Annotated Bibliography

Anderson, Stephen R (2012). How many languages are there in the world? Languages: A
very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
According to Stephen Anderson in How many languages are there in the world, there
are currently 6,909 distinct languages. Languages are grouped into families to show how they are
related to each other. For instance, the Indo-European Family has about 400 known languages
widely distributed geographically. Because these languages are geographically spread, they have
a better chance of surviving and not dying off. Papua New Guinea is a region that is
linguistically diverse of about 832 languages spoken. With that said, although known languages
are diverse and distributed throughout the world, the native languages spoken by small
populations will eventually die out because people arent being educated about their language.
It is interesting to see how languages are spread geographically and there can be many in
one region versus another. For example, there are 832 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea. I
find it very interesting how the missionary group discovered 2,508 languages when trying to
translate the Christian bible. There are many languages that arent accounted for in the world and
may be difficult to count them because the native languages are dying off. Research should be
continued to see if there is any chance of saving the native languages from dying off.
Crawford, J. (1990). Language Freedom and Restriction: A Historical Approach to the
Official Language Controversy: Chapter 2, Effective Language Education Practices and
Native Language Survival (pp. 9-22). Native American Language Issues.
In the article Language Freedom and Restriction: A Historical Approach to the Official
Language Controversy by James Crawford, discusses the controversy of English being the

official language in the United States. James Crawford is a writer, lecturer, and advocate who
specializes in the politics of language. One of Crawfords theses states, Contrary to myth, the
United States has n ever been a basically monolingual country (Crawford, 1990). This proved a
main point in his argument that even though English is basically the national language, United
States is still linguistically diverse. There are multiple languages spoken besides English because
of the people who migrated from their native country. The controversy of English becoming the
official language takes part because it affects individualism. The consensus was that a
democratic government had no business telling the people how to talk, that language choices
should be left to the individual (Crawford, 1990). This quote is stating that the government
basically shouldnt interfere with the language an individual speaks because that is their identity.
They did restrict native languages from being taught in school such as the United States Bureau
of Indian Affairs School, and tried to enforce English but came to realization that it was
destroying native cultural aspects. In Puerto Rico, it took a while to restore the native language
(Spanish) back into the school system to be taught. Overall, the English language is widely
spoken in the United States and mainly everyone knows it. However, it is a controversial topic of
making English the official language, because based off of history, the United States is
linguistically diverse and has been home of more bilinguals than any other nation in world
history (Haugen, 1969).
I agree with Crawfords thesis that the United States has never been a basically
monolingual country. With the evidence he provides in this article, he shows that looking back
in the United States History, the United States has always been linguistically diverse. So why not
make English the Official language. I dont think English should be the official language because
history shows that the United States is home to many languages. By making English the official

language, we will no longer identify the United States as being linguistically diverse, but by
being monolingual. In the article it discusses the objection to bilingual advertising and street
signs in Philadelphia. This made me question, if the U.S has English as the official language, will
it be required to take down any signs that arent in English. This wouldnt seem right. Today, in
society being bilingual plays a huge role in society because it is beneficial. I dont think that
there shouldnt be any restrictions on languages and that English shouldnt be the official
language of the United States.
Kershner, I. (2016, July 29). How Do You Say Hashtag or Shaming in Ancient
Hebrew? The New York Times.
In the article, Isabel Kershner states that the Israelis are proud of reviving the Ancient
Hebrew language after two millennia of Hebrew not being spoken. One thing thats hard to do is
for the language to keep up and translate contemporary words such as hashtag or shaming. The
Academy of Hebrew works very hard to keep up with updating vocabulary. They recently came
up with the word biyush which comes from an existing verb meaning shame and tag
hakbatza which means group tag to represent the word hashtag. A prime minister had made up a
word for junk food because there isnt a word that you can translate to mean junk food. Words
that are then translated, are voted upon and approved or disapproved by Israelis to see if the
translated word has the correct meaning of the original word.
I find it fascinating how the Israeli community was able to bring back the Ancient
Hebrew language that was barely spoken for over two millennia. The language is considered to
be rich. However, there is an issue when trying to translate a contemporary term into the
language. Terms that are created today such as shaming or hashtag did not exist in the Ancient
Hebrew vocabulary until recently. Research needs to be conducted to ensure that when a word is

being translated to another language, the origin and meaning of the word doesnt change. This
article will be of interest to etymologist (people who study words).
McWhorter, J. (2014, Dec. 5). Why save a language? The New York Times.
The linguist, John McWhorter raises the question, Why save a language? The answer
he is supposed to give is that language is unique because it shapes how a person thinks and it is
a unique window on the world. McWhorter believes language should be saved, but for a
different reason. His reasons for saving language is because its a central aspect of culture and
diversity, meaning that language is a main part of culture. He concludes that an effort should be
made to keep as many languages alive and document them to preserve culture.
Saving a language is both important and interesting. Language is a prime factor in
culture. Knowing the language and history of your culture is something that shouldnt be
forgotten and should be passed on generation after generation. When a language fades away, part
of that culture and the history of the language fades away with it. McWhorter states, We should
foster efforts to keep as many languages spoken as possible, and to at least document what the
rest of them are like. This is McWhorters reasoning as to why languages should be saved and
he does a good job of explaining that language should be saved because it is key to culture,
which resembles how individuals are different from one another.
Ramos, Z. (2013, August 25). Raising Children to be Proud of their Roots by Encouraging
Latino Culture at Home. The Huffington Post.
Zuania Ramos is the deputy Editor for the HuffPost Latino Voices & Voces. In the article,
Ramos includes the opinion of Eliana Tardio who is a family resource specialist for the Early
Steps program and a Hispanic diversity support blogger. Many people move from their native

countries to America, for a better future and opportunities for their children. The main issue is,
when coming to America, parents feel that tradition should always follow on with their children
and it shouldnt be forgotten because children should be able to identify where they come from.
Particularly in this article, the blogger, Tardio, recommends tips for parents to strengthen their
cultural heritage in their children. One tip that Tardio recommended is for children to not forget
their native language, they encourage that Spanish should be spoken at all times in the household
and that children should not be allowed to reply in English. The article overall states that even
when people come from their native country to America, their culture shouldnt be forgotten and
passed to their children so it wouldnt be forgotten.
I agree that many people from native countries come to America for better opportunities
for themselves and their children. I agree with this article, that culture should not be forgotten
when people come from their native country. A part of being who you are comes from culture
and the traditions that you follow. It is how you identify yourself and without that, you lose part
of who you are. This goes back to the title of the article, Raising Children to be Proud of their
roots by Encouraging Latino Culture at Home. It is imperative for a Latino parent to teach their
children the Latino ways so that their children know how to identify themselves. The example of
speaking Spanish in the household and not letting their children reply in English is amazing
because this is one way that parents can ensure that their children will know the language from
their native country and parents also know that if their child is bilingual, that will provide them
with better opportunities. I find this important because growing up in a Latino household, my
parents speak Spanish in the household, they dont force me to speak Spanish, but it is greatly
encouraged because my parents know that it will help me in the future.

Ross, A. (2016, January 29). The Language Barrier is About to Fall. The Wall Street
Journal.
Alec Ross is an American Technology policy expert. He is author of The Industries of
the Future, which was named 2016 book of the year by the Tribeca Film Festival. He also wrote
several articles including, The Language Barrier is About to Fall in the Wall Street Journal.
Alec Ross begins the article by stating that whenever he traveled to another country, he would
always carry a dictionary that he would use to help him create translated sentences in order to
communicate with another person. But now, its simpler. You can now use your electronic device
and easily use Google Translate. With technology now, if there is translation mistakes they are
being corrected. Because of technology advancing every day, there is hopes that by 2020, there
will no longer be a language barrier. You can have 8 people in a room that speak different
languages communicating with each other by simply having a device placed in your ear and it
will translate whatever language is being spoken to the language that you understand. Alec states
that this will provide a great improvement in the business world. Different people from all over
the world coming together and communicating will hopefully be possible.
I find this article fascinating. It is a fact that technology advances every single day.
However, I never thought of it as because technology advances, there will no longer be a
language barrier in the future. Alec Ross presents us with a technological device which is an ear
piece, which can translate any language spoken into the language you understand. Ross states
that this will benefit the business world. However, I think it will be beneficial for everyone. In
the future, having different speaking people from all over the world may discuss anything such
as medical advances, teaching skills, etc. This may also be hopeful for those that want to learn
another language. By listening to other people speak a language, they learn. If this technological

advance develops in the future, it will be very beneficial because different languages will be
understood around the world.