When a language dies, so does a unique way of seeing the world. Time is running out for many tongues. Experts estimate that of the 6,700 or so languages spoken around the world, 40% could disappear by the end of the century. The UN has designated 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the danger. Slowly, countries are developing more resources to the issue.

Canada aims to pass an Indigenous Language Act before its elections in October 2019. The act would give more than 65 languages spoken by First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples national recognition and teaching resources. In government-funded boarding schools, which operated from the 1880s to 1996, indigenous children faced beatings or electric shocks if they were caught using their native languages. “We want to put the same amount of effort to revitalise indigenous languages as Canada put to wipe them out,” says Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Legal recognition for a language is the first step in bringing a native culture back from the brink (边缘). Maori is one of the success stories. When it became one of New Zealand’s official languages in 1987, less than 20% of the Maori population spoke it well enough to be regarded as native speakers. Today it is off the endangered list.

The second step is to teach a new generation of native speakers. Technology is a big help. Duolingo, a popular language-learning app, recently added Hawaiian and Navajo to its courses. BASAbali, a wiki documenting Balinese, uses Facebook to reach speakers in rural areas. Say it in Saami is an online dictionary that translates modern lingo into languages spoken by the Sami people in Northern Europe.

Saving rare languages needs people to champion them. Bali now asks officials to use Balinese on Thursdays. The UN year will kick-start projects that could save thousands of tongues. The challenge in 2019 will be to get others to listen and start talking.

I work at a grocery store in Montreal's Plateau neighbourhood, which gets a lot of regulars. On March 12, the Quebec government announced to close all public places to stop the spread of the pandemic(流行病)of coronavirus.

The next day the store was the busiest I've ever seen.The six cash registers had to be kept open from 10 a.m. until close. It was nuts. I didn't have time to eat lunch, and whenever one of us on cash had to use the bathroom, we'd have to bring in a coworker of the floor to cover for us.

Since then, the atmosphere in the store has been different. Customers are mostly considerate, but whenever someone coughs or sneezes, everyone turns around to make sure that person sneezed into their elbow. I've even seen customers come in wearing some strange get-ups. One guy even came in with a plastic Walmart bag wrapped around his entire head, with a slit cut out for his eyes.

A lot of my coworkers have left to avoid a public-facing job during the pandemic.grocery store workers across Canada are putting their health at risk every time they come in to work, but a lot of us are still making close to minimum wage. I realize that I feel more exhausted than normal even though I'm working the same hours.

There still have been some moments of kindness in the midst of the chaos.I've overheard people talking on the phone who sounded as though they were organizing grocery deliveries for those stuck at home. And this past weekend a very nice lady thanked us for continuing to work. I know everyone is worried, but it's useless having the same scary conversations day after day. Instead tell us a funny anecdote, or about something nice. We’ll appreciate the distraction, and you’ll make our day just a bit brighter.

Our lives become much easier thanks to smartphone apps. However, sometimes problems arise at the same time while we are using them.

In a recent announcement, the Ministry of Education (教育部) said teachers should not use WeChat or QQ messaging apps to give homework or ask parents to grade students’ homework.

Many school teachers in China rely heavily on apps to give homework. The kids have to do their homework looking at a phone screen.

For example, Liu Yanming, a sixth-grade student in Shanghai, usually has to use his mother’s mobile phone to do his homework. The homework is handwritten, photographed and then posted by his teacher to a parent-teacher group on WeChat.

Liu Yong, his father, is afraid that the apps could distract kids by encouraging them to watch something unrelated (无关的) to homework.

“He is just 12 years old, and I do not want to buy him a cell phone,” Liu told China Daily. “I also worry that my son’s eyesight will be damaged from staring at the phone for too long.”

However, Bai Yueping, president of Shanghai Tangzhen Middle School, defended (辩护) using apps for homework. “Parents can understand their kids’ learning situation and supervise (监督) them to finish the homework,” Bai told Xinmin Evening News.

Zhang Siqi, a student from Renmin University of China, has a similar opinion to Bai. “The use of WeChat or QQ to give homework is convenient,” Zhang told Teens. “We’re living in an internet era (时代). It’s unwise (不明智的) to refuse to take advantage of technology.”

Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, believed that it is impossible to ban the use of electronic devices (设备) in the internet era. However, students should use them when it’s necessary, when they do listening exercises，for example.

“We don’t want to ban online education models, but they must be used carefully. Modern technologies are good ... but they should not steal the show (喧宾夺主),” he told China Daily.