Discussion / Keeping languages alive

I believe that it is important to keep languages "alive". A lingua franca is a useful and convenient way to improve trade and relationships between different countries, but this global language should not replace the local language because the disapearance of a language has also an effect on the related culture and as a result, on the diversity of our planet.

In France, where I lived before coming to Australia, the government realized the "danger" of English for their native language. So they decided to come up with some strategies to keep their language pure. Some of their strategies was, for example to create a new law which forbid the use of english, translate all english documents and movies and create new french expressions to replace the english ones. 

Some of these strategies are useful, but I think it is not necessary to "over-react" and translate everything. For instance, some English documents and specially the movies can continue to be in English. One additional strategy can be to focus on the education of the "french pure" language.

To summarise, keep local languages alive is the key for our diversified planet. Consequently, some  strategies are required to avoid that English erase other languages, and I agree with some of the French ones.