People in Paraguay who speak the indigenous language Guarani can finally enjoy at least part of the Internet.  The government opened a Facebook page in Guarani, allowing folks to post, poke, and comment on each other’s statuses.  But beyond that, it’s just another world language in danger of getting steamrolled by our connected world.

There are currently at least 7,776 languages spoken around the world today.  But fewer than five percent of them are in use on the Internet, according to a recent study.  And the other 95 percent might disappear from disuse as the Internet consumes more and more of the world’s communications. 

Linguists say the death of an entire language is accomplished in a mere three steps: First, its speakers stop using it in practical areas like commerce; then younger speakers lose interest in speaking that language; finally, the younger generation forgets it all together.  The process could take as long as a century to complete.

Even without the Internet, more than 40 percent of world languages were already considered endangered, according to the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity.