Our shared inheritance

Imagine a library burning down, one that holds the oral histories, poetry, and wisdom of countless generations.

- ANNA MAE YU LAMENTILLO

This is not a metaphor; it is happening right now, as the world's languages disappear at an alarming rate.

With every language that falls silent, we are not merely losing a list of words. We are incinerating a unique chapter of the human story, an irreplaceable archive of culture, memory, and identity that diminishes us all.

Language is the primary vessel for culture, the living fabric into which a community weaves its understanding of the world. It carries the rhythm of ancestral prayers, the precise vocabulary for local ecosystems, the humor of inside jokes, and the moral weight of ancient stories. These are not mere artifacts; they are the collective soul of a people.

A proverb translated from Welsh to English may convey a similar meaning, but it loses the lyrical cadence that has shaped a national consciousness for centuries.