Languages: An important identity in globalizing world¶
Language is an important identity of the people. Not only does language provide a medium to communicate, but also it binds the community together. Therefore, it is essential to preserve linguistic diversity in the globalizing world.
Let’s check out various languages that once existed or currently exist on Earth. UNESCO has compiled an atlas which contains various statistics about languages. A choropleth map is used to visualize this linguistic geographical dataset.
# You can comment out the following lines if these modules are already installed
!pip install googletrans
!pip install gTTS
# Import Python libraries
import pandas as pd
import plotly.graph_objects as go
from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
from ipywidgets import interact, fixed, widgets, Layout, Button, Box, fixed, HBox, VBox
import googletrans
import gtts
from IPython.display import Audio, display, clear_output
# Don't show warnings in output
import warnings
warnings.filterwarnings('ignore')
clear_output()
print('Libraries successfully imported.')
# Import the dataset
df = pd.read_csv('./Data/languoid.csv')
# Data clean up - keep required columns
df = df[df['level'] == 'language'] \
[['name','child_dialect_count','latitude','longitude','status']] \
.dropna() # remove rows with missing entries
# Display top 5 rows
df.head()
# This cell will take at least couple of minutes to run as we are trying to plot more than 7000 languages
# Define color scheme
colors = {'safe':'rgb(61,145,64)', 'vulnerable':'rgb(31,117,254)', 'definitely endangered':'rgb(137,207,240)', \
'severely endangered':'rgb(255,191,0)', 'critically endangered':'rgb(255,0,0)', 'extinct':'rgb(0,0,0)'}
# Create a plotly figure object (like an empty figure)
fig = go.Figure()
# Create a marker with desired properties for each language in the dataset
for i in range(0,df.shape[0]):
df_row = df.iloc[i] # Pass each row in the dataset
fig.add_trace(go.Scattergeo(
lon = [df_row['longitude']], # longitude
lat = [df_row['latitude']], # latitude
text = 'Dialects: {0} <br>Status: {1}'.format(df_row['child_dialect_count'],df_row['status']), # text accompanying the dataset
name = df_row['name'], # name of the language
hoverinfo = 'name + text', # specify information to be shown when a pointer is hovered over a marker
marker = dict(
size=9,
color=colors[df_row['status']],
line_width=0), # marker properties
showlegend = False # remove legend
)
)
# Update figure properties
fig.update_layout(
# Add title (see how hyperlink is added)
title_text = 'Languages around the world<br>\
Source: <a href="http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/index.php?hl=en&page=atlasmap">\
UNESCO</a>',
# Other geological properties of the map
geo = dict(
resolution=50,
showcoastlines=True,
showframe=False,
showland=True,
landcolor="lightgray",
showcountries=True,
countrycolor="white" ,
coastlinecolor="white",
bgcolor='rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.0)'
)
)
# Show the figure
fig.show()
Hover over markers in the map and see the dialects and status of various languages. Feel free to zoom in/out as necessary to spot various languages in a country of your choice.
The colors indicate the status of a language.
Questions:¶
Which color indicates a language that is safe from extinction? Which are the two continents with most safe languages?
Why do you think languages disappear? What are possible threats to linguistic diversity?
Could we revive a language that is on the brink of extinction? How?
Do you think that having more dialects makes a language safer or more vulnerable?
Languages spoken within a country¶
Now that we know about various languages, let’s dive a bit deeper. We’ll analyze languages spoken in various countries and how they have changed over time, using a demographic dataset from the United Nations.
# Import the dataset
df2 = pd.read_csv('./Data/UNdata_Countrywise.csv')
df2 = df2.iloc[:-79] # Remove footnotes
# Display top 5 rows
df2.head()
def show_bar_chart(ev):
clear_output(wait=True)
# Define display order for the buttons and menus
display(Box(children = [country_menu], layout = box_layout))
display(VBox(children = [show_button], layout = Layout(display= 'flex', flex_flow= 'column', align_items= 'center', width='100%', justify_content = 'center')))
# Filter the data for given country and gender type
to_be_removed = ['Unknown','Not stated','None','Total'] # Remove these categories
df2_sub = df2[df2['Country or Area'] == country_menu.value] \
[df2['Sex'] == 'Both Sexes'] \
[df2['Area'] == 'Total'] \
[~df2['Language'].isin(to_be_removed)]
# Plot the pie chart
if(df2_sub.shape[0] == 0):
print('Sorry... data not available :-(') # Show comment if data is not available
else:
years = df2_sub['Year'].unique()[0:2] # Show data for two latest years
# Make subplots
fig = make_subplots(rows=1, cols=len(years), subplot_titles=['Year {}'.format(i) for i in years])
# Add trace for each year's bar chart
for i,j in enumerate(years):
new_df = df2_sub[df2_sub['Year'] == j] # Filter the data for each subplot
new_df['Value'] = (100 * new_df['Value'] / new_df['Value'].sum()).round(1) # Convert population to percent
new_df = new_df.sort_values('Value',ascending=False)[:5] # Sort values in descending order
fig.add_trace(go.Bar(name='Year {}'.format(j),x=new_df['Language'],y=new_df['Value'],
showlegend=False),1,i+1) # Add the trace for each subplot
# Update yaxis properties of subplots
fig.update_yaxes(title_text="Population (%)", row=1, col=1, range=[0,100])
fig.update_yaxes(title_text="Population (%)", row=1, col=2, range=[0,100])
# Update the title of the figure
fig.update_layout(title_text='Top 5 languages spoken in {}<br>\
Source: <a href="http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode:27">\
United Nations</a>'.format(country_menu.value))
fig.show()
print('Defined the function show_bar_chart')
Run the cell below and select the country and gender you want to visualize. Don’t forget to click on Show Bar Chart button.
