Pentecost can be thought of as the premier multicultural, multilingual feast in the liturgical year.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” 

Speakers and writers of the 83 languages with “global” influence now account for 80 percent of the world's population. Most of the thousands of other languages now face extinction at a rate, the researchers said, that exceeds that of birds, mammals, fish, or plants.