Preservation of indigenous languages!

What did medieval linguist Antonio de Nebrija mean when he told Queen Isabella that: “language is the perfect instrument of empire?” How has language contributed to colonial power? Focus on a specific example. 

Throughout history, we find language to be a powerful tool, a tool that makes or breaks a nation, a tool that binds a culture together and builds resistance. Language is a means of not only communication, but a means of power and pride. The statement, “language is the perfect instrument of empire” immediately enables one to realise the sheer power of language, a bold statement such as the one above definitely has significance in terms of how powerful a language is perceived to be. In my personal opinion, the statement relates to a language perceived to be more dominant than another due to the fact that more people speak that particular language. Language enables nations to be more dominant, as they possess a tool that is significant to their culture and thus enables them to expand their culture on various fronts, a typical example would be Russia (russification), russification, is when children were taught at a very young age to neglect and not speak their native tongue, thus teaching them to conform to different customs and behaviour. However, I don't think an entire culture can be wiped out due to their language becoming extinct, the customs and beliefs of that particular culture may still continue, but the significance of some of the customs might be lost. We find that sometimes translation of idioms from one language to another does not make sense and thus the significance and message of that particular statement is lost. Moreover, the quote above may also suggest that language is the perfect tool required to resurge an empire, the perfect tool needed to bring an empire together and perhaps the perfect tool to cause mass destruction.