# Layout for widgets
box_layout = Layout(display='flex', flex_flow='row', align_items='center', width='100%', justify_content = 'center')
style = {'description_width': 'initial'}
# Create dropdown menu for Country and Gender
country_menu = widgets.Dropdown(options = df2['Country or Area'].unique(), description ='Country: ', style = style, disabled=False)
# Create Show Pie Chart button and define click events
show_button = widgets.Button(button_style= 'info', description="Show Bar Chart")
show_button.on_click(show_bar_chart)
# Define display order for the buttons and menus
display(Box(children = [country_menu], layout = box_layout))
display(VBox(children = [show_button], layout = Layout(display= 'flex', flex_flow= 'column', align_items= 'center', width='100%', justify_content = 'center')))
Each bar chart here is for a year in which data were collected. Move your cursor around to see how much of the total population speak a particular language and how that pattern has changed over time.
Questions:¶
List the top 5 languages in Canada according to the latest data (2016).
Has use of languages other than English and French increased among Canadians over time?
How do you think globalization affects the spread languages across the borders?
Exploring other languages¶
Let’s learn a little of some other languages. Here we will translate some English words into a language of your choice. The translation will be accompanied by an audio clip to show you how the translated word is pronounced.
all_languages = gtts.lang.tts_langs()
all_languages = {v: k for k, v in all_languages.items()}
def translate_and_pronounce(ev):
clear_output(wait=True)
# Define display order for the buttons and menus
display(Box(children = [textbox_input, languages_menu], layout = box_layout))
display(VBox(children = [show_button], layout = Layout(display= 'flex', flex_flow= 'column', align_items= 'center', width='100%', justify_content = 'center')))
# Create a translator class (like a template) using Google Translator
translator = googletrans.Translator()
translation_data = translator.translate(textbox_input.value,\
dest=all_languages[languages_menu.value]) # Supply text to translate and language
translation = translation_data.extra_data['translation'][0][0] # Extract translated data
# Extract pronunciation for the translated text
if(len(translation_data.extra_data['translation']) == 2):
pronunciation = translation_data.extra_data['translation'][1][-1]
else:
pronunciation = 'None - Speak as you read' # For languages using Roman letters
print('\n')
# Create and display textbox for "Text" and dropdown menu for languages
textbox_translation = widgets.Text(value = translation, description = 'Translation: ', disabled = True, style = style)
textbox_pronunciation = widgets.Text(value = pronunciation, description = 'Pronunciation: ', disabled = True, style = style)
display(Box(children = [textbox_translation, textbox_pronunciation], layout = box_layout))
# Create an audio file for the translated text using Google Text-to-Speech
tts = gtts.gTTS(translation, lang=all_languages[languages_menu.value])
tts.save('audio.mp3')
# Display audio widget
display(Audio('audio.mp3'))
print('Defined the translate_and_pronounce function, run the cell below to use it.')
# Layout for widgets
box_layout = Layout(display='flex', flex_flow='row', align_items='center', width='100%', justify_content = 'center')
style = {'description_width': 'initial'}
# Create textbox for "Text" and dropdown menu for languages
textbox_input = widgets.Text(value = '',description = 'Text: ', disabled = False)
languages_menu = widgets.Dropdown(options = list(all_languages.keys())[:-18], description ='Language: ', style = style, disabled=False)
# Create Translate button and define click events
show_button = widgets.Button(button_style= 'info', description="Translate")
show_button.on_click(translate_and_pronounce)
# Define display order for the buttons and menus
display(Box(children = [textbox_input, languages_menu], layout = box_layout))
display(VBox(children = [show_button], layout = Layout(display= 'flex', flex_flow= 'column', align_items= 'center', width='100%', justify_content = 'center')))
Questions:¶
In this era of globalization, how important do you think it is for people to learn additional languages?
List some scripts (alphabets) that are different from the Roman one we use in English (e.g. Devanagari).
