I used to be against the French protectionism of its language, or the fact that research papers in China was written in Chinese. 'Why not just all speak English?', I thought back then. But then I learned French. More importantly I learned that when you speak another language, at a certain level (close to fluent), you realise that language is not only about communication.
Language is also about thinking. You realise that thinking in another language actually is totally different. It gives you different perspectives, different ways to understand things and, I would argue, different thoughts altogether.
From that point on, I am now of the opinion that we need to protect, and use, more languages, not fewer. Not because of their cultural and historical value but because of their possibility to open up for completely seperate ways of thinking.
Almost no-one has english as first language in EU. Also most younger people speak at least 2 languages. Only older folks and people that lives in rural areas speak only one language.
I know. I am European. I've been bilingual my entire life. Today I speak four languages. The point was not that speaking two languages is enough, what I meant is that I believe having more languages around in general increases the diversity also of our ideas and thoughts. That is why I, today, feel like protecting languages have a very valid point.
From that point on, I am now of the opinion that we need to protect, and use, more languages, not fewer. Not because of their cultural and historical value but because of their possibility to open up for completely seperate ways of thinking.