Several languages are in danger of extinction because they are spoken by very small numbers of people. Some people say that governments should spend public money on saving these languages, while others believe that would be a waste of money. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.
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Sample Response
It is often argued that minority languages facing extinction deserve state funding, while others maintain that such expenditure represents a waste of money.cannot be justified. Although I accept that public budgets are limited, I believe that preserving endangered languages is a worthwhile investment.
On the one hand, supporters of government funding emphasise that minority languages possess irreplaceable cultural and historical value. A language is not merely a means of communication, but a repository of a community's history, oral traditions, and ecological knowledge—oral traditions and ecological knowledge; once it disappears, this heritage is lost irreversibly. Specifically, state subsidies could financeState subsidies could also finance bilingual education, community language programmes and digital archives, all of which help small groups transmit their mother tongue topass their mother tongue on to the next generation. From this perspective, spending on language preservation is comparable to funding museums or historichistorical buildings, since both protect a nation's cultural identity.
On the other hand, critics argue that public resources would be more effectively directed elsewhere.better allocated elsewhere. In their view, governments face competing priorities, such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure,competing priorities such as healthcare, education and infrastructure, and using taxpayers' money to sustain a language spoken by only a few hundred people yields negligible broader societal return, making it an unjustifiable expense.benefits very few citizens. They also point out that language shift is a natural consequence of globalisation, as urban migrationmigrate and economic integration inevitably drive the decline of minority languages.
In my opinion, while both perspectives are understandable, the cultural loss is too significant to ignore. Preservation efforts do not need exorbitant expenditure;prohibitive budgets; even relatively modest funding allocated to recording and teaching endangered languages can safeguard their survival for academic inquiry and community vitality.ensure their survival for research and local communities. This is a matter of cultural diversity rather than nostalgia.
In conclusion, although opponents reasonably highlight the financial burden, I believe that governments should allocate at least some public money to protecting endangered languages, because their extinction is irreversible.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The essay presents a well-developed argument addressing both sides of the prompt with a consistent personal stance supported by sophisticated language. The main limitation is a minor grammatical slip in the second body paragraph that briefly disrupts clause structure. To reach the highest band, ensure meticulous proofreading for small typos in complex sentences.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay fully addresses both sides of the discussion and maintains a clear, well-supported opinion throughout.
Elaborate further on concrete examples of successful state-funded preservation programs to deepen the support.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is logically organized into distinct paragraphs with clear progression and sophisticated cohesive devices.
Vary transitional phrases slightly to make connections between opposing viewpoints sound even more natural.
Lexical Resource
The response demonstrates a rich and precise vocabulary with strong natural collocations suited to academic writing.
Pay close attention to word forms during editing to prevent accidental minor typos in high-level phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide variety of complex grammatical structures is used with high overall accuracy and strong control.
Proofread noun and verb forms carefully to eliminate isolated grammatical errors in complex sentences.