[atlih]

Language affects our thought process, so therefore the fewer languages there are in the world the more monotone the thought process of the world. I'm not saying there's any chance of saving the languages, we will most definitely end up with only one language somewhere in the next 200 years, I'm just pointing out that there's something we'll lose along the way.

[lopmotr]

This has come up a lot but do you have any examples where it's significant?

[atlih]

Yes the best everyday example is when you start to think in another language that you have learned, you cant easily translate those thoughts in your native language. Here's an old TED talk related that has some examples and here's one quote from it:

"Two English scientists were doing an experiment to do with genetics, and the forelimbs and hindlimbs of animals but they couldn't get the results they wanted, they really didn't know what to do, until along came a German scientist, who realized they were using 2 words for forelimb and hindlimb, whereas genetics and does not differentiate, and neither does German. So, bingo, problem solved. If you can't think a thought, you are stuck. But if another language can think a thought, you can learn and achieve so much more."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCTI5tcnEok