Thousands of languages are becoming extinct as the last of the people who speak them die off.
In a race against time, some determined souls who value the richness and insights that individual languages provide are making efforts to save as many minority languages as possible. We posted about that here.
Today National Public Radio had a feature on another approach to preservation, the Liet International Song Contest.
“Auditions are now underway for next May’s Eurovision Song Contest — that often-ridiculed television spectacle that has drawn millions of viewers around the world every year since 1956. In 2012 the host country will be Azerbaijan, since that country fielded last year’s winner. The show’s performers rely on outlandish costumes, dance moves and gimmicks to grab attention because most viewers can’t understand what they’re singing. But language is at the heart of another Eurovision-sponsored song and performance competition this weekend in Italy. The Liet International Song Contest is a very serious attempt to keep some of the continent’s neglected languages alive.”
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
You’ve had so many good posts! This one is so moving. Cultural survival is near to my heart–and language is a central part of culture.
The idea of Esperanto was to have a bridge language that wasn’t difficult to learn and that would therefore let other less common languages be used for non-bridge purposes. Didn’t work that way, I guess mainly because people think the English-language culture is cool and they want the whole enchilada.