what would become of our many different cultures?" others argue. "certainly the world would be a much less interesting place," they add. indeed, there is serious concern on the part of language experts that many languages are disappearing. in some parts of the world, only a feww people are left who can speak the native tongue. in ireland, for example, there are only a few small areas where people speak gealic, the native irish language. one expert says that half of the world's languages are dying because children are no longer learning them.