I wouldn’t consider myself an etymology nerd by any means. I just think that languages and their history are very interesting, and that language plays more important of a role in society than it’s given credit for. The language of a country practically shapes the way it’s people think. In today’s world however, this is all subject to change.
One obvious thing that makes each and every individual language so valuable is their literature. A book or poem written in one language usually doesn’t retain it’s emotion and substance very well when it is translated into a different language. Hence, when read in the language it was written in, a work of literature will usually seem better than otherwise. This also implies that if and when a language is a lost to time, we will never know how much better the literary work written in said language was before being translated. This is a little harrowing but I’d argue that what follows is worse.
A lot of a culture’s character is very dependent on it’s language and people’s way of thinking is highly influenced by the idioms and sayings of their language. This would also be another reason why languages that have nothing to do with ones you already speak are exceptionally hard to learn. The way things are worded just don’t make sense when all you have to compare it to is your own language. However, this also means that a drastic change in one’s own language brings with it a drastic change in one’s own culture, ideology and way of thinking. This can clearly be seen in colonized countries and such, but it’s still present through different means. Now that 2/3 of the earth’s population has internet access and there are many languages all over the place, most languages have been going through some sort of change. English is straying further from the way it used to be, and every other language is being tainted with English words to an extent. In history, this has also been the case with French and Spanish. You may have also noticed that because of this, all languages affected by English have been losing track of their cultures. That’s really not ideal.
What I mean to say is that every culture should protect it’s language in order to not be affected by other languages. Not only to protect their literary works, but also to stay relevant and not be assimilated into a different culture. We must be careful with the way we speak, and make sure we stay true to the language.