This interview, originally posted by MarkMolaro on November 25, 2007, features K. David Harrison. Harrison is an assistant professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, author of "When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge," and Director of Research at the Living Tongues Institute. He was also featured in "The Linguists" documentary.

In this conversation, Harrison discusses the critical importance of the world's many threatened languages and the vital knowledge each uniquely preserves. He emphasizes the urgent need for more trained linguists to document these nearly extinct languages in remote regions before they are lost forever.