{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Why half the world's languages may disappear in this century","description":"Embedded in each language is a reflection of life as lived by its speakers, over thousands of years. And when a language disappears, that embedded knowledge is lost. As the world grows more connected, and as dominant cultures push their own languages for wider use \u2013 think English, Chinese and Arabic, for starters -- languages are disappearing. As many as half the world's 7,000 languages may be gone by the end of the century. The good news is that linguists are on it, like this episode\u2019s guest Laura Welcher, who oversees the Long Now Foundation\u2019s Rosetta Project in San Francisco. ","author_name":"Whose Century Is It?","author_url":"https:\/\/www.whosecenturyisit.com","html":"