Every two weeks a language becomes extinct, according to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (see http://go.nature.com/RLfdzx). The Ethnologue linguistic resource lists 6,912 languages, 75% of which are spoken by a few indigenous peoples spread over more than 70 countries.

The United Nation's 1996 Declaration of Linguistic Rights calls for linguists, governments and intergovernmental agencies to come up with policies to arrest this trend. In Nepal, for example, 70 indigenous languages are recognized; many of these have been represented in the media for more than a decade. Yet at least 11 have died out, 19 are almost extinct and 23 are endangered.

More effort, increased funding, greater commitment and effective policies are all needed to preserve language diversity, particularly in developing countries.