Đề bài: A few languages are increasingly spoken in different countries, while the usage of others is rapidly declining. Is this a positive or a negative development?

BÀI MẪU THAM KHẢO

In today's world, some languages gain their popularity while some languages have been gone. There are both advantages and disadvantages of this trend.

On the positive side, the increasing use of some languages will have a beneficial effect on communication between people from different countries. For example, English has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world, easing the difficulty in communication among people with different language backgrounds. It is the dominant language in many global aspects from science, diplomacy to international business so that cultural misunderstandings will be eradicated, global trade flourish and international partnerships are established. This is the reason why the ability to speak English or other languages that have global functionality is a necessary skill in the modern world.

On the negative side, the dominance of some languages while other languages are dying out is associated with cultural loss. It is a fact that language and culture are interrelated, so losing a language means a culture is on the verge of extinction. In contrast, the dominant languages bring their own culture and endanger others, thereby the loss of cultural diversity on our planet. In addition, languages include historical values. An example of this is that a huge amount of knowledge in books and ancient documents cannot be extracted as they are written in forgotten languages. Therefore, threatened languages should be saved to preserve the identity of people who are speaking them.

In conclusion, the increasing use of a few languages and the decline of others is both a positive as well as a negative development. However, I believe that it is necessary to save these dying languages to conserve our precious history.

(278 words)

PHÂN TÍCH TỪ VỰNG

• dominance /ˈdɒmənəns/: sự thống trị
• lingua franca: ngôn ngữ cầu nối (thường là giữa những người không cùng tiếng mẹ đẻ)
• diplomacy /dəˈpləʊməsi/: ngành ngoại giao
• eradicate /ɪˈrædɪkeɪt/: xóa bỏ hoàn toàn
• flourish /ˈflʌrɪʃ/: phát triển mạnh mẽ
• cultural loss /ˈkʌltʃərəl  lɒs/: mất mất văn hóa
• be on the verge of extinction  /vɜːdʒ/ /ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən/: trên bờ tuyệt chủng
• thereby /ðeəˈbaɪ/: do đó, vì thế
• conserve /kənˈsɜːv/: lưu giữ, bảo tồn
• extract /ɪkˈstrækt/: chiết ra, chiết xuất
• preserve /prɪˈzɜːv/: bảo tồn

(Nguồn: Ielts Duc Thang Bui)