IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Every year several languages die out. Some people think that this is not important because life will be easier if there are fewer languages in the world.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer:
One language goes extinct on average every two weeks, more frequently than bird-species extinction. Some people contend that it is more convenient to have fewer languages today. I think this argument fails to take into account the damage and devastation it can cause in civilization or mankind.
Language is the utmost important tool for people to communicate in daily life, but it at the same is about more than word. Language is the repository of culture, history, and heritage. Trough the language, each civilization demonstrates a specific way of thinking. For instance, in Tuvan culture, the Tuvan word “ Khojozeeri” intends a particular process of killing a sheep. To ensure a less painful death of the sheep, Tuvans tear one of its cardinal arteries with their fingers. Not only that, through the process, Tuvans consumes the entire sheep: they harvest the hide, meat and viscera, every part of the animal is made sure to utilize. The idea “Khojozeeri” deals with is needed three sentences to describe. It does not just mean slaughter but also humaneness and kindness. Moreover, it also shows the values of Tuvan society. From this view, “Khojozeeri” is untranslatable. Moreover, it tells non-Tuvans something distinct and worthy about the Tuvan way of life. So, language is not merely a tool for communicating, it also encapsulates custom, tradition and values of a society.
In my opinion, I believe that languages contain the intellectual wisdom of the communities. Many indigenous tribes’ tongues are the vast repository of knowledge and wisdom as they attain the knowledge and wisdom by the way of life based on centuries of living close to nature. The indigenous communities’ knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation by oral language or culture. Take the Kallawaya people in South America for an example. They have been using a mysterious language passed from generation to generation for more than 400 years. The key feature of the language is the names and uses of medicinal plants that could be precious resource to modern medical science. So, if the language of any indigenous tribe is extinct, we may suffer the loss of the priceless resource.
To conclude, I infer that it is a catastrophic for the future of mankind. It causes the irrecoverable loss of knowledge and wisdom. So, all the endangered languages should be preserved, since languages are not merely words but something more than that.
Idea Generation for this essay:
Agreement with the statement that ‘Life would be easier if there are fewer languages in the world”.
- The fewer the number of languages in the world, the less the language barrier will there be.
- Students will not require learning so many languages and they would be able to concentrate on more important subjects like Mathematics, Physics, and History etc.
- The international trade and tourism would be benefited from it.
- People will be able to communicate foreigners easily and that would create a better bonding among nations.
- The distance among nations in terms of their ethnicity and vanity would reduce.
- Someone would be able to read books, journals etc. written by foreigner writers and that would enhance the knowledge sharing.
Disagreement with the statement that ‘Life would be easier if there are fewer languages in the world”.
- Many traditions and way of life would also lost if so many languages die out.
- Languages are unique and they presents the way of life a group of people live. With the decreased languages, the diversity of traditions would also die out.
- Languages bear experiences and culture from our ancestors and each language has its own importance.
- Fewer language would mean to follow the language and adopt foreign cultures that are bonded with these languages.
- The diversity of expression and writing would become faint.
- People would have to adopt a mixed culture that would be harmful for their own culture and tradition.