem in a rather unique and clever way.

Good to see we agree here.

I don’t know if I agree with your statement, Colin, about “I don’t think God wants to keep men from advancing too far technologically…” There are a lot of things that God doesn’t “want” but he allows, to our detriment. Creation of the nuclear bombs enough to really mess up his creation, is one possible example of something that man with one language has created that to me, borders on going too far.

I think I know that God want us in heaven with him. He wants to make a new heaven and earth. Those are his long term plans anyway. There is no desire expressed in scripture that man would not see technological advancements for it’s own sake. It’s one of those cause and effect mix-ups - like “premarital sex leads to dancing.” Atom bombs were created because man’s thoughts are violent and depraved - not because technology itself is bad.