Endangered languages are languages that wouldn’t exist _______ any longer, much like endangered species of plants or animals. Languages are considered _______ to be endangered when parents are no longer teaching the language to their children and are not using it actively _______ in everyday life. Of the more than 6,912 languages, half may be in danger of disappearing in the next several decades. The survival of a language is threatened _______ when speakers move to other areas where different languages are spoken, or when government policies improve the use of a specific language in school, official business and the media. These situations encourage people to learn the wider-known language and may cause them, especially the young, to stop using their mother tongue _______.