Language endangerments do not only affect the language but also the people speaking the language. When a community loses its language, it often loses a great part of its cultural identity at the same time. Often language loss feels as a loss of social identity or as a symbol of defeat, although it may be voluntary.

Languages are conduits of human heritage, often languages contain parts of cultural traditions as well as songs, prayers, poems and stories. When communities lose their language they often also lose this, because sometimes songs, poems and stories cannot easily be transferred to another language. This may affect the sense of identity from the speakers and it may weaken the social cohesion as their values and traditions are replaced with new ones. Language is a strong symbol of a group’s identity, much of the cultural, spiritual and intellectual life of people is experienced through language.

Languages contain an accumulated body of knowledge. A community’s history is passed through language, so when the language disappears we may lose important information about early history or nature. Therefor we lose ancient knowledge when we lose languages.

Languages are ways of interpreting the world. Different languages provide different pathways of thought and frameworks for thinking and solving problems. Some things just cannot be expressed the same way in a different language.