Switzerland's mysterious fourth language
>> When the world loses a language, as it does every two weeks, we collectively lose the knowledge from past generations.<p>No.  Google translate.  I really disagree with this idea that the death of a language somehow means we are cut off from the culture that used the language.  Nobody speaks ancient Egyptian but we can still translate their hieroglyphs.  Universally common language promotes communication, cultural exchange, understanding and general world peace.  I'd rather focus on the promotion of wold languages than the maintenance of isolated regional dialects.  I'd rather learn Arabic than Welsh, Cantonese over Romansh.<p>Wow.  "Romansh" is recognized by my spellchecker.  But "Shia" of Shia Islam is not.  Makes one think.