Topic: Preservation of Endangered Languages
Country: Bangladesh
Delegate Name: Brian Funk
School: Fishers High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Bangladesh position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
Bangladesh believes that endangered languages should be preserved in a way that allows for speakers to take their own steps towards keeping their language intact. It should not be a nation’s responsibility to conserve a threatened language unless it feels an obligation to do so.
Being a developing country, Bangladesh cannot actively support the preservation of our numerous endangered languages as we need to prioritize serving our citizens before partaking in non-necessity spending, such as conserving heritage. That being said, we are not opposed to preserving languages but rather opposed to the use of force in a state’s involvement. Should a UN organized effort be created that would help preserve languages, then it would have our support as long as it not be mandatory in government involvement. As a nation full of violent history that has now started to settle into a maintained state of harmony, we cannot funnel funding into a cause that doesn’t directly support this new balance.
From our experiences in preserving our own endangered languages, Bangladesh knows that this is a difficult and taxing process. We have a least five documented endangered languages and little government effort has been made in preserving them due to the sheer scope of the daunting task. Conserving languages cannot be done simply. Such an effort would cost quite a bit of money just to record the tongues, let alone teach them to others. Also, this process is not a science. If in some way the United Nations could create some sort of guide that effectively preserves the languages while not also putting too much stress on the host country, then Bangladesh would support it.
However, should a procedure be procured that would allow individual communities to take their own steps in preserving their languages, then Bangladesh would support it. We are proud of our many cultures and wish to conserve in a non-economic manner, and the UN can provide steps to do so. The endangered language could be taught in schools in the area where the language originates, along with a common speech more useful outside of the area and throughout the world. In order to push communities into attempting this, we would need to send UN representatives to areas with endangered languages to try to convince speakers to pass on this language and preserve their history. Directly encouraging the learning and speaking of a dying language holds more value than solely just having a written understanding of the language, as just recording the language won’t be effective enough in preserving it.
Funding for this initiative could come from the member nations of the UN, as well the groups that exist and strive for the preservation of culture, particularly languages. By creating this global network that all works towards the conservation of languages, surely we can slow this tragic loss of culture plaguing the world.
