The Goot Blog

I read on a recent The Writer's Almanac post that on this particular day in 2003 Marja Sergina, the last known speaker of the Akkala Sami language, died. Akkala Sami was spoken in villages on Russia's Kola Peninsula inhabited by the Sami (sometimes referred to as Laplanders), an ethnic group from Northern Europe who are best known as reindeer herders.

But here's the thing I found most astounding: There are more than 6,000 languages spoken in the world, and on average, one goes extinct about every two weeks. Researchers estimate that from 50 to 90 percent of those languages will be extinct in 100 years.

And my brain cramps just trying to learn two languages!!

# posted by goots @ 8:46 AM